I’M A Celebrity campmates always insist that they get absolutely no luxuries off-screen and they really are as dishevelled and starving as they look.
But Arlene Phillips – who was one of the campmates in last year’s series set in a castle in Wales – reveals there’s one vice the stars are secretly allowed to have off camera… though even then it’s not simple.
“You are allowed cigarettes,” the former Strictly Come Dancing judge tells us. “For us, there was a huge door that led out to the castle grounds with an open gravel space and a well where we would get our water from.
“And if you wanted to smoke, you had to line up by that door to just go outside there, where there were no cameras, smoke a cigarette, and then come back in.”
She continues: “It was one by one, so there was often a cigarette queue.”
No concept of time
But Arlene explains how, due to the fact campmates had no concept of time – with even presenters Ant and Dec’s watches covered from them – if they chose the wrong moment to have a cigarette, they may end up having to wait hours for it.
She recalls: “Ant and Dec come into camp to announce who’s doing a trial or who’s leaving at what you imagine is around nine o’clock, as it’s when the show goes live.
“But then, someone will go and do the trial, and you have no idea how long that takes – sometimes it felt like four or five hours.
“So everyone in smokers’ corner hoped they weren’t at the back of the queue, because if they were back of the queue and a trial was called, you ain’t gonna get to smoke.”
Due to these long trials, Arlene recalls how campmates wouldn’t eat until very late at night – sometimes, even into the early hours of the morning.
“They take a long time, they really do, and they’re intense and nerve racking,” she says. “When somebody comes back from their trial, you wait and wait and wait, and then the food gets sent up.
“And you’re then cooking and eating so you’ve no idea what hour of the day it is, but it’s early hours of the morning for sure that you’re eating.”
Secret toiletries
Campmates are also all given basic toiletries to ensure they didn’t smell during their time in the jungle or castle.
Arlene explains: “We all managed to wash even if it was cold and unpleasant.
“Producers do actually give you a toothbrush and paste – we all had the same – and there is a deodorant stick, so we are cared for in that way.
“There’s also a wooden comb with wide teeth, so you can comb your hair but you can’t brush it, although Louise [Minchin] took a hairbrush as her luxury item, so we shared that after she got it.”
During Arlene’s series of I’m A Celeb, there was a huge storm which meant all the celebs had to leave the castle and go back into isolation, with filming suspended for a few days.
And, although Arlene reveals they were allowed to eat and drink as normal, it wasn’t quite the luxury of a swanky hotel.
Isolation rules
“We had food and drink but, my god, we were isolated,” she recalls. “We were all alone in different places to where we had been isolated for the first two weeks, and it didn’t feel good.
“My cottage was freezing. I could not get the temperature up.
“So, there I was, freezing again, and the only thing you could watch was Netflix. I watched Tick Tick Boom on Netflix about five times.
“And it was very cold. And then it kind of resets your brain in some way.
“I felt like I lost something and you have to ramp up again.”
Envious of Australia
For Arlene, the worst part of her I’m A Celebrity experience was the isolation, having also been one of the five celebs thrown into the Clink at the start of the series.
In there, Arlene, along with the likes of Richard Madeley and Danny Miller, was forced to sleep on the freezing cold floor, as well as cook for and wash up after the main camp.
She and Naughty Boy almost quit the show after a couple of days of suffering in the Clink, so Arlene admits watching the whole camp all bond in Australia on this year’s show has made her feel slightly jealous.
She admits: “What I remember the most is being split up into our groups and barely getting to know each other for the first week.
“So to see the large group together this year, there was a slight bit of envy, because we never really experienced that and, when we did, we were only there a couple of days before we all had to go out into isolation again because of the great storm.”
But, despite this, she’d still do it again and looks back fondly on her time in the castle.
She finishes: “I was so, so proud of facing my two worst fears; one being stuck in a small space, and the second being stuck in that small, glass coffin, with snakes coming in, and actually not screaming, just finding this complete sense of calm.
“Facing my greatest fears gave me an overwhelming and extraordinary feeling with an emotional high.”
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