An has spilled the jungle beans on the off-camera I’m A Celebrity tension and drams that viewers will never see.
Former legend Gillian McKeith exclusively tells that the camp is often at boiling with tension from competitive celebs vying for screen time.
Gillian, who was one of the more memorable stars on the show when she appeared in 2010, says what show bosses will not show is that there’s a lot of misery on set and very little down time for the exhausted stars who are routinely chosen for arduous trials.
The “chosen ones” also often return to a camp full of resented bored celebs. “I never had much down time in camp as I was out every day doing my trials much to the annoyance of most of the campmates,” says the Daily Express columnist.
“What the viewers don’t realise is that the trials take hours out of the day. And if there ever was a spare moment in between my trials, I was either doing a challenge with Shaun Ryder for example, or cooking up rice and beans while secretly seasoning the rice and beans to make the food more palatable.”
But her efforts to feed the camp were often not appreciated because of bitterness over the poo expert’s seemingly high visibility with viewers.
Gillian had one of the most dramatic trials in I’m A Celeb history (Image: ITV)
“Campmates can get quite upset/angry if they see the same person being voted for all the trials, it creates jealousy in some,” she explained. “I think we caught a glimpse of this with Dean. There seems to be a competitiveness for the air time as most people actually want to do the trials. Not me though. I would have been quite happy to just cook rice and beans and do zero trials. I would never have felt bored.”
“It would have been bliss just swinging the day away in my hammock,” she added. “No such luck for me though.” She also made a slight dig about some of her more “thespy” campmates.
“Filling the time also depends on who you have made a connection with… The actor types tend to like talking about themselves, so that fills up plenty of space.
“Some chat can be as exciting as a plain boiled potato after a while,” she continued. “You need to find things to occupy yourself. Singing can help but often annoys others.”
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Gillian reveals celebs are competitive for airtime and get jealous over trials (Image: ITV)
Gillian was the talk of the town when she starred on reality show fainting her way through trials and sneaking spices into camp in her knickers.
Of her first show arrival, she said: “I remember every detail of both experiences and could talk for days about it. I have been in the Jungle twice now. 2010 in Australia (PTSD experience) and 2023 in South Africa. I am an iconic jungle veteran.
“My entry in 2010 was the most horrific for me. There was a pre-entry experience where we were plopped into the jungle via helicopter (I’m afraid of helicopters and heights and always said I would never go in one), still wearing our fancy arrival clothes.”
The 2024 cast of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! also didn’t have an easy start, with the launch episode landing them right in the action.
This year’s contestants have included N-Dubz singer Tulisa Contostavlos, actor Alan Halsall and pro Oti Mabuse. , McFly singer Danny Jones, and boxer Barry McGuigan.
The first episode of the season saw the cast take part in a series of challenges, with Tulisa and Alan emerging victorious after a heated race involving cockroaches, capsized canoes, and blended fish eye cocktails
Fans singled out Dean McCullough as an early favourite after the Radio 1 presenter made a “hilarious” joke about fellow campmate Coleen Rooney’s Wagatha Christie trial. However, the radio DJ became the second contestant to be evicted from the camp over the weekend.