I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! returned for its 2024 series with a bang, attracting an average of 8 million viewers on Sunday night. The launch, hosted by Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, became ITV's biggest overnight audience of the year outside of sport.
The strong ratings will delight bosses, who reportedly paid Coleen Rooney £1.5 million to appear. Rooney, 38, is one of the highest-paid stars ever to join the reality show, surpassing the fee Nigel Farage received last year. Despite the hefty pay cheque, Rooney told the Mirror she wants to move on from her Wagatha Christie legal battle with Rebekah Vardy and show viewers the 'real her.'
However, Ant and Dec wasted no time referencing the feud, with Dec quipping: 'It will be nice for Coleen to face a trial that doesn’t involve Rebekah Vardy.' The new spin-off show, I'm A Celebrity Unpacked, hosted by Sam Thompson and Joel Dommett, also launched strongly on ITV2, peaking at 617,000 viewers.
Meanwhile, the Mirror reports that Rooney's £1.5 million fee may be small change compared to her potential earnings from an investment in sports health firm Applied Nutrition. The company recently floated on the Stock Exchange with a £350 million valuation. Rooney, who became an ambassador before investing heavily, is set to launch her own range of supplements in January, which will be stocked by Holland & Barrett.
