It’s cold, wet and haunted
(and there’s far worse in store for these celebs…)
Boy oh boyo: are viewers – and stars – in for a very different version of I’m A Celebrity… from any that we’ve seen before in this, its 20th season. Thanks to the pandemic, this year’s celebrities won’t be enduring close encounters with creepy-crawlies and constant danger 10,000 miles away in the sweltering heat of the Australian Outback. Instead, Ant and Dec are presenting the reality contest from the reputedly haunted 19th Century Gwrych Castle in North Wales.
Out go the traditional shirt and shorts, swapped for thermals to help against the chillier temperatures. Farewell, too, to the seductive allure of the jungle shower; washing is now a more prosaic affair, involving an old tin bath and a watering can with a shower pump requiring the assistance of a helpful campmate.
Gone are the Dingo Dollars given out by grumpy Aussie
Kiosk Kev to contestants as rewards; in their place we have Castle Coins, dispensed by gloomy Welshman Kiosk Cledwyn from Ye Olde Shoppe.
Most of all, while anyone taking part will be hoping to be crowned King or Queen of the Castle at the end of the three-week run, in the short term the biggest ambition as we approach the coldest time of the year will surely be simply keeping warm. That means everyone gets the chance to give their muscles a workout chopping logs for the campfire and to go to the fireplace where meals are cooked (with the ingredients passed up through the castle walls by a dumb waiter).
Expect the now strictly bushtucker-free trials to be a decidedly spooky affair, taking place down in the dungeon and crypt in the dead of night. Even the exit of each celebrity as they are voted off has a new grandeur, as they walk out through a portcullis gate, with the consolation of a breathtaking view of the Irish Sea.
As for the stars, you might expect the popularity of Sir Mo Farah to take him all the way, and the Olympic gold medallist hardly ever loses any contest he enters. But he’ll be vying with much loved broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire, while soap addicts can take their pick from EastEnders alumni Jessica Plummer and Shane Richie, and also Coronation Street’s Beverley Callard.
TV presenter Vernon Kay will have his admiring fans, pro dancer A.J. Pritchard lends a bit of Strictly magic, and look out, too, for Paralympian Hollie Arnold, Radio 1 DJ Jordan North and podcaster Giovanna Fletcher.
The Land of our Fathers awaits the mother of all celebrity showdowns.
I’M A CELEBRITY... GET ME OUT OF HERE!
From tonight, ITV, 9pm