I'm A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here! (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here! is a UK reality television show in which celebrities live in jungle conditions with few creature comforts. A sixth series of the show, which is filmed in Australia, finished on December 1st on ITV1 in the United Kingdom. Matt Willis is the most recent celebrity to be crowned "King of the Jungle". It is sponsored by UK supermarket chain Iceland, which sees Kerry Katona (series 3 winner) advertising it.

ABC aired one season of an American version in February and March 2003. Two series have also been aired in Germany - entitled Ich bin ein Star - Holt mich hier raus. There are also French and Dutch versions of the show called respectively Je suis une célébrité, sortez-moi de là! and Bobo's in de bush.

The UK show is hosted by Ant & Dec. In the US John Lehr presented proceedings, the German hosts are Dirk Bach and Sonja Zietlow.

Format

In return for their appearance on the show the celebrities are asked to nominate a charity to which the producers, Granada Television, make donations. The celebrities themselves are also paid a fee (reported to be £25,000 for UK competitors) to compensate them for possible loss of earnings while they are in the jungle. The producers of the show keep the precise details of the celebrities' contracts very private, prompting much speculation from the tabloid media. The money is raised by allowing viewers to vote by phone, text message or the "red button" (a colloquialism popular in the UK for the major satellite TV platform's interactive service) for the celebrity they would like to complete a "Bushtucker Trial"?a physical task usually involving snakes, spiders or other creepy-crawlies found in the jungle?and, later in each series, to vote for the celebrity they would like to see win the show. The last remaining celebrity after all others have been evicted is the winner of the show.

Winners of the show include Tony Blackburn, Phil Tufnell, Kerry Katona, Joe Pasquale, Carol Thatcher, Matt Willis (UK), Cris Judd (US), Costa Cordalis and Désirée Nick (Germany), Richard Virenque (France), Walter Nudo, Sergio Muñiz and Lory Del Santo (Italy).

Popularity and criticism

The show is undoubtedly popular, at least within Europe. The finales of the second and third UK series were seen by 12.5 and 15.3 million people respectively?well over half of all people watching television in the country at the time of day in both cases. The show also helped singer Peter Andre resurrect his music career in 2004. However, it has come under fire from some critics on two counts:

• The first complaint is that the show is trashy TV, consisting of has-been or never-were celebrities trying to revive their careers. The UK's Secretary of State for Culture at the time, Tessa Jowell, was the most high-profile person to criticise the show. In an interview with the Financial Times during the second British series, she said, "If they weren't mostly?save their blushes?has-been celebrities, there might be more interest [...] I think that if we saw many more programming hours taken over by reality TV, I hope you'd begin to see a viewers' revolt."

• The second criticism of the show is that it pretends to be more wild than it actually is. Audiences are left with the impression that the celebrities are in the Australian Outback far from any major settlement, whereas they are actually close to a luxury hotel and about 30min drive to the Gold Coast, Queensland. Further, the camp site in which the celebrities stay appears to be open to the elements but is largely covered by sheets above the view of the cameras. In an episode of the British show, a celebrity had to swim in a swamp apparently infested with crocodiles. Marksmen were shown ready to shoot the animals if they attacked.

• A third criticism is that in series six people seemingly did not vote enough for the favourites to win. Jason Donovan and David Gest were initially favourites to win and the bookies bet that Jason would win the whole series but Jason along with David didnt even get into the final 2. Though Myleene Klass became a strong favourite and narrowly finished second. Also in the sixth series, although the format was not new, many claimed that there was some confusion regarding the first person to be voted off. Many voters seemed to misunderstand that they were voting for the person they wanted to save, not the person to be voted off.

CBS, broadcaster of the popular American reality show Survivor, unsuccessfully sued ABC and Granada TV over the programme, alleging similarities. Given the poor ratings of the show in America, leading to only a single U.S. series being produced, the failure of the lawsuit proved moot.

UK participants

Series 1

8 contestants, August 25 2002 - September 8, 2002:

• Tony Blackburn (winner), radio DJ
• Tara Palmer-Tomkinson (runner up), It Girl
• Christine Hamilton (third), wife of Neil Hamilton and self confessed battleaxe
• Nell McAndrew, model
• Rhona Cameron, comedian
• Darren Day, singer, actor
• Uri Geller, "mind magician"
• Nigel Benn, boxer

Series 2

10 contestants, April 29 2003 - May 12, 2003:

• Phil Tufnell (winner), cricketer
• John Fashanu (runner up), ex-footballer
• Linda Barker (third), presenter of DIY television programmes
• Wayne Sleep, dancer
• Antony Worrall Thompson, TV chef
• Toyah Willcox, 80s pop star
• Catalina Guirado, model
• Chris Bisson, actor
• Danniella Westbrook, actress (walked out)
• Siân Lloyd, TV weather forecaster

Series 3

10 contestants, January 26 2004 - February 9, 2004:

• Kerry Katona (winner), ex-Atomic Kitten singer and TV presenter
• Jennie Bond (runner up), former royal correspondent for the BBC
• Peter André (third), singer
• Charles Nall-Cain, 3rd Baron Brocket, aristocrat
• Jordan (Katie Price), glamour model
• Alex Best, estranged wife of the late ex-football legend George Best
• Neil Ruddock, ex-footballer
• John Lydon, ex-Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd frontman (walked out)
• Diane Modahl, athlete
• Mike Read, disc jockey

Series 4

11 contestants, November 21 2004 - December 6, 2004:

• Joe Pasquale (winner), comedian
• Paul Burrell (runner up), butler to Diana, Princess of Wales
• Fran Cosgrave (third), nightclub owner, ex-boyfriend of Atomic Kitten singer Natasha Hamilton and model Jodie Marsh
• Janet Street-Porter, journalist and TV producer
• Sophie Anderton, model
• Sheila Ferguson, Three Degrees singer
• Antonio Fargas, actor
• Vic Reeves, comedian (late arrival)
• Nancy Sorrell, model, wife of Vic Reeves
• Brian Harvey, ex-East 17 singer (walked out)
• Natalie Appleton, All Saints and Appleton singer (walked out)

Series 5

12 contestants, November 20 2005 - December 5, 2005:

• Carol Thatcher (winner), journalist and daughter of Margaret Thatcher
• Sheree Murphy (runner up), actress most famous for Emmerdale (Tricia Dingle) and marrying Harry Kewell
• Sid Owen (third), actor most famous for EastEnders (Ricky Butcher)
• Jimmy Osmond, television presenter and singer, brother of Donny
• Bobby Ball, one half of a comedy double act with Tommy Cannon (late arrival)
• Antony Costa, former Blue singer
• Jenny Frost, Atomic Kitten singer
• Kimberley Davies, actress most famous for Neighbours (Annalise Hartman) (left due to injury)
• David Dickinson, television presenter
• Jilly Goolden, food and drink critic
• Tommy Cannon, one half of a comedy double act with Bobby Ball (late arrival)
• Elaine Lordan, actress most famous for EastEnders (Lynne Hobbs) (left due to illness)

Series 6

12 contestants, November 13 2006 - December 1 2006:

• Matt Willis (winner), former member of pop group Busted.
• Myleene Klass (runner up), classical pianist, TV presenter, and former member of the British reality TV pop group Hear'Say.
• Jason Donovan (third), Australian actor and singer, most famous for appearing in Neighbours.
• David Gest, American television producer and concert promoter, ex-husband of Liza Minnelli
• Dean Gaffney, played Robbie Jackson on EastEnders (late arrival)
• Jan Leeming, TV presenter and newsreader.
• Malandra Burrows, played Kathy Glover on Emmerdale (late arrival).
• Phina Oruche, star of Footballers' Wives.
• Lauren Booth, Former model, journalist and sister-in-law of UK prime minister Tony Blair .
• Faith Brown, actress, comedienne and impressionist.
• Scott Henshall, Fashion designer.
• Toby Anstis, radio presenter and former CBBC presenter.

International participants

US series 1

10 contestants, February 19 2003 - March 5, 2003:

• Cris Judd (winner), dancer, former husband of actress/singer Jennifer Lopez
• Maria Conchita Alonso, actress
• Tyson Beckford, male model, actor
• Downtown Julie Brown, television host, former MTV VJ
• Bruce Jenner, Olympic decathlon champion
• Robin Leach, television host
• "Stuttering" John Melendez, television personality
• Melissa Rivers, television personality, daughter of comedienne Joan Rivers
• Nikki Schieler Ziering, model
• Alana Stewart, former wife of actor George Hamilton and singer Rod Stewart

German series 1

10 contestants:

• Costa Cordalis (winner), singer
• Antonia Langsdorf, TV astrologer
• Carlo Thränhardt, former high jumper
• Caroline Beil, television presenter
• Daniel Küblböck, singer
• Dustin Semmelrogge, actor
• Lisa Fitz, comedian
• Mariella Ahrens, model
• Susan Stahnke, former television news host
• Werner Böhm, singer

German series 2

10 contestants:

• Désirée Nick (winner), comedian
• Carsten Spengemann, television presenter and actor
• Dolly Buster, former porn star
• Fabrice Morvan, singer, one half of Milli Vanilli
• Harry Wijnvoord, television presenter
• Heydi Nunez Gomez, model
• Isabell Varell, actress and singer
• Jimmy Hartwig, former soccer player
• Nadja Abd el Farrag, former long-time girlfriend of musician Dieter Bohlen
• Willi Herren, actor

French series 1

Je suis une célébrité, sortez-moi de là! is the French version. It featured French celebrities living in jungle conditions with few creature comforts. The first series of the show was broadcast live in prime time from Teresópolis Brazil, and aired on TF1, starting on April 14, 2006.

The French show was hosted by Jean-Pierre Foucault and Christophe Dechavanne.

12 contestants, April 14 2006 - April 28 2006:

• Richard Virenque (winner)
• Filip Nikolic (runner up)
• Loana (third)
• Marielle Goitschel
• Prince Charles-Philippe d'Orléans
• Benjamin Bove
• Indra
• Omar Harfouch
• Satya Oblet
• Delphine de Turckheim
• Agnès Soral
• Sonia Dubois

Bushtucker trials

• Every day one of the celebrities is chosen to do a bushtucker trial. The bushtucker trials give the celebrities a chance to win food for the camp by collecting stars in various challenges. In most cases, each star is worth one meal for the camp. These challenges have included: Eating Aboriginal delicacies (such as tomatoey grubs), eating kangaroo genitalia, getting covered in various bugs and Paragliding whilst trying to catch stars. One of the most famous events on the UK version is when Paul Burrel put his hand thorough the many different holes in his bush tucker trial catching bugs and stars in the 2005 edition. Many people who do badly on the trials feel bad for their group, ashamed that the group is hungry. However, series 6 contestant Scott was defiant, apparently not caring at his abysmal trials, although his group went hungry. Occasionally, e.g. on Thursdays in UK Series 6, there were two Bushtucker Trials on the same day. The last 3 celebrities to remain in the jungle, all have to do a Bushtucker Trial on their last day.

Footnotes

In the sixth UK series only, the camp was split into two: Base Camp (men) and Snake Rock (women). Though this was only a temporary measure and the camp eventually became one again.

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