I’m A Celebrity – Mega Factfile
Sunday, 15th November 2009
With just a few hours until the new series of I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! kicks off, we’ve put together a load of really interesting facts to whet your jungle appetite.
The camp
The ‘camp’ is based in the Australian rain forest which is 10,500 miles from Britain, two hours from Brisbane and just outside the small town of Murwillumbah.
The ‘famous’ I’m A Celebrity….Get Me Out Of Here! bridges that allow Ant & Dec to enter camp hang at 19m at their highest point above the jungle floor.
A huge amount of cables are erected including half a mile of suspension bridges, 400 metres of bridges, four miles of rope, five miles of steel cabling and 60 tons of scaffolding
Behind the scenes
There are approximately 500 members of the crew ranging from security, runners, producers, catering and editors.
In order to cater to the crew and the celebrities, a huge amount of food has to be sourced. In previous series the crew have got through: 8,500 meals made up of 3,000 eggs, 400kg of potatoes, 300kg of steak and 100kg of ice cream
Last year’s Bushtucker Trials used approximately: 200,000 cockroaches, 65,000 crickets, 2.5 million meal worms, 20 small crocodiles, six one metre long crocodiles, 250 spiders and 500 rats.
The programme
The first ever episode transmitted on ITV1 on Monday the 26th of August 2002 and attracted an audience of 6.3 million. The series now regularly attracts much higher audiences, last year 9.1 million viewers tuned in to see actor Joe Swash crowned King of The Jungle.
The format is successful worldwide and there have been versions of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! in India, USA, Germany, Hungary, France and Sweden.
There are 14 edit suites working around the clock to produce the ITV1 show.
Two satellites send the programme 10,500 miles to Britain ready to be transmitted.
Medic Bob has worked on every series.
The celebs
Over the last eight series a total of 86 celebrities have camped out in the jungle.
Tara Palmer Tomkinson was the first celebrity to attempt a Bushtucker Trial. The public voted for Tara to face the Jungle Shower and the “it” girl won all eight meals for the camp.
The winners for each are: series one, Tony Blackburn; series two, Phil Tufnell; series three, Kerry Katona; series four, Joe Pasquale; series five, Carol Thatcher; series six, Matt Willis; series seven, Christopher Biggins and series eight, Joe Swash.
Both romances that started in the jungle have now failed. Peter and Jordan famously split up recently and Mark Bannerman and Cerys Mathews broke up last year. Will there be any romance this year?
The only married couple ever to star on I’m A Celebrity are Vic Reeves and Nancy Sorell.
Kerry Katona almost left the jungle after three days but was convinced to stay and went on to win the series.
In series three Phil Tufnell offered a cameraman £500 for a cigarette. He was ignored.
In series two Anthony Worrell Thompson led a revolution because the whole camp was given one sausage each for dinner. They made it all the way to the studio before being sent back to camp. As a result a draw bridge was put in place to make sure there is no escape route. The only way out is to shout, ‘I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!’, or to be evicted.
The only celebrities to walk out of the jungle without being evicted are Natalie Appleton, Jon Lydon, Elaine Lordan, Kimberley Davies and Brian Harvey.
Last series Martina Navratilova had to be woken up in the night because her knickers caught fire. Lucky she wasn’t wearing them at the time.
Malcolm McLaren is the only celebrity cast member who has been flown all the way to Australia and put up in the Versace Hotel before he decided that he didn’t want to do the show and returned home.
Uri Geller was the first celebrity to attempt an eating trial in series one. Uri found it even more difficult because he was a vegetarian.
Myleene Klass caused a stir on 2006’s I’m A Celebrity in 2006 when she donned her ‘legendary’ white bikini. The musician and TV presenter auctioned off the swimwear to raise money for victims who had been affected by the collapse of the Christmas saving firm Farepax and raised around £7500.
Photos: ITV
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