Yahoo News I'm A Celebrity stars who've had bugs removed from them over the years
Cockroaches love a good orifice.
I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! is an unforgettable experience for those who parachute into the Australian rainforest, but quite commonly, that's because they've had creepy-crawlies invade their bodies.
The long-running show's infamous Bushtucker Trials tend to be the catalyst for such horrific trauma, with actors, sporting greats, broadcasters, and politicians donning helmets full of mealworms, cockroaches and spiders to win food for their hungry camp.
Naturally attracted to the scent of earwax, some of these confused bugs like to find holes to hide in and that spells bad news for the celebrities, as medics are quickly rushed in to carefully retrieve the burrowing insects from various orifices.
With the 2023 series continuing this trend, let's take a trip down memory lane.
Grace Dent
Food critic Grace Dent became the latest jungle contestant to find herself at the mercy of the medics this week, during the Touchdown of Terror trial.
Strapped into a helmet, she came face-to-face with all manner of wriggling beasties before alerting everyone she'd been compromised.
"There's one in my ear!" she shouted. "There's one in my ear! That's not nice, I can hear it."
An onsite doctor hurried over to flush it out before presenters Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly revealed who'd won the challenge.
Jill Scott
Before sailing to Queen of the Jungle glory, retired footballer Jill Scott felt the panic of a cockroach inside her ear in 2022.
Taking part in the spinning cage trial Scareground's Lucky Dip, she called out: "There's a cockroach right in my ear! I've just got a cockroach stuck in my ear!"
"Come to the jungle, they said. It'll be fun..." she then joked as a member of the crew syringed water into her left ear.
"It's now in my brain... Did you get it?" Scott asked, before he successfully resorted to tweezers.
Having winced through the whole exchange, McPartlin quipped: "Jill, that was bigger than the one Fatima Whitbread had up her nose!"
Joe Swash
Breaking tradition somewhat, 2008 winner Joe Swash was forced to endure the insect music for two whole days while working in Australia on spin-off show Extra Camp five years ago.
Apparently, the guy who'd usually remove his unwanted cockroach visitor was off on the day it had crawled into his ear, so Swash was instead sent to a specialist in hospital.
The former EastEnders star even documented the procedure on Instagram at the time, telling his followers: "So, we're just on the way to the hospital to get a cockroach sucked out of my ear. All the perks of this job, eh! Still can't quite believe that I've got an animal that's living in my ear hole...
"Don't make yourself at home son, because you're coming out!"
Somehow, he didn't seem that bothered.
Harry Redknapp
In 2019, ex-Tottenham Hotspur FC manager Harry Redknapp had a cricket plunge itself down his ear during the final trial of the series, Danger Down Under.
He was tasked with lying in a grave for five minutes as rats, cockroaches, worms and crickets were poured onto him. But just two minutes in, he informed presenters Holly Willoughby and Donnelly: "It's gone in my bloody ear! It's gone in my ear, I swear."
Visibly uncomfortable, Redknapp soldiered on for the remaining three minutes before Medic Bob stepped in to release him of his orthopteran friend.
For good measure, he then showed it to the cameras.
Sam Quek
Rewinding back to the Wicked Windmill of 2016, field hockey player Sam Quek took one for the team as tiny roaches zipped around her head at speed while she tried to answer Australia-related questions.
Before the contraption was even turned on, though, one of the crawlers sought refuge inside her ear.
The trial was delayed for a few minutes as Medic Bob took it out.
Fatima Whitbread
Arguably the most memorable instance concerns champion javelin thrower Fatima Whitbread, who starred in the show 12 years ago before returning for the South African special in 2023.
In her original stint, roughly 7,500 cockroaches joined Whitbread in her Bushtucker Trial helmet.
Things seemed to be going well, too, but the atmosphere in that hellish plastic casing quickly altered when she began blowing her nostrils. She didn't say anything, for fear of one jumping into her mouth, but upon being freed she revealed that one had lodged itself up her nose.
Whitbread frantically tried to blow it out, with Medic Bob handing her a tissue. "I can't get it out, it's crawling up. It's still up there I can feel it," she stressed, desperate to clear her sinuses.
"Definitely something wriggling about in there Bob... Feels like it's wriggling about, that's why it's making me sniff."
Keeping remarkably cool, the contestant sat down against a tree as Bob syringed her nostril.
The power of her blowing did eventually rid her nostril of the stubborn critter, as everyone on set watched on in shock.
"Told you! I know my own nose. I'm just pleased it's out," said Whitbread.
Read more: I'm A Celebrity
Jill Scott hasn't heard from Matt Hancock since winning I'm A Celebrity
I'm A Celebrity: Can ITV save the jungle show and stop viewers from switching off?
Watch: Lioness Jill Scott needs medic to remove cockroach from ear after jungle trial
