Ex-Premier League footballer Kieron Dyer is following in fellow Ipswich Town star Jimmy Bullard’s steps, ready to yell those immortal words - I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here.
The 36-year-old former Westbourne High School pupil, capped 33 times by England, was photographed at Australia’s Brisbane Airport this weekend just after Hollyoaks’ actress Jorgie Porter was spotted.
Dyer, who also played for West Ham, Newcastle, said: “I am very competitive. But I am not going on the show for money. My fee is going to a charity. I am doing this show for the charity and my children.”
He says he’s doing the show because his children begged him to and not to gain fame or recognition.
“I see the show can revitalise people’s careers, but if someone in the camp wants to further their career in the media, I would rather they win than me,” he said.
“Obviously if I did win, I’d be over the moon, but it’s not the be all and end all.”
Newcastle fans Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly will no doubt have the ex-Magpie’s back.
So who else is joining him? After days of speculation - with everybody from Nicole Kidman and Caitlyn Jenner to the entire cast of The Only Way is Essex rumoured - the 10-strong line-up has been announced.
It includes Dragon’s Den star Duncan Bannatyne, former boxer Chris Eubank, Diana Princess of Wales biographer Lady Colin Campbell, fashion guru Susannah Constantine, Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley, TV personality Yvette Fielding, X Factor choreographer Brian Friedman and Union J’s George Shelley.
Sixty-six-year-old Bannatyne is the one of oldest campers going into the jungle but says age isn’t a concern for him at all.
The businessman said he climbed Mount Kilimanjaro at 60 and added: “I was one of the oldest people in our group who did. A lot of the younger people who started pulled out. There were 25 of us at the bottom but only 19 of us got to the top.”
Writer, socialite and TV radio personality Lady Campbell - no, me neither - wo wrote a book about Diana’s affair with James Hewitt, revealed her eldest son didn’t want her to do the show because “he thought I was too civilised to do something like this”.
She said: “I am doing it for selfish reasons. It will help with the roof at the castle and I want to lose weight. I’d actually like to lose a stone if possible.”
She added that once she’d made the decision to do the show her son was, of course, “very supportive”.
Hadley, famous for hits such as Gold and True, says the appeal of the show for him was “stepping into the unknown”.
He revealed he has a Christmas and solo album in the pipeline and said he wants to be back in the public eye as a solo artist.
The singer admitted to eating rice and beans at home in preparation for the jungle diet, adding losing a bit of weight would be a plus for him.
“I will be very happy to lose weight. It’s a constant battle and so losing a bit of weight would be perfect in fact.”
Fielding, best known for fronting Most Haunted, admitted being “frightened and terrified of anything that moves”.
She said: “I am used to doing lots of spooky things but I don’t think I have experienced anything quite like this.”
The TV presenter has also promised her family she won’t scream on television.
“Everyone sees me scream on Most Haunted. On I’m A Celebrity, I will not scream. That is a promise.”
In a bid to cure her phobia of creepy crawlies she was hypnotised after finding an online site.
“I found this site on YouTube where you could hypnotise yourself to be braver. When I woke up, I did feel a little bit more confident about going in,” she said.
Reportedly allergic to the sun, perhaps fashion journalist Constantine can fashion her a suitably large hat out of some waratahs?
The What Not To Wear presenter admitted she’d been asked to do the show before but turned it down.
“The main reason why I have said yes this year is the time is right. My children are old enough for me to be away for that long. Going on the show is going to be an amazing experience. I want to push myself physically and mentally.”
She said her former fashion partner in crime, Trinny Woodall, thinks she is “mad” to do it.
“But she is very excited and she has told me she thinks I will win.”
She also said she thinks viewers will get to see a different side of her.
“I do think some people think I am posh and bossy,” she said.
Let’s hope khaki and red are in this season or she’s going to be disappointed.
Twenty-two-year-old Union J member Shelley - who doesn’t look older enough to go anywhere without his mum - is the youngest contestant.
He said: “I’ve been in a situation like this before with The X Factor. You are there for support and I do genuinely like people. I feel like I am going to glue to people and make a lot of new friends in the jungle.”
The singer said he hoped X Factor boss Simon Cowell would approve of him going into the jungle.
“Sinitta did it and she is one of his best friends. I hope he does watch the show.”
Eubank reckons this will be his first “holiday” since he was 16.
The former WBO middleweight and super middleweight champion said his reasons for the doing the show are varied.
His wife thought it would be a good idea and: “Another reason is since I started boxing at the age of 16, I had to have integrity about what I was doing in the ring. You can’t really take a break and you are always on edge. You can’t let go even when you are on holiday.”
He’s not worried about having very little food to forage on either.
“I was born into an environment where it was all very simple and basic. I started when I was very young and this opportunity is giving me the chance to use the jungle, the trees, the water and my fellow compatriots. It’s not something to be wary of.”
Having watched his short-lived Channel Five reality show At Home With The Eubanks his eccentricities could make for interesting viewing. I see a lot of bush tucker trials in his future, if only to curb his habit for impromptu poetry recitals.
American-born Friedman, abandoning the usual I’m A Celebrity chic in his promo shot is any indication, quit working on The X Factor after nine years to tackle the jungle.
“Something in me was itching to make a change,” he said, explaining his reasoning behind quitting as creative director of the singing show.
“When the offer came in, it was a matter of weighing up whether I wanted to go back and do my same old routine on the X Factor or do something different. I am always preaching to my students to face their fears and the unknown.”
He says he will miss his luxuries back home, and that his fiance thought he was ‘crazy’ to do the show.
“He doesn’t get it at all. I am going to miss him, then my family, my bed, my dog, the food, the gym, my toiletries, my showers, fragrances...
“I have never done anything like this before and I am not used to living without the luxuries that I have been accustomed to now!”
Hollyoaks star Porter is concerned she’s going to “lose her bum” due to a lack of food in the jungle.
“I do lots of squats at home.I don’t want to lose my bum in the jungle. I will carry some rocks in the jungle to avoid this.”
Not shy to flash some flesh, she said she is packing a one-piece costume but promised: “Hopefully the longer I stay in, I will probably go skimpier.”
I sense another Myleene Klass moment...
I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here starts on ITV this Sunday at 9pm. Go online later for my thoughts on the almost rans and what could still be.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here