While it might be entertaining to watch, a whole lot about life in celebrity-filled jungle seems completely gross.
From having to sneak in teabags just to get a little bit of flavour to having snakes in your pants, the I’m A Celebrity…. Get Me Out of Here! stars aren’t exactly glamming it up for all that cash.
But probably one of the worst parts of the whole thing has to be the toilet situation. The dreaded dunny.
And just when you thought the idea of using it couldn’t get any worse, previous campmates have shared the extremely grim truth about having to empty it.
The dunny doesn’t exactly sound inviting. (ITV)
During the spin-off show, I’m A Celebrity… Unpacked, host Kemi Rogers asked co-hosts Joel Dommett and Sam Thompson: “How gross is the dunny really, without grossing us out and everyone who’s watching talk us through it.”
Thompson of course appeared on the show last year with the comedian having been a campmate back in 2016.
And Dommett confessed: “It’s quite gross, it really is.”
The Made in Chelsea star added that while you do ‘get used to it’, plenty of people tend to ‘freeze up for the first few days’.
“But then when it all lets loose it gets real heavy real fast,” he quipped as Dommett joked: “You don’t want to be emptying the dunny on day four.”
Making things even more grim, Thompson gave us some extra detail about tackling the chore: “Well, you have 12 campmates in there at one point and you have to unscrew the lid so you have to look, I’m sorry this is a bit graphic, but you have to look Kemi at everything in there, and you wouldn’t believe the waste that come out.”
The trio discussed the dunny during the spin-off show. (ITV)
Digging herself a hole of being grossed out, Rogers asked about the daily waste levels as they confirmed it gets ‘nearly to the brim’.
But Dommett joked about his experience of emptying the dunny as he added: “You’ve got to take a peep, because you’re like ‘I think that’s Carol Vorderman’s.”
And Thompson pointed out: “The wild thing is you know who went last as well because they’ll come back from the dunny.”
On this year’s series, GK Barry joked from day one that she would be holding it in for as long as she could because she was so grossed out by it. And Dean McCullough even ran out screaming after spotting an unwelcome visitor in there with him.
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The two late arrivals heading to the I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here camp have been confirmed.
Everyone’s favourite ITV reality series kicked off last night (17 November) seeing the likes of Coleen Rooney, Melvin Odoom and Tulisa swap their luxury lifestyles to spend the next couple of weeks living amongst Australia’s finest creepy crawlies.
However, there was one noticeable absence which caught the attention of viewers.
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Looks like anyone is missing from this line-up? (ITV)
Where was former Love Islander Maura Higgins?
Despite being announced as part of the official line-up, fans were surprised to see that Higgins and Reverend Richard Coles did not appear in any of the promotional material.
Eagle-eyed fans were left even more perplexed after seeing the updates from the 33-year-old influencer recently enjoying a trip to Las Vegas – leaving people speculate if there had been a last minute change of plan or the pair were simply late arrivals.
However fear not, as it would appear that Higgins and Rev Coles will be making their way into the jungle very soon.
It is currently reported the pair will be joining the group in camp around one week into the show, which means they still have a few more days to enjoy the luxury of a proper meal before tucking into a basic diet of rice and beans.
Regarding Higgins’ late entrance to the show, a report from MailOnline claimed that an ITV source said: “She will be arriving this week, the brand trip was always part of the schedule as Maura had agreed to it and it fit into her arrival dates for the Jungle.”
Meanwhile the rest of the campmates are currently settling into their new home, with last night’s premiere seeing musician Danny Jones and Barry McGuigan taking on the ‘Mausoleum of Misery’ bushtucker trial – with Jones ending up having an unwanted guest slither into his shorts.
Reverend Richard Coles is another late entrant (Mike Marsland/Getty Images for Hearst UK)
Meanwhile Rooney was faced with her first ‘Wagatha Christie’ joke just moments after making her entrance onto the show when fellow campmate Dean McCullough chose her as his entrance partner over fellow radio presenter Odoom.
“Melvin, I’m so, so sorry,” he said to his colleague before running off into the distance with Rooney, adding: “Wagatha Christie you’re coming with meeeee.”
Wonder how many time we’ll hear that nickname this series.
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Here are all the items which contestants on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here could get in trouble for bringing into camp.
Every year it seems like at least one of the celebrities heading into the jungle finds themselves on the receiving end of the producers’ wrath for bringing ‘contraband’ in.
So what items aren’t the campmates allowed?
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Make-up and beauty products
Long-term fans of the series will be well aware that contestants aren’t allowed to bring cosmetics into the jungle with them.
The one exemption to this rule was 2017 Queen of the Jungle Georgia Toffolo, who was allowed to bring foundation with her in order to cover up severe acne.
“When producers told me it was banned I broke down in tears and said, ‘I can’t do this,” she told The Sun in an interview.
“I’ve been on strong tablets for six months trying to get rid of [the spots]. So show bosses agreed that, because it was a medical problem, I was allowed to put foundation on once a day in the morning.”
Contestants being banned from bringing make-up into camp is a topic which seems to come up every year when eagle-eyed viewers notice that certain celebrities don’t appear to be as bare-faced as their other co-stars.
Campmates such as Tulisa will often get semi-permanent make-up tattooed on (ITV)
N-Dubz star Tulisa, Loose Women’s Jane Moore, and Coleen Rooney are the latest crop of celebs to find themselves embroiled in the ongoing make-up saga, with several viewers sharing their confusion over the super defined eyebrows and elongated eyelashes.
“Why isn’t Tulisa and Jane’s make-up coming off?” one person questioned on X, while a second added: “Wait why is Jane also wearing makeup… have they changed the rules this year?”
The answer to this age-old question is relatively simple, several cast members will get semi-permanent make-up treatments before entering the jungle.
Food items
One of the main parts of jungle life is forcing the celebrities to head back to basics, which means no spicing up their rice and beans rations.
The repercussions of breaking this rule was seen during I’m A Celebrity… South Africa when contestants Gillian McKeith, Myleene Klass and Paul Burrell were rumbled by producers after brining in spices, mints, tea bags and coffee
Recreational items
This one is more obvious than the others, but celebs are not allowed to bring in things to entertain themselves with while in the jungle, as it defeats the purpose of the show.
“So you wouldn’t have anything that could be distracting, part of this game is making sure that you are creating reality and having a chat with other people and doing stuff and dealing with the boredom,” executive producer Olly Nash previously explained.
Anything else?
Sentimental objects and anything considered ‘luxury items’ by producers are also prohibited, with celebrities instead getting the chance to win home comforts during tasks.
There are also strict penalties for breaking the rules, with previous contestant Joel Dommett confirming the campmates face punishment for helping out with jobs which aren’t their chores.
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The I’m A Celebrity camp is set to welcome two newcomers and the pair appear to be absolutely bricking themselves.
They will be joining the likes of Coleen Rooney, Danny Jones, and Tulisa, who are already living it up in the Aussie jungle.
Former Love Islander Maura Higgins and Reverend Richard Coles are the two late arrivals who will be joining the 10 other I’m A Celeb campmates tomorrow (21 November).
The TV personality, 33, becomes only the second person to appear from the ITV dating show, and she doesn’t want to be known as the ‘biggest wimp in the camp’.
“If spiders go over the top of my head, I might just die,” Higgins recently told The Mirror.
“I’m not a nervous person at all. I don’t get anxiety. But for this show, when I think about it, I’m like, ‘Oh God’.”
The influencer has just been an a boozy vacation in Las Vegas and says she’s not prepared for jungle life.
Maura Higgins is known for her 2019 stint on Love Island (Instagram/@maurahiggins)
“Honestly, I’m not good… I feel like I’m in The Hangover, I’ve even got the shakes,” she laughed.
“I have no clue what time it is, I don’t know where I am. In fact, I’ve done the opposite of preparing myself [for the jungle].
“I’ve tried not to think about it, because when I think about it, I get so much anxiety.”
That being said, Higgins is very much looking forward to having no make-up or phone on her, adding: “I’ve not even got my brows done… I’ve not done anything. I cannot wait to just not have to get up and put makeup on and care about it, because it’s not that type of show. Like, you’re not really in there to look good, are you?
“I never care about my phone really.
“Like, even on Love Island, a lot of the Islanders were complaining about missing their phone. I was like, ‘I’m loving not having my phone’.”
Meanwhile, Reverend Coles – a writer, radio presenter and Church of England priest – said he’s been consuming 5,000 calories a day on a cruise in preparation.
Reverend Richard Coles is no stranger to reality TV after also appearing on Masterchef in 2016 (Tim P. Whitby/Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for St John Ambulance)
“I would like to say that I’ve been lowering my calorie intake to prepare for that, but that’s not worked out so far. I’ve been trying not to look at nature programs about the horrors of Australia,” the 62-year-old admitted.
“I don’t think there are many precedents for this, although, vicars have been going into jungles for years and years and years as missionaries.”
The writer is also worried about keeping his I’m A Celeb campmates up at night with his snoring.
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While you’d expect most of the folks on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! to be decently loaded, there’s one person in this year’s line-up who might surprise you.
To be fair, pretty much everyone going on the show is famous enough that they should be doing alright financially, and even those who aren’t are usually able to make a decent bit of money out of going on the show.
However, not everybody is a former boyband member with a successful business like the Reverend Richard Coles, who is pencilled in to be a late arrival for this year’s I’m A Celeb.
Rev Coles and former Love Island star Maura Higgins were announced as late entrants to the jungle, and it won’t be long before they’re also being put through their paces with trials.
As far as money is concerned, Rev Coles is apparently doing alright for himself in that department.
Coleen Rooney is thought to be the highest paid celeb ever to appear on I’m A Celeb. (ITV)
According to The Sun, his company Mistramark Ltd paid £179,047 in corporation tax between 2022 and 2023, which they say means it must have made a profit of around £940,000.
The reverend has had a number of income sources, as in his younger days, he was one half of pop duo The Communards along with Jimmy Somerville, where they did pretty well.
Their cover version of ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ ended up being the biggest selling single in the UK in 1986.
While his appearance on I’m A Celeb is likely to be pretty lucrative, as it is for pretty much everyone who goes on the show as long as they stick it out long enough, Coles has been a rather frequent fixture on our screens for some time.
He’s appeared on the likes of Have I Got News For You, QI, Celebrity Masterchef and Strictly Come Dancing, so getting on I’m A Celeb is just another feather in his televisual cap.
In his younger days, Richard Coles (left) was part of 80s pop group The Communards. (Tim Roney/Getty Images)
Speaking ahead of their entry into the jungle, the two incoming celebrities don’t sound particularly prepared for the trials and tribulations that’ll be thrown at them.
Higgins said she didn’t want to be known as the ‘biggest wimp in the camp’, but admitted to the Mirror that she ‘might just die’ if she got spiders poured on her head.
As for Richard Coles, he said he hadn’t been getting ready for the lowered food intake that comes with being on I’m A Celeb, as he instead went on a cruise and had about 5,000 calories a day.
He’s the first man of the cloth to go on I’m A Celeb, and admitted he’d been ‘trying not to look at nature programmes about the horrors of Australia’.
