The 12 players had to do challenges so tough they ended up relying on Sir Mo Farah for ‘survival’
20:00, 04 Apr 2026Updated 20:22, 04 Apr 2026
The returning legends didn’t know what they were letting themselves in for this time(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
Sir Mo Farah is well used to being a champion on the track, but in the coming weeks viewers are going to see him becoming a completely different sort of hero in I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here.
Speaking on the eve of the show’s launch, his campmates Ashley Roberts and Scarlett Moffatt could not stop singing his praises, crediting the Olympian with keeping them alive during the whole experience – in which they were pushed to their limits.
Pussycat Doll turned radio host Ashley says he was absolutely crucial during the filming of the ITV series, which took place last year. Asked if there were any fallouts over food, or particular friction points, she reveals: “If we didn’t have Mo, I don’t think any of us would have eaten.” Insisting this was no joke, she adds: “If Mo was not in camp, we would not have been able to survive.”
Ashley claims that doing the show for a second time has not helped her to overcome any of her fears(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
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It turns out that the gold-medal winning long distance runner – who last time around was in the Welsh castle version of the series – has plenty of practical skills when it comes to jungle camp life and quickly took on the role of chef. On top of that, he’d put his hand up for the challenges too.
Scarlett agrees that he was indispensable. “Mo would actually volunteer for the trials,” she laughs. “He just did everything. I think without him, we’d still be there now. We would be sat there trying to put the fire on.”
Mo, 43, says that making meals out of some of the ingredients on offer was not easy. “It was challenging at times because we were like, ’Is that all we’ve got?’ What are we going to do with this?’ And we had to talk together and then come up with something. It was challenging – I’ve never been challenged that much.”
Mo and Ashley had a difficult time perched 140ft in the air(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
But modest to a fault, he says that everyone pulled their weight, especially when it came to the trials. “I wasn’t a hero. I was just taking one for the team. We’re there together supporting one another and our goal is to eat well, because if you’re not eating, then it’s not nice. You’re in bad mood. So it was important for us to just win the stars.”
One big theme for this series is the fallouts, which seem to have been pretty plentiful. Mo, Scarlett and Ashley claim they were not involved in any rows themselves – but admit they witnessed plenty among the other camp-mates, who are Harry Redknapp, Beverley Callard, Adam Thomas, Gemma Collins, Jimmy Bullard, David Haye, Seann Walsh, Sinitta and Craig Charles.
“It wasn’t as harmonious as the first time I went in, only because I think we were all such big characters,” Scarlett, 35, says. “If we’d all just got on the whole time when we had such big characters, I don’t think anyone would have believed it, but I think it’ll make for good entertainment.”
Scarlett ended up being covered in gunk(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
She said that the three of them were the “most laid back” and claimed that often the rows went over her head. “I feel like I’m in my own world sometimes because things happened and I didn’t even realise, I’d be sat there in my hammock and then I’d be like, ‘Oh no, that’s an actual argument!’
Half the time she had no idea what had caused the row, and says she’s looking forward to finding out by watching the show along with everyone else. “Obviously when you’re in there and you’re hungry and you’re listening to everyone else’s side of the story, it’s hard to see what’s really happening. I don’t know why people fell out, but I guess we’ll find out.”
Mo agreed that nerves had been frayed, at times. “When you’re hungry, when you haven’t eaten, there’s no sugar, no coffee, you’re on the edge and that’s what makes good TV, right?” He says he was normally content to just sit back and watch. “We needed some entertainment, right? We were sometimes bored.”
Mo also had to jump out of a plance(Image: ITV/Shutterstock)
Ashley, 44, says she occasionally stepped in, mostly to try and keep the peace. “Everybody in there, I believe, has good hearts and was just trying to do the best they could in the situation,” she reasons. “I think if we got involved, it was maybe because we felt that we could add value to it or that we felt passionate about saying something.”
One of the first challenges Mo faced happened before they’d even made it into camp. In Monday’s series opener, viewers will see him and Ashley having to complete a jigsaw while balancing on a platform that see-saws precariously on the edge of a 140ft high cliff. One wrong move, and it’s a long way down…
Another time all three of them did a trial together, which Scarlett describes as “the most bizarre thing ever”. She recalls: “Mo was getting thrown out of the plane while me and Ashley were getting dunked in all sorts. It was as if we were back on Saturday Night Takeaway, but some sort of bizarre fever dream version.”
Aside from the fallouts, she says there was also plenty of camaraderie. “We all got each other through it. I think because we all were sort of trauma-bonded together, we made it through because of everyone. I think even though it was tougher and harder, it made us all stronger. We were surviving, not thriving.”
One thing to cheer them up was the number of times boxer David Haye got naked in the jungle shower. “I was in it with him in 2012 and I remember getting out and seeing his cheeks everywhere,” Ashley laughed. She said those who enjoyed the view last time would have “a little sequel to look forward to”. Scarlett agreed: “I think I saw more of David’s butt than I saw of my own in there.”
For her entrance challenge, Scarlett found herself with David – with his clothes on at this point – being locked inside a lodge and gunged while looking for keys. Ashley, who has a deep phobia of snakes, says that sometimes her attempts to dig deep for the group had backfired. “I remember waking up one day and thinking, ‘I’m going to face my fears today!’ And then I was like, ‘Why did I decide to do that when food was at stake? I probably was the worst one to go up for this trial’.”
The experience, with hosts Ant and Dec overseeing, did little to help her overcome those fears. “I’m still traumatised, probably more now actually than even before. They were trying to show me a clip the other day of the trial that me and Scarlett did, the one where I’m facing my fears, and I couldn’t actually watch it. Even talking about it right now, I get a visceral reaction. But yeah, we each got in there and got dirty, that’s for sure.”
Mo says he has nothing but good memories, having always wanted to take part in the “hot” version of the show after being left freezing in Wales in 2020. “Honestly, we enjoyed it. South Africa was special. Looking back at bits of it now, it was epic.”
And Scarlett feels that it was altogether different to her 2016 trip to Australia. “I felt like I was sort of just in a weird social experiment rather than on the telly. I genuinely sometimes had to remind myself, ‘Oh yeah, people will see this.’ But I think that’s the best way to be, because I think otherwise you’d spend all your time editing yourself and I can definitely say, nobody did that.”
*I’m A Celebrity…South Africa starts this Monday at 9pm on ITV1 & ITVX