I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
| I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin |  United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 to 90 minutes (usually 60 minutes) |
| Original release | |
| Release | August 25, 2002 – Present |
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me out of Here! is a reality television show produced by Granada television for the itv network, in which celebrities live in jungle conditions with few creature comforts and have to earn human essentials. It was originally created in Britain by LWT and has since passed over to there sister company Granada television who share there operation in London.
ABC aired one season of an American version in February and March 2003. In Germany, a third season of Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus! aired in January 2008 (incidentally the show was won by a British man). There are also French and Dutch versions of the show called respectively Je suis une célébrité, sortez-moi de là! and Bobo's in de bush.
The main UK show is hosted by Ant & Dec, with a subsidiary behind-the-scenes show hosted by Mark Durden-Smith. In the U.S., John Lehr presented proceedings; the German hosts are Dirk Bach and Sonja Zietlow.
Format
In return for their appearance on the show the celebrities are asked to nominate a charity to which the producers, Granada Television, make donations. The celebrities themselves are also paid a fee (reported to be £25,000 for UK competitors) to compensate them for possible loss of earnings while they are in the jungle. The producers of the show keep the precise details of the celebrities' contracts very private, prompting much speculation from the tabloid media.[citation needed] The money is raised by allowing viewers to vote by phone, text message or the "red button" (a colloquialism popular in the UK for the major satellite TV platform's interactive service) for the celebrity they would like to complete a "Bushtucker Trial"– a physical task usually involving snakes, spiders, or other creepy-crawlies found in the jungle– and, later in each series, to vote for the celebrity they would like to see win the show. The last remaining celebrity, after all others have been evicted, is the winner of the show, and is branded King or Queen of the jungle.
Winners of the show include: Tony Blackburn in 2002, Phil Tufnell in 2003, Kerry Katona in 2004, Joe Pasquale also in 2004, Carol Thatcher in 2005, Matt Willis in 2006, and Christopher Biggins in 2007 (UK); Cris Judd (US); Costa Cordalis, Désirée Nick and Ross Antony (Germany); Richard Virenque (France); Walter Nudo, Sergio Muñiz, and Lory Del Santo (Italy); Balázs Sebestyén, János Vadon and Lilu (Hungary).
Popularity and criticism
The show is undoubtedly popular, at least within Europe.[citation needed] The final of the second, third and fourth UK series were seen by 12.73, 14.99 and 11.43 million people respectively. The show also helped singer Peter Andre resurrect his music career in 2004. However, it has come under fire from some critics on two counts:
- The first complaint is that the show is trashy TV, consisting of has-been or never-were celebrities trying to revive their careers. The UK's Secretary of State for Culture at the time, Tessa Jowell, was the most high-profile person to criticise the show. In an interview with the Financial Times during the second British series, she said, "If they weren't mostly– save their blushes– has-been celebrities, there might be more interest [...] I think that if we saw many more programming hours taken over by reality TV, I hope you'd begin to see a viewers' revolt."[1]
- The second criticism of the show is that it pretends to be more wild than it actually is: Audiences are left with the impression that the celebrities are in the Australian Outback, far from any major settlement, whereas they are actually close to a luxury hotel and about 30 min drive to the Gold Coast, Queensland. Further, the camp site in which the celebrities stay appears to be open to the elements but is largely covered by sheets above the view of the cameras. In an episode of the British show, a celebrity had to swim in a swamp apparently infested with crocodiles– marksmen were shown ready to shoot the animals if they attacked.
Controversy over voting arose during the sixth series of the show when Toby Anstis was eliminated. It was revealed that both he and EastEnders actor Dean Gaffney had polled the bottom two amount of votes and that viewers had to vote again to save their favourite of the two. However many fans argue that this was not made clear. In the following days, The Sun ran an article that revealed Toby's eviction had been the result of a mix-up which happened on the interactive "red button" vote– people normally use this to keep their favourites in the show, but it asked which one they wanted to vote out instead of in. When ITV bosses realised their mistake, they shut the service down, but Toby's eviction sparked fury amongst fans.
CBS, broadcaster of the popular American reality show Survivor, unsuccessfully sued ABC and Granada TV over the programme, alleging similarities. Given the poor ratings of the show in America, leading to only a single U.S. series being produced, the failure of the lawsuit proved moot.[2]
Original series (UK)
American series
Key
- The Winner
- The Runner-up
- Third place
Series 1
10 contestants, aired nightly February 19 2003 - March 5, 2003 on ABC. John Lehr was host.
| Celebrity | Famous for |
|---|---|
| Cris Judd | Dancer, former husband of actress/singer Jennifer Lopez |
| Melissa Rivers | TV personality, daughter of comedienne Joan Rivers |
| "Stuttering" John Melendez | Radio personality |
| Tyson Beckford | Model, actor |
| Maria Conchita Alonso | Actress |
| Downtown Julie Brown | TV presenter, former MTV VJ |
| Bruce Jenner | Olympic decathlon champion |
| Robin Leach | TV presenter |
| Nikki Schieler Ziering | Model and ex-wife of Ian Ziering |
| Alana Stewart | Ex-wife of actor George Hamilton and singer Rod Stewart |
German series
French series
Key
- The Winner
- The Runner-up
- Third place
Series 1
Je suis une célébrité, sortez-moi de là! is the French version. It featured French celebrities living in jungle conditions with few creature comforts. The first series of the show was broadcast live in prime time from Teresópolis Brazil, and aired on TF1, starting on April 14, 2006.
The French show was hosted by Jean-Pierre Foucault and Christophe Dechavanne.
12 contestants, April 14 2006–April 28 2006:
| Celebrity |
|---|
| Richard Virenque |
| Filip Nikolic |
| Loana |
| Marielle Goitschel |
| Prince Charles-Philippe d'Orléans |
| Benjamin Bove |
| Indra |
| Omar Harfouch |
| Satya Oblet |
| Delphine de Turckheim |
| Agnès Soral |
| Sonia Dubois |
Dutch series
Key
- The Winner
Series 1
20 March 2003 to June 27 2003 on RTL. There were ten contestants:
| Celebrity | Famous for |
|---|---|
| Danny Rook | TV presenter |
| Horace Cohen | Actor |
| Peggy Jane de Schepper | Actress |
| Mari Carmen Oudendijk | TV presenter |
| Sabine Koning | Actress |
| Sander Janson | TV presenter |
| Christine van der Horst | Television show host |
| Jimmy Geduld | Actor |
| Inge Ipenburg | Actress |
| Henk Bres | Columnist / Radio show host |
Hungarian series
The Hungarian title is "Celeb vagyok... ments ki innen!" which means I'm a celebrity... Get me out of here!
Series 1
Series 1 premiered 6 October 2008 on RTL Klub and ended 22 October 2008. There are ten contestants in reverse order of elimination. Bottom was the first out. Top was the winner.
- The Winner
- The Runner-up
- Third place
| Celebrity | Famous for |
|---|---|
| Mariann Falusi | Singer |
| Éva Horváth | Ex Miss World Hungary |
| Dániel Benkő | Musician |
| Heni Dér | Singer |
| Győző Gáspár (Győzike) | Singer and main character in his own reality TV show |
| Soma | Singer, musician |
| Márk Zentai | Teen pop singer |
| Sándor Bárdosi | Olympic silver medalist wrestler |
| Attila Czene | Olympic gold medalist swimmer |
| Patrícia Szabó | Editor-in-Chief of Hungarian Cosmopolitan |
Series 2
Following on from the huge success of the first series, a second series launched on 27 October 2008, just five days after the final of series one.
- The Winner
- The Runner-up
- Third place
| Celebrity | Famous for |
|---|---|
| Andrea Keleti | Dancer |
| András Szőke | Actor, Director, Humorist |
| Ferenc Rippel | Acrobat |
| Gjon Delhusa | Singer |
| Pákó Fekete | Sing Hungarian folk songs with bad pronunciation. |
| Oszkár Kinter | Model, TV Presenter |
| Gabi Tóth | Singer |
| Natasa Janics | Olimpic Gold medalist in kayak |
| Kristóf Steiner | Journalist, Ex TV Presenter of Hungarian VIVA TV |
| Linda Zimány | Model, TV Presenter |
| Enikő Sütő | Ex Model |
References
- ^ Sherwin, Adam (2003-05-09). "I'm an MP ... get me into the newspapers". The Times.
- ^ "Legal threat for US Celebrity Survivor". BBC News. October 1, 2002. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
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See also
External links