The rumours as to who will be heading for the jungle have already got underway as the ITV reality show prepares its return
Ant and Dec hosting I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!(Image: ITV)
There’s still months to go until we think about the countdown to Christmas with the return of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! airing just before the festive season.
But the rumours as to who will be heading for the jungle for the ITV reality show have already got underway with a very famous soap star tipped to be swapping a Yorkshire village for a basic camp Down Under.
According to reports, Lisa Riley is set to take part in I’m A Celebrity 2025. The Emmerdale actress – who plays Mandy Dingle – has been open about her desire to go into the jungle and it has now emerged she is in advanced negotiations about heading to Australia for the show later this year.
A source told The Sun newspaper: “Lisa is the perfect celebrity for the show because not only is she from a soap watched by millions she’s one of its biggest characters and it’s an ITV show to boot.
“She also has a naughty, mischievous sense of humour which is guaranteed to get a big response from her other celebrity campmates during their time in the jungle.
“Lisa is by no means the first star from Emmerdale to have gone on I’m A Celebrity… and those that do always tend to get a great response from viewers at home.”
Eight Emmerdale actors have previously competed on the show, including Lucy Pargeter, Adam Thomas, and 2021 King of the Jungle Danny Miller.
Lisa is tipped to be swapping the Dales for the Australian jungle(Image: ITV)
While her participation hasn’t been confirmed, Lisa, 49, previously admitted she was keen to take part in the show before turning 50 next year.
She told Woman’s Weekly magazine: “I’m A Celebrity… is something I would do before I turned 50 as a test for myself. They ask me most years, and I wouldn’t rule it out.”
And she had insisted she could “eat anything” on the show but there were some Bushtucker Trials she would be less enthusiastic about. She said: “I could never ever do the mice and the rat box.”
Lisa joined Emmerdale as Mandy in 1995 but left after six years, only to return in 2019.
The Loose Women panellist – who competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2013 – admitted at the time she was constantly being asked if she’d go back to the soap.
She said: “I’m the type of person that must have an answer, I can’t leave anything open ended. I was working for Strictly in doing a Q and A and there were 4,000 people asking me when I was going back to Emmerdale.
“But I’ve had that since the day I left. It was really weird for some reason these people asked ‘Why won’t you go back to Emmerdale?’ and I had no answer so I thought, ‘Well why not?’”
A spokesman for ITV refused to comment. They said: “We do not comment on speculation about I’m A Celebrity contestants.”