| I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Reality television |
| Developed by | Granada Television (now part of ITV Studios) |
| Starring | Ant & Dec |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 - 90 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ITV (ITV1/STV/UTV) |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Original run | 25 August 2002 – present |
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here is a reality television game show series in which 8 to 15 celebrities live together in a jungle environment for a few weeks. They have no luxuries, and compete to win a cash prize. The first programme aired in 2002.
The show was originally created in the United Kingdom by the Manchester-based Granada Television and developed by its London subsidary LWT for ITV. It is now produced by Granada Productions and licensed globally to countries including France, Germany, Hungary, India, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States.
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In return for their appearance, celebrities nominate a charity to which Granada Television makes donations. The celebrities are paid a fee to compensate for loss of earnings. The producers keep the details of contracts private. The money is raised by allowing viewers to vote by phone, text message or TV interactive service, for the celebrity to complete a "Bushtucker Trial" – a physical task usually involving snakes, spiders or other animals – and, later each series, for the celebrity they would like to see win. The last celebrity, after others have been evicted, is the winner and named King or Queen of the Jungle. The winner of 2011's series was Dougie Poynter, a band member of McFly.
The UK, the German and the 2003 U.S. version of the series take place in Australia, at a permanently built up camp at the edge of a sub-tropical rain forest that extends from Numinbah Nature Reserve and Springbrook National Park (camp coordinates: ). The closest town is Murwillumbah.
Other franchises have been filmed in other locations around the world, such as Malaysia, Brazil, Argentina or Costa Rica.
It has been criticised by the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Tessa Jowell. 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]
In 2002, CBS, broadcaster of the popular American reality show Survivor, unsuccessfully sued ABC and Granada TV over a planned American version of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, alleging similarities.[2]
The show's use of live insects and other living creatures in the bushtucker trials has led to some public criticism of the show and its producers & those involved in the programming. This issue was highlighted during the 2009 series, where celebrity chef Gino D'Acampo killed, cooked and ate a rat. The Australian RSPCA investigated the incident and sought to prosecute Mr D'Acampo and actor Stuart Manning for animal cruelty after this episode of the show was aired. ITV was fined £1600 and the two celebrities involved were not prosecuted for animal cruelty despite being charged with the offense by the New South Wales Police. This incident did however highlight among certain groups such as Buglife, a British charity for the conservation of insects, and the RSPCA, the controversy surrounding the use of living creatures for human entertainment. It also raised concerns with these groups that people may attempt to recreate the bushtucker trials with their own pets at home.
There has been criticism that the producers pretend that the celebrities have to live in "dangerous" jungle even though they are in a controlled environment, with some of the scenery being artificial, i.e. a pond and a small waterfall.[3]
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