Escape attempts, rule breaks and sedation: The unseen dark side of I’m A Celeb

I’m A Celeb has always been a super fun watch, but there’s a lot more to the show than meets the eye. There have been escape attempts, huge rule breaks and even somebody who needed sedating. There’s a lot more that goes down behind the scenes than we may have initially realised. Here is a complete rundown of the unseen dark side of I’m A Celeb and all the scary chaos that has gone down over the years.

The modesty smock

via YouTube

In series one of the show all the way back in August 2002 (it used to start so much earlier for some reason), the contestants complained about the lack of privacy they were getting. After that, they were given a modesty smock, which is basically just a sheet with a head hole so they can get changed and have privacy. They are barely ever seen on the show, and it’s kind of unsettling to have absolutely no privacy other than a sheet.

Co-creator and executive producer of I’m A Celeb, Richard Cowles, explained: “I invented what I called a ‘modesty smock’ – basically, a sheet with a hole to put your head through. It turns out it was exactly what they wanted. We’ve used it ever since and never changed the design.” But not everyone is bothered about sparing their blushes!

Secret vitamins

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If the celebs didn’t get any stars in the trials, they had to survive on just rice and beans, which was a huge topic of conversation this year. Made in Chelsea’s Hugo Taylor, who was a contestant in 2012, told Cosmopolitan that his campmates were so exhausted by hunger, that producers eventually had to swoop in and give them vitamins to keep them energised.

“At one point it was so bad, no one was doing anything. People were just wasting away, lying down doing nothing because they literally couldn’t move,” he told Cosmopolitan. “Producers came in with a bag of orange powder which was electrolytes. I put some in my drink and it was like taking pure adrenaline. I immediately crashed afterwards. But they were like, ‘we have to give them something.'” That actually sounds scary.

‘Weird happenings’ in camp

Hugo also said that apparently, the extreme hunger they dealt with led to some “very weird happenings” in the camp that they all vowed to never share as long as they lived. “We had some really weird things happening in the jungle that we unanimously have never spoken about and probably never will,” he said.

“Things happened off camera because people had no food, and because there’s no food, or they have specific requirements for their diets or their intake of medication specifically. Some people stopped their medication which caused real problems. Which was never televised. That’s our jungle secret.”

This led to a campmate having to be sedated

In the same season, comedian Brian Conley had to quit after 10 days in camp due to malnutrition and exhaustion. He actually ended up having to be sedated: He said he stopped taking his anti-depressants despite producers insisting he continue to take them. At the time, Brian explained: “It was bad, because it was out of my control and it was their decision. I couldn’t lie to them. I’ve taken these tablets for 15 years.

“I feel very proud that I stuck to my guns and that I said, ‘well I have to go’. I feel very proud that I didn’t saunter out and walk straight into the Versace [hotel] – that I had to be sedated because of exhaustion.”

He continued: “I feel very proud that I got through it and it actually made me a much stronger man and you’re looking at someone who doesn’t need anti-depressants and I realise that now. ITV is a big huge company, they have got to do it right and if I’ve brought these tablets in, I’ve got to take them.”

X-rated conversations

The gossip in camp can often get a bit X-rated with nothing to do for days on end. In the past, some of it has been so bad that it’s actually been cut from the show. A time when this happened was when Jorgie Porter spoke about performing a sex act on herself. In 2015. she made a wild confession about “self-love,” however only a snippet was shown on screen of her admitting to her campmates, “I’m gonna regret that.”

Escape attempts

Things must have been pretty bad for an escape attempt to have been hatched, but Jake Quickenden and Jimmy Bullard once tried to make a break for it in series 14. Unluckily for them, a security boundary runs around the perimeter of the camp for the contestants’ own safety, meaning it’s pretty hard for anything to get in, or for people to get out. However, Jake and co-star Jimmy Bullard managed to break through it and tried to escape, but they were caught and ordered back to camp.

Jake actually opened up about the attempt after his time on the show: “Me and Jimmy, actually one day did a runner and wanted to see how far we could get. And we got that far that we actually saw somebody, and he was full camouflage, under a bush, with a net, under a netted bush kind of thing. He just popped out and said ‘go back to camp.’ We s**t ourselves and walked back to camp. Then we got called back into the Bushtelegraph and got told off.” Very scary indeed!

Smuggling in items

Campmates are usually allowed one luxury item, but there have been many attempts to smuggle things in, most recently with Melvin and his salt seasoning. In 2012, Hugo did the same thing and tried to smuggle in salt and pepper at the bottom of his backpack.

Model Amy Willerton managed to bring in an entire bag of makeup in 2013, and actually got away with it for a whopping 10 days. TV chef Gino D’Acampo also filled his pillow full of contraband: “I stuffed it with a lot of salt, sugar, four different teas and 10 sachets of coffee,” he said. “I had it in my shoes as well. I thought, ‘If the security guys catch the stuff in the pillow, I still have the stuff in the shoes.'” Too clever!

Begging for meals

The contestants of I’m A Celeb are given a terrifying talk before they go into the jungle so they know what to expect, but there have been several occasions where the cast have begged the film crew for any food they have.

“People start getting hungry, then if it rains people start getting moody,” 2014 campmate Jake Quickenden once told The Sun, admitting he tried to beg for some food from them. He explained they would have literally gotten sacked for helping him: “Even when you walk into trials the cameramen don’t speak to you. You are that shut off from the world. One of them was eating a Tic Tac and I said ‘mate, I couldn’t have a Tic Tac could I?’ And he was like, ‘I can’t give you a Tic Tac, I’ll get sacked.'” Not even a Tic Tac?!

Catching and cooking animals

Gino D’Acampo, who won his season of I’m A Celeb in 2009, and his fellow contestant Stuart Manning faced criminal charges for animal cruelty after cooking and eating a rat on TV.

The pair were part of a group in exile during a bit of the show, which meant they only had rice and beans to eat. A lack of proper food apparently prompted them to catch, kill and eat a rat, which led them to be accused of animal cruelty.

Chief Inspector David Oshannessy, of the New South Wales RSPCA, said it was not acceptable that an animal had been killed as part of a performance. The RSPCA, who sent staff to patrol the show, took action and reported them to the police.

“The allegation is that an animal was cruelly treated on the set,” he added. “It was a rat that was killed. There is a code of conduct in New South Wales that dictates how animals can be used. The killing of a rat for a performance is not acceptable.”

That is actually wild.