As our favourite reality TV show finishes for another year, we go behind the scenes and find out what REALLY goes on in the celebrity jungle when no one is looking…
1) Finding the celebrity contestants that are going to entertain us each year is a difficult job. In any given year, the producers see anything between 60-90 potential celebs. We didn’t know so many people would be up for eating bugs…
2) Once a celebrity has been signed up, they’re sent a comprehensive pack that details what they are letting themselves in for. No backing out now!
3) Where possible, members of the crew chaperone the celebrities all the way to Australia, where the show is filmed, to ensure news of their arrival doesn’t leak. Once they arrive, they are placed on lockdown, to make sure they don’t come across any of the other stars, until it is time for the show to start.
4) They are allowed to bring in very few belongings. They can bring just three sets of underwear and three sets of swimwear each, and even that is generous. Back when the show was beginning, they contemplated only letting them have one pair each.
5) For series 1, even deodorant was banned, however the camera crew continually complained about the stench and this was scrapped by series 2.
6) The contestants are allowed ONE personal item each. However, a long list of things are banned, including iPods, phones and books. No boredom quelling here. So the most popular items the celebs choose to bring in tend to be photos or chairs.
7) The show, although live, now has a 5-second delay for broadcast after John Lydon, back in series 3, continually swore during the live segments.
8) At any one time, there are 50 different cameras filming the campmates. All the footage is then trawled through each day and cut down to around 30 minutes for the daily episode.
9) Before the show starts, a group of people, spend a few days living in camp to make sure everything is working as it should, and they do dummy runs of all the Bushtucker trials. This ensures nothing (within reason) goes wrong once it starts.
10) Germany and Australia are the only other countries to have their own versions of I’m A Celebrity still running. The German version is said to be far tougher than the UK one though. During the eating challenges, the celebs have to eat double what they do in the English show.
11) The resident jungle safety expert, Medic Bob was never supposed to be seen on screen. He started appearing when he was forced to tend to Nigel Benn who was bitten by a Python during a series 1 Bushtucker trial.
12) The campsite Snake Rock got its name because when producers were setting up camp for the first time there was a snake asleep on a rock. Simple!
13) It isn’t an easy job connecting the camp to where Ant and Dec present the show. Setting it up requires four miles of rope, five miles of steel cabling, 60 tonnes of scaffolding, and half a mile of suspension bridges.
14) Ant and Dec have an early start to contend with so that the show is broadcastable at prime time for the UK audience. They work 2.30am – 10.30am local time every day. Ouch!
15) There has been a number of bug shortages, to use in the trial, (due to droughts), to contend with, over the years. These include witchetty grubs and cockroaches, but the worst was when they were forced to pay locals $5 a spider for help finding them.
We can’t wait to see how the camp mates get on this year.
I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here is on ITV at 9pm every night.
