I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British TV series)
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! is a British survival reality television, created by London Weekend Television, produced by ITV Studios, and aired on ITV from Australia. The format sees a group of celebrities living together in an Australian jungle camp with few creature comforts. Each member undertakes challenges to secure additional food and treats for the group, and to avoid being voted out by viewers during their stay, with the final episode's votes nominating who wins a series and become crowned as "King or Queen of the Jungle". In February 2020 it was announced that ITV had renewed I'm a Celebrity for 3 more years to keep it on screens until 2022.
The programme's first series debuted on 25 August 2002, and was produced by both LWT and Granada Television, and filmed within Tully, Queensland. Later series were undertaken by ITV Studios, and filmed around Murwillumbah, New South Wales. Celebrities participating on the programme receive a donation from ITV to a charity they nominate, with the money raised from charges on voting via text, phone or interactive services. Each series is hosted by Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, with the sole exception of the eighteenth series, in which McPartlin suspended his TV duties for a year in 2018, leaving Donnelly to be joined by Holly Willoughby.
I'm a Celebrity is often a ratings winner for ITV, attracting on average over 9 million viewers each series, with its success spawning an international franchise of the same name. The main show was accompanied by a sister show on ITV2, entitled , which featured behind-the-scenes footage and discussions on celebrities voted out of the latest episode, and clips of the next episode.
Format
In return for their appearance on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, the celebrities are asked to nominate a charity to which the producers, ITV Studios, make donations. The celebrities themselves are also paid a fee to compensate them for possible loss of earnings while they are in the jungle. The money is raised by allowing viewers to vote by phone for the celebrity they would like to complete a "Bushtucker Trial" – a physical task usually involving snakes, spiders or other creepy-crawlies found in the jungle – and, later in each series, to vote for the celebrity they would like to see win the show. The final remaining celebrity is declared the winner of the show, and is branded "King/Queen of the Jungle".Bushtucker trials
trials are used in the show to allow the contestants to gain food and treats for camp. Bushtucker Trials take two formats: eating trials, or physical/mental tasks.In the eating trials, contestants are required to eat a variety of different "jungle" foods. Each dish successfully eaten will gain the contestants one star, which equals one meal for camp. The foods that are required to be eaten can include: crickets, green ants, mealworms, witchetty grub, roasted spider or tarantulas, kangaroo testicles, kangaroo penis, kangaroo vaginal parts, crocodile penis, cockroach. Other past foods include beach worms, bull's tongues, the anus of various animals, vomit fruits, cooked pigs' brains, various animal testicles, raw fish eyes, sheep eyes, blended rats or mice tails. Prior to the airing of the 19th series in 2019, ITV announced that eating trials will no longer contain live bugs. The second type of challenge is more of a physical or mental task that requires the contestants to perform activities to gain stars. These can include searching through dung, going through tunnels, negotiating obstacles on high wires, or performing other tasks.
Dingo Dollar challenges
Another way that contestants can earn treats is to do what is known as the "Dingo Dollar Challenge". This involves two or more celebrities going into the jungle to perform a task that releases an item to open a container with an amount of dingo dollars. Once that has been completed and the dollars have been retrieved, it is taken to a small woodshack shop, with shopkeeper Kiosk Kev.Filming location
The first series of the show was filmed on a smaller site at King Ranch near Tully, Queensland, in Australia. Since the second series, the programme has been filmed around Springbrook National Park, near Murwillumbah, New South Wales, Australia. The camp and filming studios are located in Dungay on Creek Road.Inside the entrance to the filming location is an open area allocated to buildings which accommodate on-site medical facilities, containers for the storage of props, and other backstage facilities. Families and friends of the celebrities are housed here each morning during evictions. From this area, a restricted access road climbs to the site of the studios. The road then heads down into a valley via four-wheel drive access to the set of the show.
Controversies
- In 2006, ITV apologised after confusion over instructions for telephone and red-button interactive voting led to allegations in the media that the wrong person had been evicted in the run-off vote in the sixth series between Toby Anstis and Dean Gaffney.
- In November 2006, the series was forced to enhance its procedures after Ofcom found that they had breached Rule 1.16 of the Broadcasting Code for airing bad language before the watershed.
- An episode broadcast on 30 November 2006 was ruled to have breached Rule 2.2 of the Broadcasting Code after an investigation launched as part of the wider UK television public voting controversy. Due to late running, seven percent of phone and text votes for that episode of the show were not counted, although this did not effect the result.
- Sarah Matravers blamed the series for the breakdown of her relationship with contestant Marc Bannerman after he flirted with Cerys Matthews in the seventh series. Matthews and Bannerman later alleged the footage had been edited by ITV.
- Former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, who was due to appear on the seventh series but pulled out at the last minute, alleged that the show and the choice of winner was fixed, and the trials posed no real danger. He alleged that the show doctor told him that "Things are so safe, I would send my own kids in to do the show. There is nothing bad in there. They're hoodwinking the public".
- In 2009, ITV apologised for not having properly advised the contestants in the ninth series of the relevant Australian legislation regarding animal cruelty. Gino D'Acampo and Stuart Manning were charged by New South Wales Police after RSPCA Australia complained over their killing and eating of a rat during the show.
- In 2012, the decision by Nadine Dorries to enter the show was the source of criticism, which led to her suspension from the Conservative Party due to allegations she did not seek permission from the party whip Andrew Mitchell, resulting in an inquiry by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
- The fifteenth series saw Ferne McCann eat a live water spider as part of a bushtucker trial. Ofcom reportedly received 694 complaints from the public over allegations of 'animal cruelty for entertainment'. ITV also received a further 500 complaints. In January 2016, it was reported no further action would be taken.
- In 2017, Viewers complained that camp mate Iain Lee was the subject of bullying and isolation from other camp mates during the seventeenth series, and there were concerns raised due to the effect it could have on his mental health. There were calls for fellow contestant Rebekah Vardy to be cut as a mental health ambassador, due to her alleged role in the 'bullying'. On the ITV programme Good Morning Britain the day after her eviction, Vardy defended herself for remarks she made about Iain Lee in Extra Camp, the ITV2 spin-off series, stating that she was "under pressure", and that they were taken out of context. After his eviction from the camp, Dennis Wise also said on Good Morning Britain that he and Lee were on friendly terms, and said that ITV would not allow bullying on the show. He later accused the show of 'editing him' to look like a bully. Following his third place eviction, Lee directly addressed his relationship with those accused of 'picking on him', stating that he "loves them" and that there's "no beef between ". He also addressed claims that he had a "game plan", stating that he was just being himself.
- In 2019, some viewers criticised Adele Roberts' elimination after a typing error in the app caused confusion over the votes. App votes were therefore not counted, which led to only phone votes to have an effect on the elimination.
Series overview
Series 1 (2002)
The first series consisted of 8 contestants, and was broadcast from 25 August to 8 September 2002.| Celebrity | Famous for | Entered | Exited | Finished |
| Tony Blackburn | BBC Radio 1 disc jockey | Day 1 | Day 15 | 1st |
| Tara Palmer-Tomkinson | Socialite, model, columnist & television presenter | Day 1 | Day 15 | 2nd |
| Christine Hamilton | TV personality & wife of Neil Hamilton | Day 1 | Day 14 | 3rd |
| Nell McAndrew | Glamour model & television presenter | Day 1 | Day 13 | 4th |
| Rhona Cameron | Comedian | Day 1 | Day 12 | 5th |
| Darren Day | Actor & singer | Day 1 | Day 11 | 6th |
| Nigel Benn | Former Middleweight champion boxer | Day 1 | Day 10 | 7th |
| Uri Geller | Magician, television personality & self-proclaimed psychic | Day 1 | Day 9 | 8th |
Series 2 (2003)
The second series consisted of 10 contestants, and was broadcast from 28 April to 12 May 2003.| Celebrity | Famous for | Entered | Exited | Finished |
| Phil Tufnell | Former England cricketer | Day 1 | Day 15 | 1st |
| John Fashanu | Former England striker & television presenter | Day 1 | Day 15 | 2nd |
| Linda Barker | Changing Rooms presenter & interior designer | Day 1 | Day 15 | 3rd |
| Wayne Sleep | Royal Ballet dancer | Day 1 | Day 14 | 4th |
| Antony Worrall Thompson | Celebrity chef | Day 1 | Day 13 | 5th |
| Toyah Willcox | Singer-songwriter & actress | Day 1 | Day 12 | 6th |
| Catalina Guirado | Model & reality television star | Day 1 | Day 11 | 7th |
| Chris Bisson | East Is East actor | Day 1 | Day 10 | 8th |
| Danniella Westbrook | Former EastEnders actress | Day 1 | Day 9 | 9th |
| Siân Lloyd | Television weather reporter | Day 1 | Day 8 | 10th |
Series 3 (2004)
The third series consisted of 10 contestants, and was broadcast from 26 January to 9 February 2004.| Celebrity | Famous for | Entered | Exited | Finished |
| Kerry Katona | Atomic Kitten singer | Day 1 | Day 16 | 1st |
| Jennie Bond | BBC royal correspondent | Day 1 | Day 16 | 2nd |
| Peter Andre | Pop singer | Day 1 | Day 16 | 3rd |
| Lord Brocket | Television presenter | Day 1 | Day 15 | 4th |
| Katie "Jordan" Price | Glamour model | Day 1 | Day 14 | 5th |
| Alex Best | Glamour model & ex-wife of George Best | Day 1 | Day 13 | 6th |
| John Lydon | Sex Pistols band member & presenter | Day 1 | Day 11 | 7th |
| Neil "Razor" Ruddock | Former England footballer | Day 1 | Day 11 | 8th |
| Diane Modahl | Olympic middle distance runner | Day 1 | Day 10 | 9th |
| Mike Read | Radio DJ & journalist | Day 1 | Day 9 | 10th |
Series 4 (2004)
The fourth series consisted of 11 contestants, and was broadcast from 21 November to 6 December 2004.| Celebrity | Famous for | Entered | Exited | Finished |
| Joe Pasquale | Comedian | Day 1 | Day 18 | 1st |
| Paul Burrell | Former Royal Household butler | Day 1 | Day 18 | 2nd |
| Fran Cosgrave | Nightclub manager, television personality & bodyguard | Day 1 | Day 18 | 3rd |
| Janet Street-Porter | Broadcaster & journalist | Day 1 | Day 17 | 4th |
| Sophie Anderton | Glamour model | Day 1 | Day 15 | 5th |
| Antonio Fargas | Starsky & Hutch actor | Day 1 | Day 14 | 6th |
| Sheila Ferguson | The Three Degrees singer | Day 1 | Day 13 | 7th |
| Vic Reeves | Vic and Bob comedian | Day 5 | Day 12 | 8th |
| Nancy Sorrell | Model & television presenter | Day 1 | Day 11 | 9th |
| Natalie Appleton | All Saints singer | Day 1 | Day 10 | 10th |
| Brian Harvey | East 17 singer | Day 2 | Day 7 | 11th |
Series 5 (2005)
The fifth series consisted of 12 contestants, and was broadcast from 20 November to 5 December 2005.| Celebrity | Famous for | Entered | Exited | Finished |
| Carol Thatcher | Journalist & author | Day 1 | Day 18 | 1st |
| Sheree Murphy | Former Emmerdale actress | Day 1 | Day 18 | 2nd |
| Sid Owen | Former EastEnders actor & singer | Day 1 | Day 18 | 3rd |
| Jimmy Osmond | The Osmonds singer & actor | Day 1 | Day 17 | 4th |
| Bobby Ball | Cannon and Ball comedian & actor | Day 6 | Day 16 | 5th |
| Antony Costa | Former Blue singer | Day 1 | Day 15 | 6th |
| Jenny Frost | Former Atomic Kitten singer | Day 1 | Day 14 | 7th |
| David Dickinson | Former Bargain Hunt presenter | Day 1 | Day 12 | 8th |
| Kimberley Davies | Former Neighbours actress | Day 1 | Day 11 | 9th |
| Jilly Goolden | Wine critic & journalist | Day 1 | Day 11 | 10th |
| Tommy Cannon | Cannon and Ball comedian | Day 6 | Day 10 | 11th |
| Elaine Lordan | Former EastEnders actress | Day 1 | Day 1 | 12th |