The hit ITV reality show I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here is set to return for its 26th series, with the 2026 edition confirmed to begin on Monday November 16 at 9pm. The opening episode will be an extended 95-minute special airing on ITV1 and on ITVX, the broadcaster's streaming platform, and 11 celebrities have already been confirmed for this year's line-up.
The show, which first aired in 2002 with hosts Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly, sees a group of well-known personalities abandoned in a basic campsite with minimal creature comforts. To win food and supplies, the celebrities must face gruelling challenges, often decided by a viewer vote. Fans also vote for their favourites, and the last remaining celebrity is crowned the "King" or "Queen" of the Jungle.
History of the Show
The first-ever series of I'm A Celebrity got underway in August 2002. Since then, the public has crowned 15 Kings and 10 Queens of the Jungle, and briefly a Castle after the show relocated to Wales in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic. The Manchester Evening News has looked back at the celebrities who took part in the first series and what happened to them after their stint on the show.
First Series Contestants
Tony Blackburn was crowned the first-ever King of the Jungle. The DJ, singer and presenter was the first radio DJ to appear on BBC Radio 1 when it launched on September 30, 1967. After the show, Blackburn continued his broadcasting career, was briefly dismissed by the BBC in early 2016 amid the Jimmy Savile inquiry, and was reinstated 10 months later. He has presented for Smooth Radio and Thames Radio, and continues to present classic music and soul programmes on BBC Radio 2, including Sounds of the Sixties and Golden Hour. He also launched a podcast with Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson called Ricky and Tony's Pop Detectives, and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2024 for services to broadcasting and charity.
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson was the runner-up, finishing behind Blackburn with 45% of the public vote. After the show, she appeared on programmes including Blind Date, Top Gear, Would I Lie to You? and Top of the Pops, and wrote for The Sunday Times and The Mail on Sunday. She authored books including The Naughty Girl's Guide to Life. In January 2016, she died aged 45, with her death originally treated as unexplained. Her sister later revealed the cause of death was peritonitis and a perforated ulcer. Prince William and Kate, now the Princess of Wales, said at the time they were "deeply saddened and our thoughts are so much with the family".
Christine Hamilton finished third. At the time of the show, she had worked as a secretary to various MPs, including her husband, former MP Neil Hamilton. She came to public prominence after confronting Martin Bell during a televised press conference on Knutsford Heath amid the Cash-for-questions affair. After I'm A Celebrity, she reached the final of Celebrity MasterChef in 2010 and has appeared in pantomimes and theatre roles, including the narrator in The Rocky Horror Show.
Nell McAndrew, known for modelling Lara Croft for the video game Tomb Raider between 1998 and 1999, has presented programmes such as Racing Rivals, Born to Fight, It's a Knockout and The Big Breakfast. After modelling, she became an amateur athlete and is said to have completed over 8 marathons, with a personal best of 2:54:39 at the London Marathon.
Rhona Cameron, a Scottish comedian, writer and TV presenter, became the first female narrator in some performances of the UK tour of The Rocky Horror Show in 2003. She appeared on Celebrity Wife Swap in June 2009 and has voiced Bonnie in the video game Payday 2 since 2015.
Darren Day, known from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat and presenting You Bet! and Don't Try This at Home!, has continued in stage and screen roles, including Hollyoaks between 2010 and 2011. He was a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother in 2016, finishing third, and has toured in Chicago: The Musical and appeared in Dick Whittington and His Cat at the Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage.
Nigel Benn, known as The Dark Destroyer, held the WBO middleweight title in 1990 and the WBC super-middleweight title from 1992 to 1996. He was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2013 alongside Joe Calzaghe. In 2024, he joined Frank Bruno, Lennox Lewis and Chris Eubank for an Amazon Prime Video mini-documentary titled Four Kings, in which he revealed he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Uri Geller had the shortest stint on the first series. The illusionist and self-proclaimed psychic has hosted paranormal TV shows internationally, including Uri's Haunted Cities and Phenomenon. In 2022, it was reported that Geller, now 79, was living in Jaffa, Israel, where he runs the Uri Geller Museum.
