I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! contestants revealed
The contestants taking part in this year's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! have been revealed.
The show returns to ITV on Sunday.
Michael Buerk
Age: 68
Date of Birth: 18th February 1946
Phobias: There is no point saying you hate spiders as the next thing you know, you will be banged up with them! I am allergic to cats but there aren’t any in the jungle!
Missing any special occasions?: My twins’ birthday
Role in the camp: To get on with people in a helpful way
Miss most: My family, work and old codger activities!
Dream camper: Someone who makes me laugh. Kathy Lette
Relationship status: Married
As one of the BBC’s most respected newsreaders and war reporters, Michael Buerk is one of this year’s most surprising contestants but he is planning to embrace jungle life wholeheartedly.
Outlining his reasons for taking on the I’m A Celebrity challenge, the 68-year-old, whose reporting of the Ethiopian famine in 1984 inspired the Band Aid charity record, admits it’s time he did something completely different.
Jimmy Bullard
Age:36
Date of birth: 23rd October 1978
Phobias: I hate snakes, spiders, all the animals you find in there!
Missing any special occasions?: No my life is boring at the minute as I have retired from football. This is a great time to do this!
Role in the camp: Joker
Miss most: Luxuries including my bed!
Dream camper: Mickey Rourke
Relationship status: Engaged
After retiring from football, former Wigan player Jimmy Bullard has been looking for a new challenge – and he thinks sleeping in the wild and eating cockroaches will fill the void.
Smiling, the 36-year-old says he hopes going on I’m A Celebrity will send him on a different path as he looks forward to his jungle adventure. And he has promised to definitely liven things up around the campfire by playing pranks on his fellow contestants.
Craig Charles
Age: 50
Date of birth: 11th July 1964
Phobias: None but I don’t like the look of the eating trial!
Missing any special occasions?: Yes my daughter’s 17th birthday. But she has given me the Ok to go in the jungle…
Role in the camp: Father figure and raconteur
Miss most: My music and family
Dream camper: Stevie Wonder, George Clooney
Relationship status: Married
After turning 50 in the summer, Coronation Street star Craig Charles felt going in the jungle was the perfect way to mark his landmark birthday in style.
Laughing, the popular actor – who plays cabbie driver Lloyd Mullaney in the ITV soap – says he also realised he needed to snap up the offer to appear on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! before he got too old to parachute out of the sky.
“I’ve been asked before to go on the programme and I have always said no,” reveals Craig. “The timing hasn’t been right with storylines.
“But I turned 50 this year and I thought I should do it now while I can still parachute in!
“I am curious. It’s going to be a challenge and I think it will be a great adventure. I am never going to get a chance to do something like this again. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Gemma Collins
Age: 33
Date of Birth: 31st January 1981
Phobias: Claustrophobia, every single creepy crawly. I just have to see an animal and I jump!
Missing any special occasions?:A very close friend’s birthday
Role in the camp: I love to chat! I am looking forward to getting to know everyone
Miss most: My family and my shop – as mad as that sounds!
Dream camper: Tamer Hassan for my eye candy, Louis Walsh for a bit of fun and throw Sharon Osbourne into the mix too.
Relationship status: Single
The Only Way Is Essex star Gemma Collins admits she is so nervous about going in the jungle that she can’t stop crying and has suffered from terrible anxiety.
But the bubbly 33-year-old is determined to conquer her fears and enjoy the experience as she reveals she’d love to lose some weight.
Carl Fogarty MBE
Age: 49
Date of Birth: 1st July 1965
Phobias: I am not fond of heights but lack of food, boredom and people are the three things I hate most!
Missing any special occasions?: Lots of motorbike events. It’s a busy time in the calendar.
Role in the camp: Help with the daily chores
Miss most: Food
Dream camper: Richard Branson
Relationship status: Married
He may be one of the World’s legendary motorbike drivers of all time but Carl Fogarty admits going in the jungle will be a far scarier experience.
The 49-year-old driver, who notched up a staggering 59 victories including four world championship titles before he retired in 2000 due to injuries, says he will find it tough facing up to the three things he hates most in life - lack of food, boredom and people.
“Motorbike racing is scary for a lot of people but for me it is easy,” says Carl. “It is what I have been brought up with. Going in the jungle will be so much harder.
“I am not a people’s person. I like my own company and I like my own space."
Nadia Forde
Age: 25
Date of Birth: 3rd May 1989
Phobias: Creepy crawlies, heights, the dark. I’ve made no secret of my fears!
Missing any special occasions?: I’m recording a new album and I’ve rearranged a few things in Miami
Role in the camp: Chatting to everyone
Miss most: Being able to pick up the phone to family and friends
Dream camper: Ooh I don’t know. People are always different when you meet them.I do love Beyonce though!
Relationship status: Single
Model and singer Nadia Forde is up for a romance in the jungle on I’m A Celebrity.
Laughing,the stunning 25-year-old says that whilst she isn’t actively going on the show looking for a boyfriend, she won’t rule out a relationship if there is a male celebrity she falls head over heels for.
Nadia says: “I am single. Will I find love in the jungle? I am not going in looking for it – but I am not against it either!
“I just want to have lots of fun when I am out there. Doing this programme has been on the cards for some time and now all of a sudden it’s actually happening."
Vicki Michelle MBE
Age: 63
Date of Birth: 14th December 1950
Phobias: Snakes and spiders but I am going to be brave
Missing any special occasions?: No, my birthday isn’t until December 14th and we will be back by then but I could pretend it’s earlier!
Role in the camp: Motherly and a child!
Miss most: My husband, daughter and family
Dream camper: Christopher Biggins
Relationship status: Married
‘Allo ‘Allo actress Vicki Michelle has revealed she is going on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! to ‘big up’ older women.
And the star, who is best known for her role as the sexy waitress Yvette Carte-Blanche in the hit television comedy, says she is determined to be brave in the jungle.
Vicki, who has also starred in Emmerdale, thinks the experience will be a real learning curve.
“Doing I’m A Celebrity is one of those things I thought I would never do,” explains the gregarious star. “But all my friends like Biggins and Lorraine Chase have told me how amazing and how life changing it was for them and so I wanted to do it when I was asked."
Tinchy Stryder
Age: 28
Date of Birth: 14th September 1986
Phobias: I don’t want to say anything to jinx myself
Missing any special occasions?: Work and birthdays
Role in the camp: Socialiser
Miss most: My music
Dream camper: Rihanna. She is cool and she has so much energy around her
Relationship status:Dating
He may be one of the country’s coolest rap artists but Tinchy Stryder has decided to go on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! because he doesn’t want to be ‘boxed in’.
Readily admitting his fans may find his decision to fly to the jungle as a surprise, the 28-year-old singer, who has produced three albums and who has just collaborated with the Chuckle Brothers for a charity track, says he loves embracing new challenges.
“I want to be honest with you,” declares the star.“I like challenges. I like doing things you don’t expect from me. It’s going to be really nice for people to see me as me."
Melanie Sykes
Age: 44
Date of birth: 7th August 1970
Phobias: Heights, claustrophobia – all that is required out in Australia!
Missing any special occasions?: No
Role in the camp: I am not sure yet but I definitely don’t want to be mummy!
Miss most: My children
Dream camper: I don’t mind who is in the camp!
Relationship status: Single
TV presenter Mel Sykes has revealed she is going to find it incredibly tough leaving her children behind to go into the jungle.
And she thinks the combination of lack of food and no sleep could make her get emotional.
Admits the mum of two: “It’s hard to say what is going to happen but when I am hungry, tired or stressed out then I am an emotional person!
“This is the longest time I have been apart from my kids and it will be hard and difficult. I am going to miss them so much."
Kendra Wilkinson
Age: 29
Date of Birth: 12th June 1985
Phobias: Free fall, and I don’t like bugs or snakes
Missing any special occasions?: No, this is a great time for me
Role in the camp: Party girl
Miss most: My two children. It’s going to be a struggle
Dream camper: A hot looking guy!
Relationship status: Married
TV reality star Kendra Wilkinson is hoping there will be plenty of ‘eye candy’ as she joins the jungle in a bid to ‘shake up’ her life before she hits 30 next year.
But the stunning former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner admits she is a ‘complete wuss’ and she hasn’t even watched I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! before.
“I hadn’t seen the show but I am taking people’s word for it,” explains the 29-year-old American. “People are telling me about it.