Iconic cast and a shaken up formula: For the first time in forever, I’m A Celeb was great

When I was a kid, I adored I’m A Celeb. I would go as far to say it was the highlight of my entire TV year – alongside The X Factor. The 00s were halcyon days for ITV, and I was seated so hard. I think I loved I’m A Celeb so much because not only was it names I was familiar with (a childhood hyperfixation on Katie Price is a homosexual rite of passage), but the sheer thrill of watching the harrowing trials had me mesmerised. Of course the show then was new, and I was naive – I genuinely thought ITV had dumped some celebs in a jungle and they were fending for themselves rather than them obviously being in a controlled film set. As I got older, my interest in the show waned and my eyes rolled harder. I don’t think I’ve stuck out a full season of the show in nearly a decade. And yet, here we are – I’m A Celeb 2024 seems to be genuinely great. How have ITV managed it?

The biggest draw here is, of course, the cast. I have perhaps not audibly gasped over a lineup of celebrities for a reality TV show like this since we all retrospectively looked back at the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2016, aka the ‘David’s dead’ year. I say looked back on and wowed because I don’t think we all gagged at how great that lineup of characters was til after the show aired. This lineup, however. Instantly insane.

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Coleen Rooney is clearly the main cause for the gasps here – because Wagatha Christie has been a pop cultural phenomenon for the majority of this decade. The thought of her discussing literally anything to do with it is more delicious than anything Kiosk Keith could tempt me with. Most seasons of I’m A Celeb would sign Rooney and then fill it in with a load of shrugs, but what makes 2024 so great is that Coleen isn’t the only cause for reality TV celebration.

We’ve got Tulisa, or as I like to call her: GODlisa. When she did her iconic The Female Boss arm thing me and my sister jumped from our chairs and cheered. We’ve got GK Barry, a genuinely relevant person for young people to care about – as well as Dean, who’s a Radio 1 up and comer who is clearly just getting bigger and better and is grabbing a great opportunity. Danny Jones is the classic boyband addition who always smashes it at trials, Barry McGuigan is the older sporting legend who your Dad remembers, Tyrone from Corrie is the one where you never bother to learn his actual name and just continue to call him Tyrone for three weeks.

Always loved Oti and Melvin and they’re bringing the great vibes, and then Jane from Loose Women is the one you don’t really like that much. And lest we forget, MAURA HIGGINS is coming still. I’m overstimulated in the best way ever.

What makes it all even more great is that with I’m A Celeb 2024, ITV listened. They heard my moaning. They practically felt my rolling eyes. Never more have I moaned about this show than with the usually dismal opening episode, where we have to watch all the boring celebs walk to a plank on the end of a tall building. The show has done this for literally years, and it has never once been entertaining. And it always went on for about 10 years. Just get them in the jungle! Get them all together and let me watch them have a goss!

We won. We really won. No skyscraper in sight, just celebs I actually care about living in the moment. Loved the journey into the jungle as pairs and how there was one less mode of transport every time. I loved the unlikely pairings – except Dean choosing Coleen Rooney, like any self respecting gay would obviously do.

ITV didn’t even make us endure the usual two camps battling it out fiasco. We just really got stuck in and got on with it. Characters are emerging already, roles are feeling apparent. I truly have such a good feeling.

All I want now is a lovely few weeks of watching this lot chat around a campfire. I can’t really be arsed with the trials, but accept it’s part of the jungle furniture. This is such a fun bunch of people I want to watch them have a goss and a jangle forever. Until Maura storms in and gags everyone.

I thought my nights just got freed up after MAFS UK and Big Brother both ended in the same week. But in the immortal words of CJ from GTA San Andreas: Ah shit, here we go again.

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