I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!Sunday, UTV, TV3, 9pm
Saturday November 14 2009
A few years back, earnest TV pundits such as myself were wondering where the ever-expanding panoply of horror that was reality TV might end, as celebrities and would-be celebrities stooped to ever more extreme forms of public abasement in order to keep themselves in the spotlight.
But now, it looks as if the craze that began around the turn of the millennium might be on the wane. Big Brother's ratings slumped so badly in 2009 that Channel 4 announced the 2010 run will be its last, and most networks seem to have veered towards the gentler waters of singing and dancing talent contests. So it will be interesting to see how this ninth series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! will do in the ratings.
The series, which began on ITV in 2002 before inspiring copycat versions in France, Germany and America, had the novel idea of casting a group of celebrities adrift in a jungle environment where they'd live in spartan conditions and be set a series of pretty nasty tasks. In reality, their 'jungle' was an Australian national park close to a luxury hotel and less than 30 minutes from the idyllic Gold Coast, but that, I suppose, did not make putting your hand into a box of rats any less unpleasant. The show, presented by those chirpy chipmunks Ant and Dec, was an instant hit, and by the second series was pulling in 10 million viewers an episode.
But from the word go, I'm a Celebrity divided viewers into the prurient and fascinated, and those who could not stick the thing at any price. Because although they were paid a modest stipend (most observers reckon around £25,000) to cover lost earnings during their stint on the show, most contestants were celebrities desperate to arrest their rapidly fading public profiles. And why else would a famous person subject themselves to the indignities of weeping, wailing and catfighting that the show inevitably entails?
Sometimes, winning the show does indeed revive a flagging media career -- but not often. Former cricketer Phil Tufnell perhaps did best in the wake of his 2003 win, establishing himself as a regular on the BBC quiz A Question of Sport and gliding about as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing. But he is the exception rather than the rule, because for most the indignities entailed in appearing on the show outweigh the benefits of victory.
Kerry Katona was perhaps the most emotional winner, in 2004, but afterwards her career flagged, her marriage to Brian McFadden ended and she now peddles her private life in her own reality show.
The problem for the I'm a Celebrity contestants is that, essentially, the public is laughing at them, and so are unlikely to take them seriously in any other TV role whether they win the thing or not. Janice Dickinson caught the spirit of the thing last year, behaving outrageously and not really giving a damn about the outcome as she doesn't really need the exposure anyway. And although she was pipped to victory by Christopher Biggins, she was the real star of the show.
As to who will star this year, it's all a closely guarded secret, but Jordan's name has been thrown about with some abandon in the tabloids, and she could certainly use a popularity boost.
W
- Paul Whitington
Irish Independent
