We don’t have long to wait until I’m A Celebrity is back on our screens. The (un)lucky A-listers will be returning to the Welsh castle where the show took place last year.
Last series proved that the Australian jungle wasn’t a requisite to push the celebrity’s limits, and this year’s I’m A Celebrity 2021 line-up will have to face a whole host of Bushtucker Trials, including eating all sorts of disgusting stuff, before one of them is crowned Queen or King of the Castle. Or will they?
Previous I’m A Celebrity winner Tony Blackburn revealed that there is one thing celebrities can say to the show’s producers to get out of (some) of the often vomit-inducing challenges.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com, the winner of the first ever edition of I’m A Celeb said that he had given Noel Edmonds one tip before he went into the jungle in 2018.
“Noel Edmonds rung me up before he was going in,” Tony told us. “He was out at Heathrow Airport, I think, just about to go on the flight. And he said, ‘have you got any things that you can tell me that I should do?’ And I said, ‘Well, you should have told them you’re a vegetarian. Because then you don’t have to eat all that horrible stuff.’ But he said, ‘Well it’s too late for that.’”
He added: “I was very lucky I didn’t have to eat all that horrible stuff, because I told [the producers] I was a vegetarian before I went in.
“So I rather liked the rice and beans which they all complain about. But for me, it was lovely. So if any of them didn’t want any of theirs, I got the leftovers. It was lovely and I lost a stone and a half while I was in there, which was good as well. For me it was a very positive experience.”
Of course, just because they’re not eating the questionable foods (not so) cooked up by the producers doesn’t mean the celebs won’t have to face challenges involving critters and rodents. Especially now, when they have gotten “much tougher”, according to Tony.
“You just sort of do it, but it’s not pleasant lots of it,” he explained. “And it’s very tough. It’s much tougher now.”
Either way, it sounds like the celebs have their work cut out.
I’m a Celebrity returns to ITV on 21st November. Visit our Entertainment hub for more news and features, or find something to watch with our TV Guide.