‘It honestly took seconds to go, ‘Oh wow, here’s our guy”: Returning to the jungle with I’m A Celebrity
I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! launches into its tenth season this weekend with a new co-host, in the form of Crocodile Hunter heir Robert Irwin, and a celebrity lineup featuring a Bachelor runner-up, an AFL player, and a former child star.
So far, Brittany Hockley is the only one to be revealed by name, with clues peppered throughout promos over the past few weeks promising a gold medallist and a controversial television star among the contestants.
There’s also the promise of tired, hungry celebrities on live TV and all that promises, $100,000 in prize money to go to the winner’s charity, a beautiful South African jungle setting, and the chance of seeing one of your faves eat an ostrich foot or something equally squeamish.
I’m A Celebrity’s head of creative production and entertainment Tamara Simoneau spoke to Mumbrella ahead of Sunday night’s return to the jungle.
Season 10. By now, the show is an institution. Did you make any changes to the format or did you just stick to the classics?
We’ve tried to keep all the things that everybody knows and loves, but also make some tweaks based on our fabulous new co-host, Robert Irwin, because he’s brought truckloads of energy with him, and given us truckloads of ideas of how we can sort of tweak the format slightly, without losing any of those loved elements.
Is there anything you can reveal yet or is it plot ruining?
I think part of the beauty of the show is you have to hold on to your seat, because you never know what you’re going to get. It’s a very epic entry, I’ll tell you that.
Let’s talk about Rob. He is a wonderful score, and he makes perfect sense. Was he always the obvious choice?
No! He came for a chemistry test with Julia Morris and it honestly took seconds for people to go, “Oh wow, here’s our guy.” And then there was just no-one else in the race. You know, he’s so good. He’s so authentic. He knows his stuff. He’s just a joy. He’s a bundle of joy to be around. Julia adores him. They have become such a fun duo already.
I saw them at the Upfront, and you could just tell straight away, just from them doing schtick together, sitting at the back of the room, just kind of interrupting things. I got the feeling, this is clearly going to work between them.
He genuinely thinks she’s hilarious, which is great, because he’s just constantly laughing.
That must have be a huge problem to solve: one of the co-hosts drops out. Although they’re not the main element, they’re still the anchor of the show.
They’re a big part. Yeah, for sure. I think we’re not the first show to go through that sort of giant change. And, initially I think it’s a bit of a shock, but as you work through, creatively, you start to see it as an opportunity. I think once we had that frame of mind, and then Robert walked in the room and literally blew us all away, it turned from an opportunity into something really exciting and fresh for season 10, which is just the perfect round figure to go in with something so fresh. And there’s such a different dynamic too. He’s got such a different dynamic with Julia, which I think is going to be really fun for viewers to see.
Obviously, the whole show hinges on celebrity, but there’s also that element where there’s like, it’s quite physical and mental. In the casting of that, are there big names where you’ve had to go, ‘We can’t have them because they just won’t be able to do it psychologically?’
Won’t be able to manage? Yeah, well, the celebrities themselves either put themselves forward and go, ‘hey, pick me, I’m up for it’ — so, we have that sort of pool of people who would love to do it every year, because they see how fun it is and how great it can be — and then, there are other people you have to twist their arm a bit.
But I think that’s the beauty of it, as well, because you never quite know what someone’s capable of until they’re put in that situation. I don’t think they know what they’re capable of half the time. And that’s what people love watching: someone who’s hideously afraid of snakes going in and doing a challenge where there’s snakes dropping on them half a dozen at a time, you know, and watching people conquer that. And then, they’re so overjoyed when they actually get through these things. That’s such good telly!
Are there challenges that perhaps you’ve picked up from international versions, or ones you’ve run in earlier seasons where you’ve just gone, ‘We can’t do that anymore. That’s too crazy’?
I think we’re always trying to push the limits of what’s crazy and what’s zany and what’s terrifying because, you know, as we were saying, season 10, you have to do that.
You have to keep pushing the boundaries. But at the same time, we make sure everything is safe because we don’t want anyone to be hurt. So there’s a lot of rigor around everything to make sure it is safe. But at the same time, authentically terrifying.
Yeah, and it’s a high wire act in terms of running a show that’s patched in live from the jungle. That must just be a nightmare in itself, that element of things.
You say nightmare. Other people say adventure, adrenaline. It’s live TV. It’s the most live reality TV show there is on Australian screens. And the bits that are in the show, little pre-recorded bits, they’re on a 24-hour turnaround. So there’s crew working around the clock, literally, to get the show ready for the next night. And then all the live stuff’s happening as live.
It’s very hectic. There’s a huge crew of people that make it happen. But at this point, it’s also a well-oiled machine. With the crew from ITV, they really know what they’re doing with this show. And because they know what they’re doing, they are able to push the boundaries of what we can do with the challenges to make them visually spectacular.
Is there anything that you would like to get across about this season of the show that you think needs to be said?
I think it’s really an authentic reality show. I think there’s a lot of reality shows now that are quite contrived. And this one is very authentic, and I think that’s why people love it.
We have a cast that we think is one of the most diverse on TV. They’ll be ranging in age from people in their early 20s to their 70s. It’s such a broad group of people. We really are excited to see how that all plays out together. And we’ve had a really epic year in terms of integrations and sponsorships. We’ve still got people signing up.
We’ve got a few more spots left. It’s been pretty overwhelming. It’s been fantastic to see. We’ve got a bunch of returning sponsors and then a whole bunch of new ones as well from some really major brands to smaller ones. [ahm Health Insurance, Bedshed, Mahindra, McDonalds, Nature’s Own, Surf, and more]. So, that part has been lovely too for Season 10 – because, again, 10 years. It’s great to be still attracting fresh interest.
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Nathan Jolly is the Deputy Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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Truly seen enough of this show already thanks.
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