I'm A Celebrity's GK Barry 'lined up' for ITV show years ago after Ant and Dec phone call

She might be about to take part in the new series of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, but GK Barry was actually first 'lined up' for the show two years ago, as fans flocked to put her name forward for the jungle and she was put on the spot by hosts Ant and Dec live on air.

GK, real name Grace Keeling, has amassed an absolutely huge following on social media, thanks to her videos on TikTok and YouTube and, thanks in no small part, to her massively successful podcast Saving Grace, which she has now taken on the road twice for a sell out tour. Most recently, GK has appeared as contestant on Channel 4's Stand Up To Cancer fundraiser, Don't Look Down and joined Loose women as the ITV show's newest panellist.

And now she is on the I'm A Celebrity 2024 line-up, alongside the likes of Coleen Rooney, Danny Jones and Alan Halsall, jetting off to Australia at the start of this week in time for the new series to begin on Sunday night. However, you can go back two years to 2022 to find the first time that GK was backed to appear on the long running programme.

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Every night that series, once cameras had wrapped on the main ITV I'm A Celebrity show, its hosts Ant and Dec hosted an Instagram live, in they invited viewers to put forward stars to have in the jungle. And, after many people suggested GK, she actually spoke to Ant and Dec on air.

As she joined them on a split screen, Dec remarked: "So listen,. when we've been doing jungle club after the show, we've asked who should do the show next year; we've had loads of people going GK Barry, GK Barry, GK Barry....would you do it?" She issued a very direct response, saying: "Listen...if there's pound signs I'll be there."

Support for GK to win I'm A Celebrity is growing all the time and, in their latest odds, released on Thursday morning, bookies William Hill slashed her odds to 11/2, behind early favourite Danny Jones, who leads the pack on 2/1.