Mariella Frostrup, the 63-year-old broadcaster and Loose Women star, is reportedly in "advanced talks" to join the I'm A Celebrity line-up. The move comes after former Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson pulled out of the show due to family commitments with her twin daughters.
Prestige Signing for the ITV Show
Sources claim that Mariella's signing is "prestige" and that she could speak about her rumoured romance with Hollywood legend George Clooney. The telly star, who started her career in music, is no stranger to the Southern Hemisphere, having married her second husband in the Panama jungle.
Speaking to The Sun, a source said: "This is a really prestige signing for I'm A Celebrity and it's fair to say she isn't the sort of character you necessarily expect to see heading into camp. With a career in broadcasting and journalism, she's likely to have a wealth of anecdotes to share with her campmates."
Past Relationships and Career
Mariella has previously remained tight-lipped about her reported relationship with George Clooney but has praised the actor for his caring personality and insisted that they have been friends for decades. In 2007, she said: "I've known him for eight years, he's a confirmed bachelor, he doesn't have any kids, and he's not mad about them, but every single holiday since I've had my babies he's invited us to stay at his house in Italy."
She added: "Or he'll phone and say, 'Hey I'm going to Venice, that's near you guys, come along.' Then he'll sort the hotel out. He's kind, generous and loyal." Mariella also noted that George had treated her husband Jason as "a long-lost pal" from the moment they started dating.
Mariella married Richard Jobson, the lead singer of the punk band Skids, in 1979, before they split five years later. She later met Jason McCue, a human rights lawyer, on a charity trek in Nepal, and the pair married in 2003 and welcomed two children.
Jungle History and Future Plans
Should she enter the jungle, she'll join a long list of Loose Women stars who swapped the ITV panel show for the Bushtucker Trials. In previous years, Myleene Klass, Jane Moore, Stacey Solomon, Janet Street-Porter and Linda Robson have all battled the jungle conditions.
The broadcaster recently disclosed that she's prepared to embrace new challenges, saying: "Actually, far from wanting it to get smaller and less inspiring and just to chug along til you slip off this mortal coil — you want to cram in all of the things that you feel like you haven't done."
The show will return next month, with hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly welcoming a new crowd of familiar faces. Other names rumoured to have signed up this year include footballer Wayne Rooney, former Strictly Come Dancing pro Nadiya Bychkova, cricketer Ben Stokes, and Kaiser Chiefs star Ricky Wilson. The Mirror has approached ITV for comment.
