Wayne Rooney has been tipped as a potential contestant for this year's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, and PR director Olivia Bennett believes the former footballer could face the most significant reputation chance of the series. She cautions that any overly transparent attempts to polish his public image might rapidly backfire.
Bennett, who serves as Head of PR at SEO, AI SEO, digital PR and marketing agency Go Up, oversees brand positioning, reactive PR and reputation strategy. She explains: "Wayne doesn't need I'm A Celebrity to make him more famous. The opportunity for him is whether it makes people rethink a version of Wayne Rooney they've probably had in their heads for years."
A Reputation Built Over Decades
Following more than 20 years of football, tabloid headlines, scrutiny of his marriage and public slip-ups, Bennett contends that audiences already believe they know Rooney. The jungle offers him something far tougher to create through a standard interview: extended periods of viewers observing how he genuinely conducts himself.
However, Coleen Rooney's triumphant appearance on the show might also complicate Wayne's task. Coleen was crowned the I'm A Celebrity 2024 runner-up.
Advice: Let People Watch
Olivia continues: "If I were advising him, I genuinely wouldn't tell him to go in there and try to repair anything. He doesn't need a big redemption speech. He probably just needs to let people watch him."
"He's been famous for more than 20 years, and people have had a very long time to build up an idea of who he is. Some of that comes from football, some from his marriage, some from mistakes he's made very publicly and some from the way he's been portrayed in the press over the years."
"So he doesn't need I'm A Celebrity to make him more famous. The opportunity for him is whether it makes people rethink a version of Wayne Rooney they've probably had in their heads for years."
Potential Gains and Losses
"And I do think that could happen. You can sit down for an interview and tell people you're quieter than they think you are, or funnier, or more thoughtful, but there's something much more convincing about viewers gradually reaching that conclusion themselves because they've watched you every night for a week," she adds.
"That's why I think Wayne has a lot to gain, but he probably has quite a lot to lose as well."
