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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Anita McSorley & Jess Phillips

I'm A Celebrity 'fix row' as eagle-eyed viewers spot clue in Ant and Dec 'rigged' trial

I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! is facing claims it's "fixed" as eagle-eyed fans slammed a "rigged" trial.

Viewers of the ITV show, which airs on Virgin Media One in Ireland, had a lot to say about the Tombolo trial on Thursday night.

It saw hosts Ant and Dec draw balls from a bingo machine to pick which three campmates would head to the beach for a barbecue, while three others would face a Bushtucker Trial.

READ MORE: Motorist 'almost killed' after car drives down wrong side of Irish motorway as gardai investigate

Hollyoaks' Owen Warner had plenty more balls in the game than any of the other celebs - but he failed to win the beach trip and was the last contestant picked for the trial, Daily Star reports.

Fans think they may have spotted Ant and Dec peering into the tombola machine, allowing them to see the coloured balls which corresponded to the colour of a celeb's shirt. The balls also had the contestants' faces on.

Taking to Twitter to share their theories, one fan posted: "Tombola was rigged. Show wanted Matt (obvious reasons) whilst Sue and Jill both selected Owen's ball on their trial.

"Those 3 had to have at least 1 ball in draw and that's why each contestant was given 1 ball for free. Their 3 balls preloaded into clips inside tombola."

Someone else agreed: "Not the ball tombola probably being rigged. People with the lowest count got picked for the BBQ and the people with the highest count got picked to do the trial??? Don’t be shy Ant & Dec, show us behind the tombola.

"Also ofc Matt got picked to go to the BBQ, not like he needed any more nice things to happen to him in the jungle."

As a third fan pointed out: "That tombola had to be a fix. How did no double colours come out and on the 2nd spin how did none of the beach colours get drawn?"

"Rigged tombola. Neither campmates or camera saw the ball being taken out of the tombola, nor was an identical coloured ball taken out twice - what are the chances of that?" another Twitter user said.

While someone else posted: "That was proper fixed on #imaceleb no way was Dec picking them balls out of the tombola and he never picked the same colour twice? Come on!"

In Friday's episode, Charlene quit the Watery Grave trial after winning just two stars, overcome with emotion as she was forced to duck under the dirty water. She later became the first celebrity to be evicted from the Jungle.

I'm A Celebrity continues on Virgin Media One at 9pm.

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