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Ant and Dec reveal I’m a Celebrity was almost a very different show
I’M A CELEBRITY presenters Ant and Dec have revealed that the long-running hit programme was nearly a very different show.
The Geordie duo took to their nightly Instagram live, Jungle Club, to let their fans in on some behind the scenes information pertaining to the origin of the ITV show.
A fan sent them in a question that read: “What’s the origin of you guys doing the show? Did you still think you’d be doing it 25 series later?”
Ant responded: “The origin story is, the guys that made the show, or still make the show now, came to see us, the executive producers.
“He was like, ‘we’ve got this idea about following celebrities as they live in the jungle in Australia.
“They were going to do it as a documentary style show and then they talked about it further and they were like, ‘No, we think we could do it live every night because the time difference really works from Australia to the UK’.
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“And then we were like, ‘yeah, we’d love to do it’,” Ant expressed.
He went on to reveal that when they came on board, there was still plenty of work in progress and it wasn’t all figured out.
The makers told Ant and Dec about the title and they weren’t too keen on it at first.
Ant continued: “All the way through, we both went, ‘well that title’s terrible, I’m going to have to change the title’, and everybody left and said, ‘yeah, we’d love to do it, it’s a working title’.
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“And it stuck and it’s gone on to be one of the most iconic titles, so there you go, that’s your origin story.”
Fans flocked to the comments section on Instagram as one person marvelled: “This is why you boys need to do a podcast, great stories that you could go into right detail on. Thank you.”
Somebody else gushed: “Here’s to the next 25 years. Two best friends whose bond will never be broken.”
The iconic show first hit our screens back in 2002 and the current series marks 25 years since it first began.
The success of the programme has led to many spin-offs as well as an All Stars series called I’m A Celebrity: South Africa which first aired in 2023 and is gearing up for a second series.
It has also spawned international versions in Australia, Canada, Germany and Russia.
The current series will conclude tonight on ITV1, with either Angry Ginge, Tom Read Wilson or Shona McGarty being crowned the new king or queen of the jungle.
Rapper Aitch narrowly missed out on the final three but not before the foursome took on the iconic Celebrity Cyclone trial.
The trial saw the final four take on a giant slip and slide, with giant balls, water hoses and them attempting to secure stars.
Thankfully all four were able to successfully complete their fun trial and secured four meals for camp.
The I’m A Celebrity final airs tonight at 9pm on ITV, STV, ITVX and STV Player.
I’m A Celebrity: Unpacked airs after the main show at 10:40pm on ITV2, STV, ITVX and STV Player.
