Ant and Dec retch and threaten to sack manager during I’m A Celeb trials
They finally took part in bushtucker trials after years of watching others face their fears.
Ant and Dec retched and jokingly threatened to sack their manager as they took part in three bushtucker trials during a special episode ahead of the new series of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!
The pair, who have hosted the show since 2002, looked back on its history during I’m A Celebrity: A Jungle Story.
After years of watching others attempt to overcome their fears, they finally took part in a string of trials after being surprised by Joel Dommett, presenter of axed show I’m a Celebrity: Extra Camp, while rehearsing in Australia last year.
Trials included Catch A Falling Star, in which a trap door opened and dropped smelly, green slime, cockroaches and worms on them as they tried to catch stars.
They also tackled the Face Your Fears trial, which featured cockroaches, giant spiders and snakes.
They were confronted with a “starter, main and dessert” for an eating trial.
Ant faced a witchetty grub, blended vomit fruit and a fish eye, and shouted “this is actually happening” as he bit the head off the grub. As he drank the blended fruit, he said: “There is a real chance I might vom, my eyes are watering.”
Dec got a fermented duck egg, blended cockroaches and a pig’s penis.
As he faced the egg, he said: “I can’t do it, man.” He stopped drinking the blended cockroaches before the end, and said he was going to have to pass on the star.
As he held the piece of penis, he said: “This is like a nightmare.”
Ant observed: “The best thing about this is, Dec’s wife is our manager, so she will have signed all of this off.”
He continued: “Your wife is so sacked.”
Some of the stars who have taken part in the show over the years also shared their memories, with Olympian Fatima Whitbread revealing that she kept an insect which got stuck up her nose during the show in 2011.
She showed the creature to the camera and said: “I kept him and had him waxed.”
She explained the case was engraved with LB, because “at the time he was a little bastard”.
Ant and Dec also roared with laughter as they watched footage of Gillian McKeith theatrically fainting ahead of a live bushtucker trial.
Ant said: “That was a very bizarre moment in our TV career.”
Dec added: “We had so many contingency plans. The only plan we didn’t have was if Gillian fainted on camera. What a weird situation to be in.”
The presenting duo also recalled that during the first series they kept a celebrity on standby in case they needed a back-up, saying it was Keith Chegwin for series one, adding: “He never got on.”
Tony Blackburn has told the programme that he was not informed about the bushtucker trials before he entered the jungle for the first series.
Meanwhile Amir Khan, who took part in 2017, said he pulled out of going into the Australian jungle three days before he was due to travel.
The boxer said he only changed his mind after an ITV boss visited him in his office.
The new series of I’m A Celebrity….Get Me Out Of Here! will start on November 15 at 9pm on ITV.
