Helen Flanagan's warning to new I'm A Celebrity stars as she reveals trick to surviving camp

I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! star Helen Flanagan has shared her advice for the new batch of campmates and revealed who she is backing to be crowned the winner

Two-time I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! star Helen Flanagan has shared her tips for the new batch of stars about to brave the jungle and revealed who she is backing to be crowned the winner.

Speaking last month, the former soap star admitted she was very prepared for her second stint in the jungle last year, going to extreme lengths to ensure she could handle any creepy crawlies that crossed her path in the special one-off camp in South Africa.

"Be prepared. It's really, really hard," Helen advised the new batch of campmates as she chatted about all thing I'm A Celebrity at the Football For Change 2024 gala. "Don't go [into the jungle and think it's gonna be easy - I thought it was going to be dead easy when I went in and I was so wrong."

Helen first appeared on I'm A Celebrity back in November 2012, just months on from quitting Coronation Street. She returned Down Under for I'm a Celebrity... South Africa! in 2023, leaving on day 12 of the show in joint 7th place, after a double eviction with Dean Gaffney.

Recalling her different approach to the camping the second time around, Helen, who was at the event with her new boyfriend, went on to reveal that ahead of the ITV show's All Stars special, she made sure was ready for every possible scenario. "I was so prepared [for South Africa] that I actually paid to do loads of stuff with animals - I held rats, held snakes, held spiders. I went to GoApe probably 50 times - I really prepped for it."

Chatting about the then-unconfirmed 2024 line-up, Helen admitted she was friendly with a few of the new I'm A Celebrity stars. "I've met Tulisa, I got on with her really well," she revealed. "I met her in Marbella - I love her. I think she'll be brilliant in it." When it comes to the winner, Helen thinks either Tulisa or GK Barry will be crowned Queen of the Jungle when the time comes, telling the Mirror how she thinks they will both "do really well."

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! 2024 begins on Sunday night with dancer Oti Mabuse and N-Dubz singer Tulisa drinking a blended smoothie made of animal parts. The contestants are among the famous faces taking part in this year’s series of the ITV Australian-based reality show, along with Coleen Rooney, former Irish boxing champion Barry McGuigan, McFly’s Danny Jones and Coronation Street actor Alan Halsall.

Oti, who is a judge on Dancing On Ice and former Strictly Come Dancing professional, will be first to arrive during Sunday’s launch episode as she meets Tulisa, BBC Radio 1 DJ Dean McCullough, Loose Women panellist Jane Moore, and singer Danny at a poolside villa.

As Dean arrives, he hugs Oti and Tulisa and tells them: "I’m shaking." After the show’s presenters Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly arrive at the villa in a helicopter, they tell the contestants they are competing to become the first leaders of the camp – which will exempt them from the first Bushtucker Trial.

They are then told to drink cocktails of blended bull penis and fish eyes, with a garnish made from vomit fruit, to determine the order in which they will skydive from helicopters. First to finish his drink is Danny, with Tulisa second, Jane third, Dean fourth and Oti in fifth.

After their skydive, they meet Barry, podcaster and Loose Women panellist GK Barry, Corrie star Alan, BBC Radio 1 DJ Melvin Odoom, and Coleen, who arrived separately on a Gold Coast beach, where they must form teams of two. The pairings then travel to a river where they must find the keys to unlock their boats by putting their hands into "hell holes" which are likely to contain insects, snakes or other animals. The winning pair earns the right to sleep in the comfort of the leaders’ lodge in their jungle camp.

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! returns on Sunday at 9pm on ITV1, STV and ITVX.

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