TEN new contestants for this year’s line-up for I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! have been revealed.
Among the famous faces heading into Gwrych Castle, near Abergele, are Richard Madeley, football star David Ginola, Emmerdale actor Danny Miller and singer Frankie Bridge.
Here is everything you need to know about this year’s crop of contestants:
Louise Minchin
The 53-year-old has been a household name presenting the BBC’s flagship morning news show, BBC Breakfast. But she presented her final breakfast instalment for the broadcaster in September, after announcing in June that she was stepping back from the show after nearly 20 years.
She first appeared on the show in 2001 and moved with its red sofa to Media City in Salford as a lead presenter in 2012.
During her tenure on the programme, she covered a string of major global news stories including general elections, Brexit, the coronavirus pandemic and terror attacks.
She also interviewed famous faces including the Duchess of Cambridge, singer Billie Eilish and naturalist Sir David Attenborough.
In 2019, she hosted the Wake Up To Menopause campaign after revealing that she suffered hot flushes while presenting live TV.
She also took up endurance sport after competing in a BBC Breakfast Christmas cycling challenge and has gone on to compete internationally for the GB triathlon team in her age group.
She said: "Going on I’m A Celebrity is a big adventure.
“It is very different to sitting on the BBC Breakfast sofa and it will be scary and daunting but it will also be lots of fun.
“I’ve driven past the Castle quite a few times and I am really excited for it to be in Wales again.
"This time last year I had a broken ankle and I literally sat on the sofa at home watching every single minute of it thinking, ‘Oh my gosh that Castle looks incredible, one day I would love to be part of it’ and now I am!”
“I didn’t tell Dan Walker I was doing I’m A Celebrity before coming to Wales but I don’t think he will be surprised! He knows me well and I think he will be both excited and nervous for me. I have been voting for him on Strictly so fingers crossed he will vote for rime a lot.”
Richard Madeley
The veteran broadcaster, 65, has been one of several guest hosts for Good Morning Britain recently alongside Susanna Reid, following Piers Morgan’s departure. But he is perhaps best-known for presenting This Morning alongside wife Judy Finnigan.
The couple launched This Morning, now hosted by Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, and fronted the show for 13 years before moving on in 2001.
The couple’s chat show Richard & Judy aired on Channel 4 for nearly seven years.
Richard said: "Richard says: “Up until now, I’ve always been perfectly happy watching as a viewer but recently, I realised I’m A Celebrity is no longer just a TV programme. It’s become part of the fabric of British life and part of the countdown to Christmas. It suddenly hit me that everyone talks about it the next day and I suddenly wondered what it would be like to be there rather than watching. I realised the time had come to experience it.
“Judy and I talked about it and we realised we couldn’t find a reason for me not to do it. I slept on the offer and when I woke up the next day, I found myself feeling really excited that I was going to say yes.”
“My children think it is hilarious I am taking part!”
Matty Lee
Olympian Lee, 23, won the men’s 10-metre synchro gold with teammate Tom Daley in Tokyo, so any trials involving heights are sure to be a a piece of cake.
Matty said: “My family is buzzing about it all. We were on the way back from the airport where they had picked me up from Tokyo when I got a call about the programme.
“When I told Tom, he was in shock too! He is so excited for me and he has always been so supportive and helped me a lot over the past three years. He gives me advice about anything whether it is relationships or whatever - I always ask Tom.”
Snoochie Shy
The 29-year-old South Londoner has made a name for herself as a Radio 1Xtra DJ hosting the late night slot. She also hosts the podcast Slide Into My Podcast on BBC Sounds. Snoochie says a recent trip to a theme park found her unable to make ‘any noise’.
“There was a 20ft drop on this ride we were on and I was so scared, I didn’t make a noise,” explains Snoochie.
“When I got off the ride I started crying!
“My mum keeps laughing, as she knows I am such a scaredy cat! Bugs and I are not friends, I don’t like heights and I am claustrophobic too. But that all said, one of the things I am most looking forward to
about doing this programme is the Trials!
"They are all crazy.”
Dame Arlene Phillips
At 78, former Strictly Come Dancing judge Dame Arlene is the oldest ever contestant to take part in I’m A Celebrity.
She was recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours this year for services to dance and charity, having first found fame when she created the provocative dance group Hot Gossip in 1974.
She has choreographed for some of the West End and Broadway’s biggest shows, including Grease, Starlight Express, We Will Rock You, The Wizard Of Oz, Sound Of Music, Saturday Night Fever and Flashdance.
Dame Arlene sat on the Strictly judging panel for six years alongside Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Craig Revel Horwood.
But her departure was controversial when she was replaced by Alesha Dixon, who had won the fifth series of the show, in 2009, which resulted in the then minister for women and equality, Harriet Harman, denouncing the BBC in Parliament for discrimination against older women on television.
Laughing, Arlene admits her theatre peers will also
be gobsmacked when they find out she is taking
part.
“Craig will say ‘Darling, are you mad?!’
“I still can’t believe I am doing it either but I love and admire everybody who has done the show, I admire their bravery and I have spoken to so many people
who have done it. Everyone has loved the experience and told me how it has added something new to their lives and that is why I have said yes this
year after being approached before.”
Reflecting on how she will cope doing the Trials, she added: “Spiders, all those things you find on I’m A Celebrity – I don’t like them but I have this great fantasy that I can put myself in a place that will deal with it all.”
Naughty Boy
Music producer and DJ Shahid Khan, known by his stage name Naughty Boy, has worked with some of the biggest names in the music world including Beyonce, Sam Smith and more. He has also performed at Buckingham Palace in front of the Prince of Wales.
His song La La La, featuring vocals from Sam Smith, proved a hit and earned him two Mobo awards in 2013. He has spoken openly about caring for his mother, who was diagnosed with dementia in 2017.
Naughty Boy said: "“I would love to see more musicians go into the Castle this series, Sir Elton John would be incredible if he were to go in!
“We (musicians) are more equipped than people think as we spend such a lot of time in the studio.
“I am excited about going on I’m A Celebrity now. I want people to know the real me. I am not a celebrity at all. My music is the celebrity and now is
the chance for me to show people what I am really like.”
Kadeena Cox
The four-time Paralympic gold champion, 30, has represented Great Britain in both sprinting and cycling events. The Leeds-born athlete was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2014.
Having previously competed as an able-bodied athlete, she excelled on her Paralympics debut two years later and was one of the headline-grabbing stories of Rio, becoming the first Briton to top the podium in two different sports in the same Games since 1984.
Earlier this year, she was crowned the winner of Celebrity MasterChef.
Kadeena said: "Going on I’m A Celebrity is something so different for me and it’s completely out of my comfort zone.
“As a Paralympian, you are always trying to get that one per cent extra all the time and defending my title earlier this year in Tokyo was the hardest thing I have ever had to do but I think going into the Castle is going to be far harder mentally.
“I am scared of spiders, I don’t like rats, I don’t like snakes, and I don’t like heights. But I am hoping the athlete in me will want to do it for the team and just get through that tough moment. I will scream afterwards.”
David Ginola
The French former Premier League footballer, 54, has played for teams including Newcastle, Tottenham and Everton – before retiring in 2002.
He suffered a cardiac arrest during a charity match in France in 2016 and was administered CPR on the pitch by fellow footballer Frederic Mendy, who he said had saved his life.
Speaking on Sky Sports about the incident, he later said: “This is what saved my life. The surgeon who operated said to me: ‘I did my job but I didn’t save your life, the one who saved your life is the one next to you on the football pitch’.
“Frederic Mendy and those guys had been told how to perform CPR and they did it for 12 minutes. I was dead for 12 minutes.”
David said: "“I will be the chef in the camp,” he explains. “And rice and beans is perfect for me as I have put on six kilos over the past three months and I think it will be interesting to see if I can lose six kilos in three weeks!
“Because we have been in lockdown many times over the past two years, being locked in a Castle for I’m A Celebrity won’t be an issue for me.”
But David, who now works as a pundit, admits he is going to miss his young daughter terribly.
Frankie Bridge
Bridge 32, rose to fame as part of girl band The Saturdays alongside Mollie King, Vanessa White, Una Healy and Rochelle Humes.
She has two children with former footballer Wayne Bridge, who she has been married to since 2014.
She is following in the footsteps of her famous husband, who took part in I’m A Celebrity in Australia in 2016.
Frankie said: "“I think people will be surprised to see me doing I’m A Celebrity and I am scared of most things, but I really want to push myself.
“I’m scared of rats, I am a fussy eater and I have a bit of a phobia of ketchup, so a pint of penis terrifies me! Any of the eating challenges will be my idea of
hell. I also hate spiders in my own home, being trapped in small spaces is a big thing for me and pretty much all of that is likely to happen which makes me go, ‘Why the hell are you doing it?’ And so that is exactly why I am doing it!”
She says her husband, Wayne, can’t wait for her to go into the Castle after he took part in the programme in 2016.
Danny Miller
The soap star, 30, has played Emmerdale’s Aaron Dingle on and off for 13 years.
He recently became a first-time father as he and fiancee Steph welcomed their son, Albert.
Danny said: "Steph and I had a long discussion about me taking part in I’m A Celebrity.
“We were due to start IVF earlier this year and that would have meant the baby would have been due next March, so it wouldn’t have mattered.
“But then a miracle happened and Steph fell pregnant (without IVF). I knew my baby would only be about a month old when I went into the Castle. I was worried about leaving the baby with Steph on
her own but she is a midwife and I know our baby will be in perfect hands.
"She has been incredibly supportive and she knows what a great opportunity this is to take part.
“And so after lots of discussions, I’ve said yes!
"I’m A Celebrity is the biggest show in the country and I want to show people what I am like as Danny rather than as Aaron. It will be nice for people to see me not crying but having a laugh! I am a fun guy at home and I’ve been known as Aaron now for 13 years – it’s good to step outside your comfort zone.”
I’m A Celebrity starts on ITV on November 21 at 9pm.
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