{"id":512158,"date":"2026-04-04T07:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T07:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/512158\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T07:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T07:48:10","slug":"harry-redknapp-prank-nearly-caused-sinitta-and-gemma-collins-to-quit-im-a-celeb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/512158\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Redknapp prank nearly caused Sinitta and Gemma Collins to quit I\u2019m A Celeb"},"content":{"rendered":"

A prank pulled by former football manager Harry Redknapp on I\u2019m A Celebrity\u2026 South Africa nearly caused singer Sinitta and TV personality Gemma Collins to quit the show.<\/p>\n

The ITV reality series returns to screens on Monday with a new all-star cast \u2013 including Olympian Sir Mo Farah, former Gogglebox star Scarlett Moffatt and Pussycat Dolls singer Ashley Roberts \u2013 competing for the chance to be crowned king or queen.<\/p>\n

The series, which is pre-recorded, nearly saw Collins quit the series early after falling for a practical joke and declaring the infamous phrase, \u201cI\u2019m a celebrity get me out of here\u201d.<\/p>\n

Recalling the prank at a press roundtable, Sinitta said: \u201cI think we\u2019d done really hard trials all day, or some sort of game, so we were physically exhausted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got back and we\u2019re all relieved (that) nothing else can happen now, because they\u2019ve exhausted us, it\u2019s getting dark now it\u2019s getting late, so that must be it, we can relax.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Harry (Redknapp) comes in and says, \u2018guys, you\u2019re not going to believe this\u2019, and he\u2019s got the board, and he starts reading this awful trial, I think it\u2019s called something like the House Of Hell, Prison Of Hell, or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said Redknapp told his fellow campmates that the challenge would involve rats and being tied up among other things.<\/p>\n

Sinitta continued: \u201cWe\u2019re already broken (and) literally before he could finish reading it out, Gemma was like, \u2018I\u2019m a celebrity get me out of here\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to admit, my hand went up that I was like, \u2018you know what? me too, I\u2019m too exhausted, gotta go\u2019 \u2013 and he was pranking us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Only Way Is Essex star Collins famously appeared on the series in 2014, however, lasted only three days in the Australian jungle.<\/p>\n

As a result, former boxer David Haye, who also appears in the upcoming series, did not have high hopes for Collins \u2013 however, he praised her for being part of some \u201creal heavy challenges\u201d in the upcoming series.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cShe was the one that I was told going into it, that she kind of flaked out the first time around, and I didn\u2019t have high hopes.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut of all the people watching her go through what she went through, she doesn\u2019t have an ounce of quit in her at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever she did the first time round, she obviously looked back, a few years have gone by, and she\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019m going to give it everything\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately for the show, she did, because she was part of some real heavy challenges that she should be proud of herself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The series also stars comedian Seann Walsh, Red Dwarf\u2019s Craig Charles, ex-footballer Jimmy Bullard, Coronation Street star Beverley Callard and actor Adam Thomas.<\/p>\n

Hosted by Ant and Dec, the second series will give the public the power to cast their vote for the winner in a live grand final broadcast direct from London, crowning the \u201cultimate legend 2026\u201d.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m A Celebrity\u2026 South Africa starts on April 6 at 9pm on STV and airs every weeknight Monday to Friday.<\/p>\n

STV News is now on WhatsApp<\/p>\n

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\"WhatsApp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A prank pulled by former football manager Harry Redknapp on I\u2019m A Celebrity\u2026 South Africa nearly caused singer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,391,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-512158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}