I’m A Celebrity returns on Sunday for its latest series and the Mirror was given a tour of the new look camp this week ahead of stars like Coleen Rooney and Oti Mabuse moving in

This year’s I’m A Celebrity will kick off with a huge competition challenge and a new look camp as part of a series revamp.

Executive producer Olly Nash gave the Mirror a guided tour of camp which now has a Leaders Lodge complete with bed and rocking chairs as well as shelter from rain. A pair of celebs will be joint leaders in the camp after winning an opening competition – dubbed Snakes And Leaders – which is a race to the finish line once the famous faces choose teams.

It’s a huge makeover as the show normally starts with a Walk The Plank style opening on top of a building in the Gold Coast. But Olly explained: “Every year, we try and create something new, and try and create a better or different race to camp or different journey to camp.

“This year we’re going out for an ultra competitive series, you’ve got a really positive cast, everybody’s really happy and up for it, very few sort of nerves. Everybody’s terrified, but can’t wait to get in. So the advantage with all of them, is that faced with the competition from the very beginning will hopefully lead on to healthy competitions throughout the run.”

Amongst those pairing up will be WAG Coleen Rooney, singer Tulisa Contostavlos, Coronation Street star Alan Halsall and McFly’s Danny Jones. After heading into camp, exec Olly showed off it’s new area and added: “There is a new building that is called the Leaders Lodge that will have wonderfully comfy beds sheltered from the rain, nice plush pillows and big duvets, or doonas, as they call them, in Australia, which will keep them nice and snug and warm. As opposed to everyone out here who’s exposed and sleeping in Swags.

“The reason why there’s a leader chair for two and the Leaders Lodge is because this year, our walk in, our journey to camp is an epic race. All the celebrities will be pairing up into pairs, and those five pairs will go head to head in a number of challenges.

Leaders Lodge offers two campmates beds, rocking chairs ands shelter from rain ( Image: James Gourley/Publishd)
“The winners will become the first leaders of camp, exempt from all chores, and live in the leaders Lodge, and they’ll be running camp, setting up the way they want and the way they like for the first few days. There is a twist coming, which will give them more power than they expected before. So there’s more stuff to come, and there are additional perks that they don’t get. I would imagine they will be leaders at least until the end of that first week.”

The new look camp and lodge also got the thumbs up from last year’s King of the jungle Sam Thompson who is back in Australia for an ITV2 spin off show running alongside the main series from Sunday night. After being shown the lodge, Sam said: “We never had this! This is going to be the most amazing sleep that they’ve ever had. What I think is quite interesting is, we’re bringing this in at the start, and I think it’s going to be great because you’re going to get people seeing how the other half live in the camp.

A host of celebrities will be living in the camp for the new series of the ITV show, which launches on Sunday ( Image: James Gourley/Publishd)
“For this year, it’s going to be really interesting how people cope, because there’s a lot of strong characters in this year. I’m kind of going against myself here… I think this is one of the best years, in terms of lineups, that we’ve ever had.”

There have been other small tweaks to the camp, with a pair of people required to pump water in order to get a hot bath. A red Leaders chair also has pride of place by the fire whilst the other campmates will have to make do with logs for seats.

Filming for the new series is expected to start Thursday with the ten celebrities which also include former Strictly Come Dancing pro Oti Mabuse and podcaster GK Barry. I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! starts this Sunday November 17, on ITV1 and ITVX.

Sam Thompson predicts 2024 winner

Reigning I’m A Celebrity winner Sam Thompson says he thinks he will lose his crown as the king of jungle to a queen.

Last year’s ITV king Sam, 32, is co-hosting the new ITV2 spin off show I’m A Celebrity…Unpacked with comedian Joel Dommett and radio presenter Kemi Rodgers. Sam said: “Who’s gonna win? You can’t ask me that! I have a top three who I think are going to win it, not who I want to win it. I will say this: I think this year there are a lot of strong women, really strong personalities which I think is going to be fascinating to watch. I think it will be a queen.”

Asked the best way to win or go far on I’m A Celebrity, he said: “Everyone has up days, everyone has down days. Happy or sad it is about being yourself… It’s such a boring answer, but there are people who will come in here who are like, ‘ooh, if I do this, if I do that, maybe if I get a trial I can do this, and airtime’.

“It goes straight out the window. You get found out immediately if you have a game plan. You cannot be in a place like this and not be yourself. You just can’t.

“I would say to anyone who’s going to go far, it will be the person who just lives the experience. The best part about the jungle is the sounds, the routine of traipsing up and down there to get water, going out there and going into the Bush Telegraph, making friends.”

Sam also admitted he is hoping the recent storms around the Gold Coast continue so the new camp doesn’t have things too nice or easy. He said: “The best part about the jungle is the sounds, the routine of traipsing up and down there to get water, going out there and going into the Bush Telegraph, making friends.

“The worst part… when it rains, it sucks a little bit. So I kind of hope it rains a bit, because now I’m working as a viewer, I kind of want to see people struggling a little bit.”

‘I tried despicable I’m A Celebrity 2024 eating trial and made one grave error’

The Mirror’s Mark Jefferies has tried out the Bushtucker trials ( Image: James Gourley/Publishd)

I have been coming to Australia for almost a decade to cover I’m A Celebrity and never failed a Bushtucker Trial….until now.

After successfully completing many challenges in the past I saw red when it came to eating a bull’s penis. The Trials team told me we were guinea pigs for the day trying out a new trial dubbed Davy Jones Cocker.

I had 60 seconds to eat food from the treasure chest and win a star, but if I failed I would be dropped into water below. But it wasn’t just any water. It contained 75 kilos of fish guts and I got a kilo thrown over my head for good measure.

But first I could try to avoid that by eating a chunk of boiled bull on a cocktail stick. I made a huge error by nibbling a small piece instead of putting it in my mouth whole as many celebs do. The texture was rubber but then the revolting taste took over. My nose was also picking up on the smell of the fish guts below and I began to retch. I love my job but even I have my limits. I used the sick bucket but only to spit some out and I gamely tried one more bite before I gave up. It had been like eating a car tyre and with no water swallowing seemed impossible.

As I was dropped into the water I thought the celebrities had a lot more guts than me, except at that moment when I had an abundance fish guts stuck on my legs and my shoulders. The trials will come thick and fast this series and they are working on a number of new ones they told me. The good news is I won’t be the only one to suffer like this as they have another 600 kilos of fish guts on order. Insects and other creepy crawlies and grim foodstuffs await this year’s camp. I was glad to get me out of there before it all starts.

This year’s camp will see the likes of Coleen Rooney, GK Barry and Barry McGuigan take on the trials. Rumours had suggested former WAG Coleen, who is married to ex-Manchester United manager Wayne Rooney, would be exempt from a number of the tasks in camp. However, she was adamant that wouldn’t be the case and was prepared to throw herself into the whole experience.

She said in a video on social media: “I’m looking forward to doing the trials. There’s been a lot of news saying that I can’t do trials because of certain illnesses and that, but I can confirm I can do every trial. So I am not excluded from any that was just a load of rubbish, and I am, yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”