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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Simon Duke & Jessica Sansome

ITV I'm A Celebrity make major change ahead of new series that will affect stars and their families

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here is back in a matter of days and fans are eagerly awaiting to see its return to its spiritual home of Australia. Ant Mc Partlin and Dec Donnelly have already arrived Down Under ahead of the start of the 2022 series next Sunday, November 6.

The ITV reality show is returning to its original jungle location after the past two series were filmed at Gwrych Castle in North Wales due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. And the hosts are not the only ones to touch down in Oz as the celebrities heading into the jungle this year have already been spotted making their way through Brisbane Airport this week.

The show's 2022 stars have been seen touching down in Australia - including Coronation Street’s Sue Cleaver, reality TV star Olivia Attwood, radio DJ Chris Moyles and Loose Women star Charlene White.

READ MORE: ITV I'm A Celebrity's Dec Donnelly makes family confession as he lands in Australia

It also appears to have been confirmed that the previously mentioned celebrities will also be joined by the likes of Culture Club's Boy George, former rugby player and royal through marriage Mike Tindall and Lioness Jill Scott among a string of others.

But there will be a major change for the stars heading out to appear on the latest edition of the show - and their families. It has been reported that this year they won't be staying in the plush Palazzo Versace Hotel that stars from many past series have stayed in and lapped up the luxury.

The Palazzo Versace was previously the hotel of choice (commons.wikimedia.org)

Instead, ITV bosses have decided to take over a Marriott hotel instead, according to Chronicle Live. Rooms at the Palazzo Versace are said to start at £1,000, whereas the prices at the JW Marriott Gold Coast Resort and Spa start at a slightly more affordable £256.

On the decision to switch bases, a source told The Sun: "ITV has used the Versace ever since the series came to Queensland in 2004. Those classic scenes of the muddy, exhausted celebs arriving in the glamorous, gleaming lobby are part of I’m A Celeb’s very fabric. The new hotel is lovely, but just different to the bouji opulence of the Versace, which is so well-known to viewers."

ITV declined to comment when approached by the Manchester Evening News.

(ITV)

A comical trailer released two weeks ago for the new series showed Ant and Dec returning to the jungle in a helicopter. A worried-looking Dec was told by a daredevil Ant that their luggage was meeting them there as items flew out of the helicopter. Ant then jumped from the aircraft as he told his pal "Remember, wherever I go, you have to go."

Ant flung an 'always together contract' at Dec as his worried friend confessed: "I wish I'd never signed that thing." Dec then took the plunge himself with the famous cry of "get me out of here!."

While in the air, he spotted a box of 'kangaroo testicles' en-route to camp, as as he yelled "holy!" Ant added "shoot!", instructing him to open his parachute. Their parachutes together spelled out "we're back" and a narrator teased: "I'm a Celebrity... returns to the jungle this November."

It has since been confirmed by ITV in a tweet that the show, which launched in 2002, will begin on Sunday, November 6 at 9pm. Fans noticed that the start date is slightly earlier than usual, to avoid a clash with the 2022 FIFA World Cup which kicks off in Qatar on Sunday, November 20.

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