I’m A Celebrity… South Africa begins with celebrities facing first challenges

The contestants for I’m A Celebrity… South Africa have faced three challenges in the first episode of the new series.

US model and TV personality Janice Dickinson and former Countdown star Carol Vorderman are among the campmates featuring in the all-stars spin-off show of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

The celebrities, who featured on previous seasons of the show, are battling it out this time to be crowned the first I’m A Celebrity Legend on the pre-recorded ITV reality TV series.

In the first episode, Vorderman, 62, is seen as the first campmate to arrive in South Africa before she is joined by boxing champion Amir Khan and Diversity dancer and Kiss radio DJ Jordan Banjo.

As he arrives, Khan – who found himself embroiled in “Strawberry Gate” during his appearance in 2017 – is given a strawberry-flavoured refreshment.

The 36-year-old said: “Everywhere I go now, people give me a bowl of strawberries.”

Banjo, 30, who was with Vorderman in the Australian jungle when he went home fourth in 2016, also says: “Carol was literally like my mum the first time.”

As the celebrities get acquainted, Geordie duo Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly tell the trio in a voice message that they will individually face a 50m drop over the edge of a mountain.

Vorderman decides to go first and must find a numbered code, which she has to remember until being hoisted back up to the top.

The code opens a padlock that is holding stars – which earns campmates food as in previous seasons of the show – in a cage.

Elsewhere, former royal butler Paul Burrell, Dickinson and the Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder arrive to face another separate challenge away from the other celebrities.

Dickinson, 68, who came second in 2007 when she competed during the show’s original format, admits: “I just met two campmates and they seem to be such nice guys. I wish I knew who they were…”

The celebrities are then told to put their hands in ‘Hell Holes’ to find a key that unlocks a padlock to their stars.

Meanwhile, ex-England cricketer Phil Tufnell, former Coronation Street star Helen Flanagan and Olympic athlete Fatima Whitbread arrive in another location by helicopter.

The three celebrities are told that they will have to tie a row of giant, swinging red balls – called ‘Newton’s Cradle’ – together to make a bridge so they can leap and catch stars.

Seeing the challenge, Flanagan, 32, says: “I wish I was watching this at home instead of actually doing it.”

Following the completion of their challenges, the celebrities start to arrive in their new camp home where they begin dividing up the chores.

The episode then sees McPartlin, 47, and Donnelly, 47, arrive with a surprise announcement.

Unlike the original format, the first I’m A Celebrity Legend will not feature a public vote and instead sees celebrities compete to be crowned the winner.

The last series of the original format saw former England footballer Jill Scott become queen of the jungle.

I’m A Celebrity… South Africa airs its first episode on Monday at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.