I’m a Celebrity live: Viewing figures revealed as 2024 stars enter jungle
Ratings were on a par with last year’s series – but down two million from 2022
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Your support makes all the difference.The 2024 cast of I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! have not had an easy start, with the launch episode landing them right in the action.
Among this year’s contestants are N-Dubz singer Tulisa Contostavlos, Coronation Street actor Alan Halsall and Strictly Come Dancing pro Oti Mabuse. Others include McFly singer Danny Jones, boxer Barry McGuigan and Coleen Rooney, who is the show’s highest-paid star in its history.
ITV revealed on Monday (18 November) that the first episode was watched by a peak of eight million, and an average of seven million. This is on a par with last year’s launch, with both respective episodes down from the nine million viewers reached in 2022.
The first episode of the new series saw the cast take part in a series of challenges, with Contostavlos and Halsall emerging victorious after a heated race involving cockroaches, capsized canoes, and blended fish eye cocktails
Fans singled out Dean McCullough as an early favourite after the BBC Radio 1 presenter made a “hilarious” joke about fellow campmate Rooney’s “Wagatha Christie” trial the moment he met her.
In the first vote of the series, viewers have selected GK Barry to take part in the next episode’s Bushtucker Trial, which is called Vile Volcano.
New episodes of I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! airs on ITV1 and ITVX every night at 9pm.
Barry McGuigan worries he’ll be ‘cancelled’ for being ‘politically incorrect’ on camera
Barry McGuigan has already had talks with ITV producers to avoid being “cancelled” during his I’m a Celeb stint.
The Irish boxer, 63, admitted he’s concerned he’ll offend one of his fellow campmates by saying sometimes that isn’t “politically correct” while the series is filming in Australia.
“It’s simply impossible to be in a sort of pressurised environment like that for three weeks,’ he toldThe Mirror. “With all the politics that are involved in everyday life, it’s virtually impossible not to be occasionally politically incorrect.”
He added: “It’s just trying to not hurt people’s feelings. I don’t want to do that.”
How much are contestants being paid?
I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! 2024will feature the ITV show’s highest-paid star yet.
The reality TV juggernaut has been a fixture on screens since 2002 and, over the years, the amount of money paid to the participating contestants has exponentially increased.
This gap has widened even more in the last four years alone, with Noel Edmonds, the one-time highest-paid star, receiving £600,000 for what ended up being just one week in the jungle in 2019.
Read more below:
How much are I’m a Celebrity 2024 contestants being paid
This year’s cast includes highest-paid star in ITV show’s 22-year-history
Coleen Rooney reveals ‘secret code’ she’ll use to communicate with her sons from the jungle
Coleen Rooney has a plan to secretly communicate with her sons while she’s in the I’m a Celeb jungle.
The TV personality shares her four children; Kai, 13, Klay, 10, Kit, seven, and Cass, five, with her husband and former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney.
Speaking to The Sun, an insider said Rooney would touch her personalised necklace with her four children’s names on them to let the boys know she’s thinking about them.
“The hardest thing for Coleen will be being away from her sons so she wants them to know they are on her mind,” they said. “It’s the first time she has left them for any period of time.”
Why contestant Tulisa Contostavlos left the spotlight after The X Factor
I’m a Celeb contestant Tulisa Contostavlos enjoyed a successful music career as part of the hip hop trio N-Dubz, who are known for their hits including “I Need You” and “Ouch”.
After the group’s third platinum album was released in 2010, the singer secured a coveted seat on the judging panel of ITV’s The X Factor alongside Gary Barlow, Louis Walsh, and Kelly Rowland. She won her first season with the girl group Little Mix and the public attention on her intensified.
After the talent show series, Contostavlos slowed her showbiz career and retreated from the public eye following a string of scandals, which ended in a court case against her.
Read more below:
Why I’m a Celebrity 2024 contestant Tulisa left the spotlight after The X Factor
The N-Dubz singer has faced several obstacles in the last 10 years
Ruth Langsford signs up to I’m a Celebrity show after ‘tough’ Eamonn Holmes split
Ruth Langsford has secured a role on the new series ofI’m a Celebrity, months after separating from Eamonn Holmes.
The Loose Women and former This Morning presenter has endured a “tough year” but is set to shake that off after securing a key role in the ITV reality series.
Langsford will be in Australia to support her Loose Women co-star, who is entering the jungle, on ITV2 spin-off show I’m a Celebrity: Unpacked alongside hosts Joel Dommett, Kemi Rodgers and last year’s winner Sam Thompson.
Read more below:
Surprise star signs up to I’m a Celebrity show after ‘tough year’
Last-minute appointment comes after challenging year for presenter
Danny Jones weighs in on why he’s the favourite to win I’m a Celeb this year
Danny Jones has addressed the fact he’s the bookies’ favourite to be crowned King of the Jungle this year with odds 2-1.
When asked why he thinks he’s been dubbed the most likely to win I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! the singer told MailOnline: “Because McFly fans are awesome.”
Jones will follow in the footsteps of his bandmate Dougie Poynter who won the competition in 2011.
“I would definitely put all of your mortgage on me,” Jones joked. “I can only do my best for my son and my campmates, and of course, the fans.”
Loose Women’s Jane Moore says she’ll be a ‘shoulder to cry on’ in camp
Loose Women star and journalist Jane Moore is following in the footsteps of fellow panellists Janet Street-Porter, Frankie Bridge and Charlene White. Moore, who first appeared on the ITV panel show in 1999, said she thinks her role in camp will be a “shoulder to cry on”.
“I have been on this planet a long time and I will be the person who will try to help them out,” she admitted.
“My two daughters are really up for me doing it and my youngest one keeps telling me: ‘Mum, it is going to be amazing’. If there is someone young in there struggling, I know it will appeal to my maternal side.”
Rebekah Vardy reignites Coleen Rooney feud ahead of I’m A Celeb debut
Coleen Rooney’s friend-turned-nemesis Rebekah Vardy has said she hopes the TV personality will be forced to eat “bull’s penis, ostrich bum and humble pie,” on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!
The pair have been in dispute since Rooney accused Vardy of leaking information about her to the press in a now famous “Wagatha Christie” Instagram post.
Writing in her column for The Sun, Vardy said: “Everyone seems to think I have this massive problem with Coleen going into the jungle.
“But do you know what? If you want to fan the fire, the flames are going to get higher. I wasn’t going to carry on talking about this, I had no intention of talking about it, but she clearly can’t let it go.
“I think she always wanted my life, she’s following in my footsteps,” Vardy, who entered the jungle in 2017 added.
Here’s the problem with the I’m a Celeb casting this year
After the cast announcement, Sean O’Grady has argued that this year’s offering is seriously lacking due to the absence of a despised political figure,
He writes: “The lineup for this year’s contest on ITV looks to be far too nice and is, for that reason, a regrettable downgrade from more recent years, when at least one despised figure from public life would gamely take part in the jungle challenges.”
“Usually, though not exclusively, this wretch was a politician in urgent need of money, rehabilitation or just missing the attention, and the producers were more than happy to oblige them.”
Read more below:
I’m a Celeb has made a huge casting mistake. The show won’t be the same
ITV previously seemed very happy to oblige politicians in urgent need of money, rehabilitation or just missing the attention, writes Sean O’Grady. But this year’s roster is different
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