Social media sensation GK Barry, known to her fans as Grace Keeling, has publicly slammed widespread rumours of a lucrative six-figure payday for her appearance on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! The star, who became a national favourite during the 2024 series, has branded reports of a £150,000 fee as completely false.
The Truth Behind the Pay Packet
In a candid TikTok video, the podcast host directly addressed the speculation that has long surrounded celebrity earnings on the hit ITV show. She took particular aim at a report from The Daily Mail, insisting the published figures are wildly exaggerated.
"The Daily Mail like to release what we're all being paid for it, it's a load of s***," Barry stated. To emphasise her point, she joked that such a substantial sum would have radically altered her behaviour during the show's famously gruelling trials. "If I got paid 150 [thousand] Great British pounds to go in that jungle, I wouldn't have even screamed once during a trial," she revealed. "They always overdo it, we don't get paid that much."
The Wet and Sleepless Reality of Camp Life
Beyond the pay dispute, Barry was keen to dispel popular conspiracy theories about the show's production. She confirmed that the camp is very much real and that celebrities do not retreat to comfortable hotels when filming stops.
She described the living conditions as authentically challenging, especially during bad weather. "The camp is covered but it's covered by a flimsy bit of material that opens up and shuts so when it rains, you still get rained on," she explained. "Our camp got so flooded last year, everything was wet, our sleeping bags, the fire kept going out..."
Barry also confirmed the genuine wilderness of the location, stating, "Everyone thinks the jungle isn't a real jungle, but the place is giving jungle. There are animals, you could not find your way through there easily, and we do stay there, we do sleep there... We don't go off to the hotel at night, I wish we did."
A Gruelling Schedule and Secret Safety Measures
Perhaps the most brutal aspect of the experience, according to Barry, was the exhausting schedule imposed on the campmates. Their day began at 6:30 AM when they heard the live show introduction from hosts Ant and Dec.
The days were exceptionally long, with dinner often not arriving until 8pm or 9pm. This was followed by washing up and mandatory diary room sessions, known as the 'bush telegraph'. "Before you're allowed to go to bed, you all have to do your bush telegraph things," she recalled. "So I genuinely think we were going to bed at midnight and up again at 6.30am."
She did share one behind-the-scenes secret that keeps the celebrities safe. When cooking unfamiliar jungle rations like eel, a producer known as the "Voice of God" intervenes via a tannoy system to prevent food poisoning. "You cook it until you think it's done," she said. "And if you go to take it off and it's not done, the voice of God will be like, 'that could probably do with 10 more minutes'. So you're never at risk of eating something raw."
GK Barry, who placed fifth in the 2024 series, has provided a starkly honest look at the reality of life in the jungle, far removed from the glamorous rumours often associated with the show.
