Ant and Dec have revealed how I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! almost had a completely different name.
Discussing the show’s ‘origin story’ in an Instagram Live after Sunday’s final, the Geordie duo revealed how the iconic programme came to fruition.
Reading a question from a fan, they said: ‘What’s the origin of you guys doing the show? Did you still think you’d be doing it 25 series later?’
Ant answered: ‘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.”
‘”We are 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.”‘
Ant and Dec have admitted how they thought the title of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! was a ‘terrible idea’ when they signed up to front the series
Discussing the show’s ‘origin story’ in an Instagram Live after Sunday’s final, the Geordie duo revealed how the iconic programme came to fruition
He added: ‘And then we were like, “yeah, we’d love to do it.”
‘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.”
‘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.’
The first social media star in the history of I’m A Celebrity was crowned King of the Jungle during Sunday’s final.
Morgan Burtwistle, better known as AngryGinge to his five million social media followers, was voted by the public to be the winner of the ITV reality show.
A staggering 13 million votes were cast, the highest on the show in at least a decade.
The 24-year-old, who grew up in a council estate in Salford, Manchester, appeared overwhelmed as he told the show’s hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly: ‘I don’t think I can swear, but I feel amazing. Honestly a dream come true. I didn’t think I could go all this way never mind win. Thank you to everyone who voted.’
Meanwhile, Tom Read Wilson, 39, placed runner-up and Shona McGarty, 34, came in third after three weeks in the Australian jungle.
‘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,” Ant revealed
AngryGinge was crowned King by last year’s winner McFly star Danny Jones.
The social media star said of his experience: ‘I was a massive fan of the show but it was a lot harder than I thought. I reached out to people who had been on it before for tips and clues but no one told me how hard it was going to be.
‘I’m a lot mentally strong than I thought I was. That was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. There were so many days I wanted to throw the towel in. I didn’t do it to become King, I did it for the experience.’
The star was greeted off the I’m A Celebrity bridge by his mother, Michelle, and his older sister, Tasha, who flew out to Australia two weeks ago to support him.
Typically the winner of the show is a household name and AngryGinge is the first social media star to be crowned King of the Jungle.
It’s a sure sign of the times and ITV bosses are said to be ‘thrilled’ with his appearance after he attracted 12 million in consolidated viewers over the first three episodes of the show – a record breaking number for the broadcaster.
The first social media star in the history of I’m A Celebrity was crowned King of the Jungle during Sunday’s final as AngryGinge was voted by the public to be the winner
He earns £1 million a year on what is known as ‘the Gogglebox of the internet’ but is set to make far more after his jungle stint with ITV bosses, and other major broadcasters, eyeing him up as the future of television.
Tom, meanwhile, said of his journey: ‘I think, historically, I have tendency to be a little bit introspective sometimes and that’s not very good for me.
‘What you had to be in the jungle is with an outward lens because of the people and also because of the nature. Everything you look at and hear is majestic.
‘Your whole focus has to be out and then you sort of forget this corporeal thing and you’re a floating soul. It’s a very nice way to live, but it takes an awfully long time to get used to it.’
