FROM smuggling seasoning into camp to muffling microphones, the stars of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! are always trying to find ways to pull the wool over producers’ eyes.
Now former contestant Hollie Arnold reveals she and her 2020 co-stars managed to cheat at least three times thanks to sneaky tricks that worked a charm.
Over the years contestants have often tried to sneak in banned items including Vaseline, OXO cubes, apples and nail clippers – usually without success.
But the four-time Paralympic world champion, 28, from Lincolnshire, who made history as the first disabled star on I’m a Celebrity, reveals she snuck in contraband which went over a week without being detected.
Hollie, who was first to be voted out in her series after 13 days, hid Carmex lip balm in a “secret tiny pocket” in the arm of her coat, which went unnoticed by the production crew during their vigorous checks.
She recalls: “I used to sneak snippets to cover my lips and got away with it for a week-and-a-half until I was caught red-handed.
“When you do interviews you go into a room, and I completely forgot the cameras were watching, so I got out my Carmex and put it all over my lips.
“Then I heard a voice say, ‘Er, excuse me, what is that Hollie?’
“It was confiscated and I was heartbroken, it was like my safe haven.”
It’s not the only cheeky way her gang flouted the rules, as Hollie says Vernon Kay managed to steal the crew’s water while the cameras weren’t rolling.
“Sometimes the camera crew would have bottles of water and sometimes there would be a little bit in it while we were waiting to go into the area to pump water from the well,” she recalls.
“Vernon would be like, ‘Shh, quick quick quick,’ and we would fill our bottles with normal water. He was always doing that for us.”
Shane Richie’s ‘hack’ for secret chats
Contestants are filmed 24-7 on I’m A Celebrity and often forget they’re being recorded when gossiping about other campmates.
However, Hollie claims their group managed to find a way to stop certain segments from being broadcast thanks to sneaky tricks from Shane Richie.
She recalls: “Shane knows the business and told us, ‘If we sing a popular song, they won’t be able to use the footage without paying for the song rights, so they won’t use it.’
“So we sang Sweet Caroline a lot. Shane’s very clever and knows the business, so we trusted him.”
Unfortunately for viewers, their ‘hack’ didn’t seem to apply when current campmate Matt Hancock belted out Ed Sheeran’s Perfect earlier this week.
Worst meal
With few luxuries in the camp, celebrities are forced to rely on their own inventiveness to make things tastier.
Holly recalls: “The water tasted horrible but to try to make it nicer we saved fruit peel and would boil it with the water.
“Of course it wasn’t a nice Yorkshire or Tetley tea, it was smoky water with a hint of fruit, but it helped.”
One thing they couldn’t mask was the taste of the unusual meats they were given to cook with.
Hollie says: “I’d never had squirrel before, and then I was munching on a squirrel’s armpit, which wasn’t the best.
“The worst was eel, I struggled to keep it down. It was disgusting, the most horrific thing I’ve ever eaten. It was slimy and chewy, I would rather have not eaten.”
Hollie claims her whole body clock went out of the window while on I’m A Celebrity because it was constantly dark and they had no idea what the time was.
She said: “We used to do the trials really late at night, it must have been between 11pm and 12am and we went to bed even later.
“When I came out, my boyfriend told me we were eating at 4am but we had no idea at the time. It was very weird and strange that they didn’t tell us about that.”
Family member’s crush on co-star
After leaving I’m A Celebrity, Hollie was tasked with creating a WhatsApp group for the campmates.
She says there have been “millions of messages” on it since and she still can’t believe she has the phone numbers of her famous friends – and her family were delighted too.
“My Aunty Karen was desperate for Vernon’s number but I had to tell her, ‘No you bloody can’t have it, Aunty Karen, it’s not happening,’” she adds.
Reflecting on her time in the castle, Hollie says she’s glad she did it – and has turned down other reality show offers due to her training.
Hollie said: “First and foremost, I’m a javelin thrower, which is how I make my money, but I’ll never rule out doing another show in the future.
“Until then, I have my hat and all the bits we got on the show. It makes me realise, ‘Oh my god, I was actually on I’m a Celebrity’ – it’s crazy!”
