The big draw of this year’s I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! was supposed to be Nigel Farage. His appearance was meant to galvanise the entire show, in the way that previous appearances from politicians had. He would turn up, all the campmates would yell at him, he’d be forced to do an endless succession of grisly bushtucker trials, he would earn a thin patina of respect for his endurance and then he would end up coming fourth.
But that hasn’t really happened. Farage was paid £1.5m to appear on I’m a Celebrity, and so far he only appears to have repelled viewers. Just 7m people watched the first episode this year, compared with more than 9m in 2022. Even accounting for the speed at which viewers are deserting terrestrial broadcasters, that’s a hell of a drop. In fact, it might even signal the end of the show itself.
