I’M A Celebrity fans have a major gripe with this series’ Bushtucker Trials.
Many feel the challenges aren’t as tough or original as past series and have questioned if the budget was used up on the contestants’ huge signing fees.
Matt Hancock received a £400,000 cheque, while Boy George was the most paid contestant in history with an eye-watering £500,000 sum.
Writing on a fan forum, one viewer said: “Is anyone else a bit bored by the same, semi-challenging trials? I’m not suggesting they’ve been easy so far by any means but in previous series, especially the early ones, there were some trials where it seemed much harder to gain all the stars.
They then pointed out Ferne Mccann in Panic Pit, or the 2011 campmates’ overnight Bed Bugs trial in 2011 and Stuart Manning and Gino D’Acampo‘s hilarious caper in the perspex boxes above a pond.
They continued: “In fairness the show has been running for a really long time so it can’t be easy coming up with new trial ideas every year. Perhaps it’s just me, but I’d like to up the ‘challenge’ factor a bit and not see so many easy full house wins!”
Others agreed, with one writing: “I really miss the fun trials they used to do! The dingo dollar challenge just seems to be how they can bore them to death this series.”
A second said: “Totally agree. I think the trials have been a let down this year.”
The complaints came after Owen Warner, 23, tackled the Boiling Point challenge – the second time it has been done this series.
Chris Moyles looked close to tears when he took on the Boiling Point trial, bagging just one star out of 11.
The DJ bungled the task – leaving a star he had gained inside the water-filled tank where the task took place.
Despite the disappointment at seeing the repeat trial, fans were impressed that Hollyoaks star Owen did a lot better Chris.
In fact he was so much better, he was seen beating the Radio X DJ’s performance within seconds of starting.
This trial saw Owen using wrenches to unscrew stars from the wall, while all manner of gruesome things were dropped on his head – and eventually finding himself immersed in water.
But this didn’t put Owen off and he rose to the challenge and won all nine meals for camp.
