Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Lorraine Kelly: Enjoy the celebs eating raw fish eyes on I’m A Celeb… it’ll help you forget Trump’s win

Tony Hadley in the jungle (ITV)
Tony Hadley in the jungle (ITV)

IN a world where Donald Trump can be voted US President, we all need something to smile about.

So three cheers for the return of I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! It never fails to make me laugh.

Unlike a lot of other reality shows, this one displays no signs of running out of ideas and, fourteen years after the first series, remains as popular as ever.

Most of the credit for that must go to the wonderful Ant and Dec, who are genuinely funny and make live TV look easy.

Tony Blackburn was the first king of the jungle back in 2002.

By and large, the kings and queens have generally been a pretty decent bunch.

The loud show-offs, those with an agenda and the genuine fruit loops are usually voted out fairly quickly.

Previous winners include Phil Tufnell, Joe Pasquale, Joe Swash, Stacey Solomon and Vicky Pattison, who triumphed last year.

Big characters like David Gest, Lady Colin Campbell, Edwina Currie and Esther Rantzen may generate headlines and be fascinating and entertaining to watch, but they rarely win the public vote.

Like almost everyone else on TV I have been asked to appear on the show but I would never, ever venture into the jungle.

While I love to watch, I wouldn’t like to appear in a anything where you are at the mercy of the editor, and I have no desire to eat the eye of a fish.

I couldn’t cope with an avalanche of cockroaches and creepy-crawlies, but I think the main ordeal would be dealing with the other contestants.

In such close proximity, having to cope with all those egos and annoying habits would drive me crazy.

Of course you could also make some friends for life, but I’m afraid I’d rather be on this side of the TV.

Although, all the contestants I’ve spoken to say it was one of the best experiences of their lives, so maybe I am missing out.

This week I had a chat with Spandau Ballet singer, Tony Hadley, who was on last year’s show and had some blistering arguments with Lady Colin.

Despite the squabbling, he said he loved being on the show and was honest enough to admit he went in to give his solo career a boost, which really worked.

Off the back of I’m A Celebrity he had a successful album and tour and has no regrets about being involved.

Jake Quickenden, who bounced into the jungle two years ago after appearing on X Factor, found romance on the show. He was runner-up to Carl Fogarty, the former world superbike champion and the two became firm friends.

Foggy introduced Jake to his daughter, Danielle, they fell in love and have been a couple ever since.

So it can be a life-enhancing and life-changing experience.

This year, we are promised even tougher challenges for the cannon fodder who are currently sitting in the jungle waiting for the first show to go out tonight.

I reckon the ones to watch include fearless Carol Vorderman and lovely Scarlett Moffatt from Gogglebox.

Larry Lamb should have good stories to tell around the campfire and Lisa Snowdon will look incredible in a bikini.

Whatever happens, one thing is certain – I’ll be glued to the box for the next few weeks and my social life will grind to a halt.


READ MORE

Welcome back to the jungle: I’m a Celebrity returns

Spandau Ballet star Tony Hadley admits he had to hold back in the I’m A Celebrity jungle