I’m A Celebrity bosses are set to meet with big name stars from Corrie and Emmerdale to bag a household name for the show.
They want a current cast member from one of the ITV soaps to take up to a month off and bag a £100,000 pay day for roughing it in a leaky Welsh castle.
Jake Wood, who played Max Branning in EastEnders until earlier this year, is tipped to have signed for the jungle.
But insiders say the reality show’s bosses would prefer a star from Emmerdale after Corrie’s Bev Callard was a campmate last year.
(Image: PA)
A showbiz source said: “The preference is always for a current cast member like when Jennie McAlpine and Andrew Whyment from Corrie joined the show.
“The powers that be will draw up a list of three or four names from each show and then see how lightly storylined each actor is over the next few months.
“Obviously they can’t pluck someone who is at the centre of a monster plot.”
(Image: SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett)
I’m A Celeb has already been dealt a blow with one star pulling out on hearing that the series is to be filmed in Wales
instead of Down Under.
Insiders said others were showing signs of getting cold feet too.
The decision to film for a second year at Gwrych Castle was announced on Monday because of the Delta Covid
variant sweeping Australia.
(Image: ITV)
One source revealed to the Mirror: “The logistics involved in trying to get the entire production team plus celebrities and presenters and all the families to the other side of the world amid the ongoing Covid travel restrictions has just proved too difficult this year.
“The show will be in Wales again and it will be brilliant, just like last year. There is a lot of humour involved in making I’m a Celebrity from a spooky castle at a dark, damp time of year on the Welsh coast. It will be a hoot.
“We took this decision in the last few hours and it is not something we do lightly as there are lots of people involved.
“But if you look at the situation in Australia at the moment there are States in lockdown or with curfews then it is hard to imagine going out there to make the show.”
Celebrities have been going into “the jungle” since the show launched in 2002. Providing a dose of tropical sunshine for UK viewers in gloomy November has been a big part of the show’s appeal.
The bushtucker trials, rugged New South Wales landscape and various Australian insects have also been essential to I’m A Celebrity’s success.
But fans were pleasantly surprised by how much they enjoyed the change of scenery last year, which was won by author, blogger and presenter Giovanna Fletcher, 36.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
