I must confess, there's something comforting about the annual flutter of I'm a Celebrity rumours. Here we are in early July, the sun barely thinking about setting on another British summer, and already the whispers are doing the rounds about who might be packing their bug spray for the Australian jungle come autumn.
At 67, Christopher Dean tops many of those lists. One half of the legendary Torvill and Dean, the Olympic ice dancing champions, he's fresh from the end of Dancing on Ice. The idea of this graceful figure tackling trials that involve little grace and plenty of grubs has a certain cheeky appeal. No grand statements, just the quiet prospect of a national treasure showing a bit of that old-fashioned resilience we used to take for granted.
Then there's Nadiya Bychkova, the 36-year-old former Strictly Come Dancing professional. She left the BBC show back in March after nine years, posting on Instagram that this wasn't the end but an evolution. "After 9 wonderful years, this part of my journey with Strictly Come Dancing is evolving. This isn’t the end… I look forward to being part of the Strictly world for many years to come in ways I am beginning to explore. I’m excited to have time to focus on new projects, and to spend more precious time with my beautiful daughter. Life feels full of possibilities."
A show that still knows its audience
Other names floating about include Su-Elise Nash, with one insider noting "The timing couldn’t be better," along with cricketer Ben Stokes, performer Perri Kiely and television personality Olivia Attwood. It's a decent spread of music, sport and telly types. Nothing forced. No box-ticking visible from a mile off. Just the promise of proper British reality entertainment that throws proper characters into absurd situations and lets the unscripted moments happen.
This will be the first main series since the All Stars edition filmed in South Africa earlier in the year. Ant and Dec will be back at the helm, of course, those two cheeky constants in an ever-changing telly landscape. The format hasn't needed reinvention because it already works. Families gather, mums and dads roll their eyes at the latest bushtucker trial, kids shriek with laughter or horror, and for an hour or so the world outside the jungle feels pleasingly far away.
I've always had a soft spot for the way these shows remind us that fame doesn't make anyone immune to looking daft in a cockroach-filled helmet. There's a democratic levelling to it. No one's lecturing you about your carbon footprint while they're failing to win stars for their campmates. It's escapism done the old way, built on endurance, a bit of British humour and the gentle art of taking the mickey out of yourself and others.
