Sources inside I'm A Celebrity have explained the real reason Nigel Farage is not getting much airtime on the show - despite being paid £1.5million to appear. Nigel has been open in the camp about wanting to appear on screen, saying that he wants to get voted for tasks because that would mean '25% of the airtime'.
Instead some feel he has been sidelined with more attention going to other celebrities, reports The Mirror. Now show insiders have said the reason Nigel is not being seen is because he is boring and keeps talking about politics.
A senior TV source told the Mirror: “People I know working on the show think Farage is one of the least interesting campmates ever. He is very boring and producers have struggled with fun storylines to show a different side to him. He’s good for Brexit and culture wars stuff, but outside of that, the local wildlife is more entertaining than he is.
“One example is a few of them were talking about their favourite movies and he couldn’t come up with a single one! Politics is his life and basically outside of that he’s got no personality.”
GB News where Farage works claimed last week he was being airbrushed out of the show and a conversation about Donald Trump had not been aired. But ITV bosses are thought to be keen to try to keep the show light and fun, which means it won’t air political chat every night.
Over the weekend his two main conversations were about the House of Lords and then blaming “European greed” for overfishing of the seas. Producers managed to find one scene which was not political, but this mainly consisted of the other campmates sunbathing and joking Farage had one of his nipples pierced.
Nigel responded: “What are you talking about? Of course I f***ing haven’t.” Other footage has not featured him talking at all, but instead was of his bare bottom in the shower near the start of the series.
The Mirrops claims hosts Ant and Dec are keen for I’m A Celebrity not to feature a politician next year after Farage and former Health Secretary Matt Hancock have made the series controversial and coincided with a drop in ratings.
Dec said: “I think we should do a year without any politicians. Let’s put that motion through.” Ant quickly added: “AGREED! Agreed.”
Responding to this on ITV, Lorraine Kelly said today: “Ant and Dec made it clear who they don’t want in camp next year, it’s an interesting one. They’re astute those two, they know what works and what doesn’t. I think it hasn’t quite worked this year as they thought it might for their big money signing, who has not delivered, as we know.”
An ITV spokesman said: “We’re a 60-75 minute Entertainment show. It is always our intention to produce a show that is a fair and accurate representation of life in camp.”
