I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
| I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Reality television |
| Developed by | Granada Television (now part of ITV Studios) |
| Starring | Ant & Dec |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 - 90 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | ITV |
| Release | 25 August 2002 – present |
I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here is a reality television game show series in which 8 to 15 celebrities live together in a jungle environment for a few weeks. They have no luxuries, and compete to be crowned king or queen of the jungle. The first episode aired in 2002 and has now started its 12th series in the United Kingdom.
The show was originally created in the United Kingdom by the Manchester-based Granada Television and developed by its London subsidiary LWT for ITV. It is now produced by ITV Studios and licensed globally to countries including France, Germany, Hungary, India, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States.
Filming location
The UK, the German and the 2003 U.S. version of the series take place in Australia, at a permanently built up camp at the edge of a sub-tropical rain forest that extends from Numinbah Nature Reserve and Springbrook National Park.
Other franchises have been filmed in other locations around the world, such as Malaysia, Brazil, Argentina or Costa Rica.
Popularity and criticism
 | This article is written like a story. (June 2009) |
The show has been criticised by the UK Secretary of State for Culture, Tessa Jowell. In an interview with the Financial Times during the second UK series, she said, "If they weren't mostly – save their blushes – has-been celebrities, there might be more interest [...] I think that if we saw many more programming hours taken over by reality TV, I hope you'd begin to see a viewers' revolt."[1]
In 2002, CBS, broadcaster of the popular American reality show Survivor, unsuccessfully sued ABC and Granada TV over a planned American version of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, alleging similarities.[2]
The show's use of live insects and other living creatures in the bushtucker trials has led to some public criticism of the show and its producers & those involved in the programming. This issue was highlighted during the 2009 series, where celebrity chef Gino D'Acampo killed, cooked and ate a rat. The Australian RSPCA investigated the incident and sought to prosecute D'Acampo and actor Stuart Manning for animal cruelty after this episode of the show was aired. ITV was fined £1,600 and the two celebrities involved were not prosecuted for animal cruelty despite being charged with the offense by the New South Wales Police. This incident did, however, highlight among certain groups such as Buglife, a British charity for the conservation of insects, and the RSPCA, the controversy surrounding the use of living creatures for human entertainment. It also raised concerns with these groups that people may attempt to recreate the bushtucker trials with their own pets at home.
There has been criticism that the producers pretend that the celebrities have to live in "dangerous" jungle even though they are in a controlled environment, with some of the scenery being artificial, e.g. a pond and a small waterfall.[3]
I'm a Celebrity series
Legend: Still in production No longer airing
See also
References
- ^ Sherwin, Adam (2003-05-09). "I'm an MP ... get me into the newspapers". London: The Times.
- ^ "CBS loses fight to stop US version of 'I'm a Celebrity...'". Brand Republic. 2003-01-14.
- ^ youtube.com: Frontal21 (German television ZDF): Die Wahrheit – Ich bin ein Star holt mich hier raus (The Truth about I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!), January 13, 2008