Yahoo News 'Nigel Farage has become I'm A Celebrity's £1.5m problem'
ITV's decision to splash out on the controversial politician has led to a mid-series lull
There was some brilliant news for Nigel Farage on Tuesday night’s instalment of I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
After suffering day upon debilitating day of hearing Ant or Dec deliver the devastating words, “It’s not you, Nigel” the GB News host and ex-politician (ITV’s snarky label, not mine) was finally chosen to do the latest Bushtucker Trial, In Too Deep.
Now, you might think that having lost each and every one of the seven Westminster seats he has (so far) contested, Farage would have been used to being told “It’s not you, Nigel” by now.
It had clearly been getting to him though. If I hadn’t been laughing so much at his crushed and bewildered expression, I might have even felt sorry for him.
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The poor lad had definitely lost his spark in the TV jungle — and he wasn’t alone in that.
We’d already said farewell to Grace Dent, who quit for medical reasons after a week of rice, beans and boredom.
Then, another outbreak of medical reasons saw Nella Rose dramatically pull out of In Too Deep at the last minute.
Meanwhile, Jamie Lynn Spears has quit the jungle and is heading back to the luxury hotel to cash her cheque, and a few of the others look like they could do with an energy boost.
I wouldn’t say that means the show is in crisis, but ITV will be fully aware that once the dominoes start tumbling it can be hard to stop them.
Ironically, Rose’s temporary withdrawal may have let Farage in on a best loser ticket.
Not that his army of fans on the outside would have seen it like that.
To them, Farage being chosen would have represented a victory for their campaign to force ITV into giving him more airtime.
Apparently, their man had been the victim of an evil plot perpetrated by shadowy Remainiac, Establishment figures at ITV who wanted to debroadcast him.
There could be some truth in that, I guess. Another explanation could be that his initial bluster and mystique had dimmed somewhat. Aside from flashing his bare bum in the shower (well, he did promise to show us his good side), it could be that he’d simply not done anything very camera-worthy in camp since the early days.
You might also ask why on earth ITV would spend £1.5m on a contestant and then intentionally deprive them of airtime? Then again, this is the network that commissioned a Saturday night singing/dating show called Romeo and Duet, so I suppose anything is possible.
Anyway, it certainly looks like some/most of the other campmates have deemed Farage even more of a bad smell than the jungle dunny, and are avoiding him accordingly. Either that or they just don’t fancy being drawn into yet another pointless culture war or futile discussion about Brexit when all they want is to have some fun. You can’t really blame them for that.
So has ITV’s decision to throw such a divisive figure into the camp come back to bite them on the bum? It’s probably still too early to say. It’s not exactly been a vintage year so far though.
The sad truth is that what’s happening outside the camp is creating a lot more noise than what’s happening inside it.
If the show itself was a little more entertaining, the media stories about terrible viewing figures or Chris Packham publicly calling out Ant & Dec for animal cruelty or Nigel being conspired against would barely get a look in.
We’ve had these mid-series lulls before, of course. Hell, some years we’ve even had full series lows. (That castle in Wales was just a bad dream, right?)
Luckily, seasoned jungle watchers know exactly what to do in this kind of situation.
Strap yourselves in, keep laughing at Ant & Dec and just hold tight for a few more nights.
Celebrity Cyclone will be here before you know it.
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here airs at 9pm on ITV every night, and 9:30pm on Saturdays.
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