I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here: Ant and Dec originally hated ITV show’s title

Presenting duo were pitched the show back in 2001

Ant and Dec weren't keen on the title 'I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!' when showrunners pitched them the new programme

TV presenters Ant and Dec have revealed they thought I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! was an “awful” title when the show was first pitched to them.

The duo have presented the show since it launched on ITV in 2002. This year it will be filmed in the UK for the first time – as opposed to the Dungay Creek “jungle” in New South Wales, Australia – as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking on My Life In A Mixtape with Ant and Dec on BBC Radio 2, Ant McPartlin said: “The producers came in, they explained 'So, we're going to get these celebrities, we're going to put them in a jungle, we're going to make them do these kind of... face their fears and do trials and stuff.'

“And we were like, 'Well, this all sounds good, a bit like Big Brother and it's a bit like other things, and they're putting it all together.'"

When the hosting duo were told the title, Donnelly says they looked at one another and said, “'Well that’s awful isn’t it?'”

McPartlin added: “What a terrible title. We we're like, 'Yeah we'll do it, but the title will change, obviously!' Twenty years later, it hasn't changed and it's a huge show.”

While the show experienced great success, Ant and Dec’s memories of the first series were less positive. 

“None of us really knew what we were doing, let's be honest," Donnelly said. “We were making the show up as we went along. We were stuck in the middle of Australia, not really knowing what we were doing and the days were long.”

“None of us really knew if it was going to fly or not. [...] We were in the middle of nowhere, there were wild animals everywhere, there were spiders that could eat your head.”

My Life In A Mixtape with Ant and Dec is available to listen on BBC Sounds.

Additional reporting by Press Association