Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
On the air again thanks to ‘monumental’ crew effort
MARK JEFFERIES ELLIE IORIZZO
By Showbiz Editor and
I’M A Celebrity returned to our screens last night after a “monumental effort” from ITV – but had to rely on footage from Friday for the “live” show.
Hosts Ant and Dec said it took incredible round-the-clock work from the crew to get the series back on screen and also admitted there was a “slight worry” more bad weather could cause more problems.
Viewers saw trials and challenges that took place on Friday before the celebs were evacuated because of Storm Arwen. They went back into the castle yesterday to continue their stay in Gwrych castle until the end of next week.
On the sequence of events Dec said: “We pre-recorded Friday and went home and could hear winds howling.
“We got a call on Saturday morning to say that basically the wind had pretty much destroyed the tech base, the marquees had come down, trees had been felled, boulders had moved so the site was unsafe.”
Ant added: “They could have quite easily said there was too much damage done and that we won’t be able to get back on air but they worked round the clock, the team have been magnificent. The castle is the one thing that is absolutely fine, the only reason they took the celebrities out was because we felt it was just mean keeping them in there when we can’t film them.
“So it was decided to put them into quarantine like we had before they went into the show, so they have no phones, no internet, they are cut off from the rest of the world, just how we like it.” Speaking on ITV’S This Morning, Dec said some had tried to keep the camp mindset while staying in cottages nearby and they are “desperate to get back in”.
But Ant joked: “Although Frankie [Bridge] did take all of her knickers to wash in the sink.”
Meanwhile, fears remain that more shows could be cancelled if the weather plays havoc with the site again.
Ant said: “There is a slight worry because there is more bad weather coming next week, but I think it is just temperatures dropping and maybe a bit of snow and frost, I think we can cope.”
The series was already struggling as it had lost around five million viewers from its launch and audience numbers were around half of the usual amount tuning in for a series in Australia.