Weather at the I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! camp has meant that it has had to close down, mere weeks away from the series' return. The popular series, which is hosted by Ant & Dec, will be back on ITV in the autumn.
This year's series of I'm A Celebrity returns to Australia for the first time in two years, as during 2020 and 2021, Gwrych Castle in North Wales was used as a temporary location because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Filming operations have now ceased as a ‘precautionary measure’ following reports of severe flooding in the area.
A spokeswoman for ITV told the PA news agency: "We closed site for 24 hours as a precautionary measure due to the inclement weather."
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The Mirror reports that Australia has been hit by widespread flooding several times this year and the bad weather has continued as ITV bosses try to put the final touches to the jungle camp. The heavy rainfall, which included 53mm on Sunday, will lead to fears the show could be forced to evacuate celebrities if a similar downpour was to hit during filming. In total, 96mm of rain fell from Saturday to Monday in the area. From 1972-2000 the month of October averaged 100mm for the whole month.
The closest small town to the jungle camp site, Murwillumbah, was also virtually underwater in March with dozens of homes evacuated and any more heavy rain in the next few weeks would pose problems for the town and the show being filmed.
It wouldn't be the first time that weather has affected the I'm A Celebrity camp, as in 2015, it was evacuated due to thunder, lightning and torrential rain. The bad weather also meant cameras and lighting used on the show have lost power for a few hours. Celebs took shelter in the Bush Telegraph before returning to camp later.
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