When this season of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! debuted earlier this month, there were concerns that this roster of stars was simply too nice for their own good. Where are the loathsome politicians? The brassy socialites? Between Oti Mabuse’s dancefloor charm, Alan Halsall’s affable soap-star quality, and the gruff vulnerability of ex-boxer Barry McGuigan, it’s been pretty much happy families all the way through.
As if things couldn’t get any chummier – enter Reverend Richard Coles. Having left the world of pop stardom behind in his twenties (he was the other half of the Communards with Jimmy Somerville), Coles has spent much of his adult life apparently pursuing another profession: World’s Nicest Man. Alongside that endeavour, of course, he was an Anglican vicar (he retired in 2022) and a broadcaster (notably on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live). The 62-year-old’s sweet-as-pie reputation was only fortified by his recent foray into the murder mystery genre. Coles writes the cosy kind, à la fellow nice guy Richard Osman.
