The famous faces heading to the jungle to appear in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! 2023 have finally been unveiled.
First Dates star Fred Sirieix, This Morning host Josie Gibson, Masterchef’s Grace Dent, former politician Nigel Farage, Britney Spears’ sister Jamie Lynn Spears and reality star Sam Thompson have now been confirmed as appearing on the ITV show.
EastEnders actor Danielle Harold, Hollyoaks legend Nick Pollard, singer and presenter Marvin Humes and YouTube star Nella Rose will be joining them.
The 10 celebrities will be introduced to the nation on Sunday night's launch show. There, they will also meet long-time presenters Ant and Dec and brace themselves for up to three weeks of living in the Australian outback and taking part in the dreaded Bushtucker Trials.
According to Ladbrokes, Big Brother star Gibson is an early favourite to take the title - and is currently 7/2 to be crowned Queen of the Jungle. Thompson is currently at 9/2 with Farage at 10/1.
Perhaps the biggest - and most controversial - signing of 2023 is Farage, 59.
Weeks before he was confirmed as a contestant, GB News star Farage said he was giving an I’m A Celeb offer “very serious consideration” after having turned down the opportunity “several times since 2016”.
He is rumoured to be among the highest paid names to have ever been signed, and is reported to be earning £1.5million for his stint on the show.
Speaking about why he wanted to take part this year, Farage said he was was inspired by fellow former politician Matt Hancock, who took part in the show in 2022.
The rumours are true.. I’ll see you in the jungle! 🦘 pic.twitter.com/ohYl1vD4Dp
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) November 13, 2023
“I want to test myself,~” he said. “Business, politics, media, I’ve done so many different jobs and generally I have been reasonably successful.
"But I have never been tested in quite this way. It’s such a mental test and maybe I will discover who I really am.
“I understood why Matt Hancock did it. He went in there with his reputation on the floor. The truth is after the banking issue I raised a few months ago, I was standing up for a million people who had lost their bank accounts, then winning at the TRIC awards, I am going in at a different stage of my career.”
The former Ukip and Brexit Party leader said he has been training for the ITV reality show for the past five days by abstaining from tea, coffee and alcohol.
He has been backed by the likes of Nadine Dorries - the former culture secretary who appeared on the ITV show in 2012. She was the first sitting MP to take part. She was suspended by the Conservative Party for her appearance and was readmitted in May 2013.
She said on Good Morning Britain: “I think Nigel will do very very well. He’s got the chutzpah, he’s got the personality. I think he’ll do very well in I’m a Celebrity.”
Some fans of the show have called for it to be boycotted due to his controversial views,
Another potentially explosive candidate to join the jungle is Jamie Lynn Spears - the sister of pop megastar Britney.
Spears has already hinted she will reveal details about her sister in the jungle, while adding she wishes to “challenge perceptions” people may have of her.
Britney recently spoke out about her younger sister in her autobiography The Woman In Me. In it, she claimed Jamie Lynn had refused her plea for help after Britney was admitted to a residential treatment facility against her will.
Jamie Lynn also spoke out about her fractious relationship with her sister in her 2022 memoir Things I Should Have Said: Family, Fame, and Figuring it Out.
Speaking about public perceptions, the actress, 32, said: “There is literally every misconception you can have on a person about me, so I don’t take any of it seriously.
“But I do think going on I’m A Celebrity will be a nice way for people to see the real me.
“This is an opportunity to be myself and do something really cool and have some awesome experiences in the meantime.”
The reality TV programme involves celebrity contestants taking part in challenges where they come face-to-face with creepy crawlies and animals, typically including rats and snakes.
Spears added: “I think my best quality is the fact that it takes a lot to hurt my feelings.
“Unless you are my children or my immediate family, nothing is going to hurt me. I can take a lot of shit and it doesn’t get me down, so I really think it’s a good quality to have in a place where a lot of stuff is thrown at you!”
The Zoey 101 actress, who revealed that she is afraid of snakes and rats, said: “Everything I have seen I have been afraid of. Absolutely every one of these trials I am dreading.
“I haven’t looked at any of them and thought, ‘Oh cool, I could do that one’.
“This is going to be terrifying.”
Before Spears joined the programme, she said she had to get the go-ahead from her family members.
“When they (the show) approached me, the first thing I had to do was talk it over with my family and my kids to make sure they were OK about me being gone for this amount of time,” she said.
“Once I got the all-clear from everybody, I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s go’.
Meanwhile, Made In Chelsea star Thompson, 31, said he was looking forward to having a digital detox while in the show. “To be able to throw the phone away and get in the wild will be so cool. I spend my whole life on my phone and so I am looking forward to getting stuck in.”
Food critic Grace Dent admitted she was nervous about the culinary delicacies on offer - suggesting she felt she was likely to be chosen for the food trial due to her job.
The Guardian journalist said: “I know they are going to give me an eating trial and I am dreading putting even worse things in my mouth than I have in the past in fancy restaurants! I think I will be writing very stiff columns about the jungle food when I come out!”
I'm A Celebrity starts Sunday 19th November, 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX
