The RTS went behind the scenes to discover how ITV’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! became a global reality hit
ITV
2018 winner Harry Redknapp
ITV’s jungle juggernaut
S
nakes chewing through camera cables, raging bush fires and thunderstorms knocking out feeds. It seems the challenges of filming a TV show in the jungle are as tricky as any Bushtucker Trial. Sourcing 450,000 cockroaches and convincing celebrities that there really won’t be any secret pizza deliveries are some of the tasks undertaken by the producers of ITV’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! A panel of key creatives from the flagship entertainment show enthralled an RTS audience with behind-the-scenes secrets at a Midlands Centre “Anatomy of a hit” event in Birmingham. I’m a Celebrity…, due to return this year for its 20th series, is one of ITV’s most successful shows and recently won the Bruce Forsyth Entertainment Award at the National Television Awards. As co-creator and executive
18
producer, Richard Cowles, said: “There aren’t many shows that deliver 10 million viewers every night. It’s become an institution. I like the fact that someone called it the Wimbledon of entertainment.” To date, 221 people have joined the jungle club. These range from the first winner, Tony Blackburn, to current queen Jacqueline Jossa, via such surprisingly entertaining camp mates as Paul Burrell, Carol Thatcher, Martina Navratilova and George Takei. They’ve all hunkered down for up to three weeks in the Australian rainforest, giving up creature comforts and undertaking eye-catching challenges, from surviving on a limited diet of rice and beans to skydiving. The home-grown reality survival format has been sold to 10 countries, including Germany, Sweden, India, Hungary and the US. All but the first of the UK series have been shot on the same set in Australia, based in Murwillumbah, New South Wales, close to
the Queensland border. The camp is on private land located on the edge of a national park. An old banana plantation provides the production site. Getting the show on air involves a massive logistical operation. There are about 600, mostly Australian, crew members, including 136 from the UK. In excess of 100 cameras capture the action. Cowles said: “I’m a Celebrity… is like the circus coming to town. It’s a huge thing every year, which really helps the local economy. “It’s scary in there – a real jungle, full of spiders and snakes, and a tough place to live. I’ll always remember standing in the camp 10 minutes before the very first celebrity arrived. “I’d just had the talk from Medic Bob about everything that could kill you, and I spotted a deadly taipan snake. All I could think of was Bob telling me that they chase you!” Snakes aside, Cowles recalled how he was originally concerned whether
