ITV has confirmed the line-up for I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Here! 2024, with Coleen Rooney, ex-Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse and McFly’s Danny Jones among the stars battling to be crowned King or Queen of the Jungle.
This year’s series of the hit reality show will begin at 9pm on Sunday, November 17 and the celebrities have already begun arriving on Australia’s Gold Coast.
They include N-Dubz star, former The X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos, Loose Women panellist Jane Moore and ex-boxing champion Barry McGuigan.
See the full line-up below…
Oti Mabuse rose to fame as a Strictly Come Dancing professional and won the BBC competition twice — with Kelvin Fletcher in 2019 and Bill Bailey in 2020. This made her the first professional dancer to lift the Glitterball Trophy in back-to-back years.
After leaving the programme in 2022, she landed a judging role on Dancing On Ice.
Explaining why she’s decided to give the jungle a go, Mabuse, 34, said: “I have been a fan of I’m A Celebrity for so long. Outside of Strictly and Dancing on Ice, it’s the show I watch religiously, and I can remember last year thinking: ‘Ok, this feels right. I am definitely up for it now, I am up for the challenge’.
“Now I have had my baby daughter, I want to get back to the adventurous and fun Oti. I feel ready for a change and doing something completely different. I will have no make-up, concealer, lashes — it’s going to be nice to be laid back.”
Alan Halsall is best known for playing Tyrone Dobbs in Coronation Street, having played the mechanic since 1998.
With his place in the line-up confirmed, the 42-year-old has admitted his participation was “the worst kept secret ever”.
He’s now revealed two fellow Corrie stars were among the reasons he signed up.
“I am very close to Andy Whyment and Jenni McAlpine, who have both done it before, and everyone tells me they had such a great experience,” Halsall said. “It’s a life experience and I am sure I will learn some new things about myself along the way too.”
Journalist Jane Moore has been a regular on the Loose Women panel since 2013 and says her co-stars will “find it hilarious” that’s taking part in I’m A Celeb.
“They will vote for me to do the worst kinds of trials,” she added.
Thankfully, she thinks she’ll be able to take a logical approach when it comes to trying to win those all-important stars for camp.
“I like to think of myself as a gutsy person but this remains to be seen,” Moore, 62, said. “I’m sure a lot of people think that before they face those trials and then courage goes out the window.
“I’m not sure how I will feel either when I am faced with an Australian creepy crawly that looks like a tarantula rather than a house spider.”
Radio 1 DJ Dean McCullough, 32, looks set for a tough time — after admitting to being “terrified of everything”.
“The more I think about being put in the ground with 50 snakes or getting those green fly things that bite poured over me – well there’s just no point thinking about it, as otherwise I won’t get on the plane,” he said before jetting off to Australia.
“When Ant and Dec say things like, ‘We are going to suspend you off the side of that cliff’, you know it is not going to be a fun day out. It’s no Alton Towers — it will be torturous.”
Tulisa Contostavlos found fame as part of the chart-topping trio N-Dubz, who split up in 2011. They reunited 11 years later, for a UK tour that included sell-out dates at London’s O2 Arena.
Contostavlos, who has been out of the spotlight recently, also famously served as a judge on The X Factor and mentored pop superstars Little Mix.
Reflecting on how she thinks she’ll do in the jungle, the 36-year-old said: “I will probably struggle in the first few days as doing something like this is a big deal for me.
“I haven’t been thrust this much into the spotlight in a while and I have avoided it out of irrational fear. I will probably be the most emotional when I first go in. It will take me a while to settle in, but I know I will get past that.”
DJ Melvin Odoom, 44, is no stranger to reality television, having participated in Strictly Come Dancing in 2016.
However, the I’m A Celeb camp couldn’t be further from the glitter and glamour of the BBC ballroom.
He revealed an unexpected big fear before the series — which has nothing to do with the creepy crawlies or terrifying trials.
“Snoring is my biggest fear,” he said. “I have been trying to train myself, as messing with people’s sleep is a big deal. I might be the camp’s enemy if my snoring comes out. It’s loud.”
Coleen Rooney — or Wagatha Christie, to use the nickname she infamously earned in 2019 — has been a tabloid staple for years, thanks to her marriage to ex-England footballer Wayne.
While she’s often hit headlines, the Liverpudlian has usually tried to stay out of the spotlight and has admitted she’s previously turned down multiple TV offers.
“It has been year after year I have been asked to go on a programme and it’s always been a straight no,” Rooney said. “Over the years, there have been different things going on in my life and also, my children have been really young. But they are at an age now where I can go away for this length of time.
“I also feel it’s time to have a challenge for me and do something different. It has taken many, many years but I’m finally doing it. And I have always said if I was going to do one — then it would be this show. I think it will be good for me.”
Former boxer Barry McGuigan, now a successful boxing trainer, will bring his competitive spirit to the Aussie jungle.
“I’d like to do well,” said McGuigan, nicknamed The Clones Cyclone and held the WBA and lineal featherweight titles from 1985 to 1986. “I’m not saying I’m going to win, but I’d like to be in there for a sustained amount of time so that I can get to know all of the guys in camp.”
The 63-year-old is also quietly confident regarding taking on the Bushtucker trials.
“It might be disgusting and you might be tired, but being a fighter and being dedicated and committed to training and getting ready for fights… you have to go through hell, physically as well as psychologically,” he said. “So, I know what I’m letting myself in for.”
Podcast and social media star GK Barry is renowned for her TikTok videos, but she’s no stranger to television, having appeared on The Wheel and The Weakest Link.
She describes herself as a “superfan” of the programme and is excited to meet its hosts, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.
“I am also excited to meet everyone on the programme, as the cast is always so amazing,” she added.
Barry, 25, does have some phobias she’ll need to face, though. She says she “hasn’t slept” in the month leading up to the programme.
“I am scared of the trials and I am genuinely scared of everything,” she said. “The eating trial to me is the worst thing you can do to a human being. You also don’t know who you are going to click with either but hopefully, after the first week, I will settle in nicely.”
McFly’s Danny Jones is the final celebrity on the 2024 line-up and like McGuigan, he’s set to face more than a few fears in the jungle.
When asked which trial he dreads the most, the singer and guitarist said: “All of them… it’s genuinely all of them.”
“I’ve tried to forget all of my phobias,” Jones, 38, added. “I’ve never been put in a situation like this before.”
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! airs on ITV1 at 9pm on Sunday, November 17.
