Every November, the old familiar tune comes around on TV, and you know that I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! has returned for another year, threatening jungle trials, A-list camp mates and the ever-present speculation over who will be named King or Queen of the Jungle.
After 25 series, however, surely they can’t keep this up indefinitely? Here, we suggest how the showrunners may wish to shake things up going forward as they surpass their silver jubilee.
Source: Unsplash
Celebrity line-up
This is a bit of an obvious one, but it’s arguably the most important. Ultimately, a show with “Celebrity” in the title is only going to be as good as its celebrity contestants.
Broadly speaking, there are two types of guest stars on this show: the ones you vote to stick around because you simply enjoy their charisma or personality; and those you vote for in order to keep pushing them into unpleasant situations. Indeed, much has been written about the twisted psychology behind every I’m A Celeb fan.
That’s why it’s so crucial to get the right balance of different guest stars year-on-year, and they haven’t always got it right. 2025’s lineup in particular has been described by many fans as its “worst ever”, both in terms of names people recognised, and their performance on-screen.
A good rule of thumb going forward is: need someone to throw under the bus? Get a politician or reality TV star. Need someone to charm audiences sincerely? Get a veteran actor or ex-football player. And, for that matter, it’s all well and good inviting hip new celebrities to try and broaden the demographic, but they risk becoming outdated very quickly and even alienating ITV’s primary demographic of over 55-year-olds.
Exploring other areas of media
The show’s jungle-inspired theme has already sparked plenty of commercial tie-in opportunities over the years. They’ve been pleasantly forward-thinking, having introduced an app in 2015 that allows fans to cast their votes for free, as the idea of spending money to cast a vote over the phone was starting to become alien to more recent fans.
Keeping this ball rolling, they might consider the gaming or iGaming market. Many an online casino features popular branded titles nowadays, including some TV inspired such as Family Feud live casino, or series’ like Breaking Bad Roulette. With all the various creative challenges contestants have done on I’m a Celeb over the years, it’s easy to imagine a tie-in version of “I’m a Celebrity” exploring the branded slot option further at some point in the future.
Furthermore, there’s more potential in the app than they probably realise. It’s primarily used for voting, but what if users could use it to influence the show in real-time? For instance, a particular trial could utilise obstacles that are controlled by the majority rule of fans at home. After all, what better way to keep audiences interested than to allow them to physically influence the program on a molecular level?
Source: Unsplash
Change of location
Finally, one not everyone might agree with at first, but which is certainly worth exploring. The showrunners already experimented with a different location a few years ago out of necessity, ultimately going with Gwrych Castle in Abergele, Wales.
On the one hand, making the move from dense Australian forestland to home turf might feel notably less exotic for some, and possibly a bit cheap. In fact, it was anything but. Viewers posted on social media praising the beautiful landscape, with some even admitting they preferred it over that of Australia.
It certainly wasn’t cheap, either. ITV were reported to have donated £300,000 to the restoration efforts of the castle and actively supported their manual work as part of the filming deal. And, in the end, it’s been suggested that the castle and local area could greatly benefit financially from new waves of tourism inspired by the show.
All this is to say that a location evidently doesn’t need to be far, far away to be interesting, and it can help support more local communities. Should they wish to try it again, they might consider moving underground into one of Snowdonia’s various inactive mines, or the Lake District, for instance.
