Kelly Brook 'in talks' for I'm A Celebrity: Inside her feud with show hosts Ant and Dec
Could the public row see Kelly ruled out of the jungle?Kelly Brook has reportedly signed for this year’s I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! – but will her feud with Ant and Dec put paid to a jaunt in the jungle?
Kelly, 45, found herself in the headlines this week with claims that show bosses have set their sights on her for the ITV show.
The Sun reported that execs have wanted Kelly as a campmate “for years”. A source added: “She’s glamorous, witty and a familiar face to ITV audiences, having appeared as a panellist for Loose Women and other shows.”
But there’s a few things that could stand in the way of Kelly appearing in I’m A Celebrity. And her public fallout with the show’s hosts, Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, is a big one.
Kelly Brook: Her fallout with Ant and Dec
Kelly famously fell out with Ant and Dec over her brief stint on Britain’s Got Talent. The former model, radio and TV presenter was brought in as a judge on the ITV show in 2009. But after just six days of filming, she had been given the axe.
Kelly had been on the panel with Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan. Following her very quick departure, bosses insisted the four-judge format was “too complicated”. But it goes without saying that the current line-up has four judges. The format was reintroduced two series’ later.
Ant, 49, and Dec, 50, have hosted Britain’ Got Talent since its launch in 2007. And Kelly has since blamed the Geordie duo – who still present the show today – for her swift exit.
It’s been claimed that Kelly got their backs up when she asked the pair “what they did” on the show.
In 2012, Kelly told The Standard: “The people at ITV were telling me that I had upset Ant and Dec and that was it. I would love to have stayed on the show. I really felt it was working out. Ant and Dec had never been anything but pleasant to my face but, clearly, they didn’t want me on the show.”
She added: “Their egos are such that they were saying to themselves, ‘How dare she think she can come on to our show?’. And since then they’ve been very vocal about their displeasure at me being there.”
Ant and Dec on Kelly Brook
While Kelly has been loud and proud with feelings towards Ant and Dec, they have never shied away either. The pair claimed in their autobiography that Kelly had turned up on the first day of filming having never watched BGT before.
Dec was also quoted as saying: “We didn’t ask for her to be sacked. But it’s completely true we were annoyed that she’d been brought in because we hadn’t been told about it.
“We were angry about Kelly. But it was because no one asked our opinion. What was upsetting was that it happened in the first place. It was wrong from the start.”
Kelly’s I’m A Celebrity downfall could come in the full selection process, which continues until right before the show starts in November.
Richard Cowles – who is managing director of Lifted, the ITV Studios label behind IAC – confirmed that Ant and Dec have a say in the line-up. He told the Radio Times in 2019: “It’s a conversation. Everyone suggests names – Ant and Dec always suggest names.”
What has Kelly Brook previously said about I’m A Celebrity?
Kelly has previously ruled out appearing on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!. But she did not cite Ant and Dec as her reason for not wanting to appear on the show, which is filmed in Australia.
The Heart FM radio presenter told listeners in 2019: “I can just think of a million things I’d rather do. I’d rather go and work in my local pub. I don’t think I could be on the show, as I really don’t because I hate confined spaces. I don’t want to eat eyeballs or sheep testicles and all the things they have to eat on there.”
Kelly added: “Even if I had a huge tax bill and I had to pay it really urgently, I still wouldn’t do it. I know that they offer them so much money, so I understand why they do it. But when you’re eating stuff like that on the telly, where do you go from there?”
In a final swipe, she added: “It’s kind of like the beginning of the end in my opinion!”
Given all of the above TVGuide will not be placing any bets on Kelly being a campmate this year!
