Nigel Farage and I'm a Celebrity: another case of 'funwashing'?

The former Ukip leader has reportedly been offered £1.5 million to appear on the reality TV show

(Image credit: Carl Court/Getty Images)

published 15 November 2023

Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage has been confirmed as a contestant on a new series of the long-running reality TV show, "I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here".

The show sees celebrities shipped off to the Australian jungle to complete gruelling tasks known as "bushtucker trials", which in the past, have "included eating camel testicles, chomping on crocodile anus – and being enclosed in a coffin full of snakes", said Politico.

A 'dystopian de facto rehab centre' for politicians

"Nobody has to watch Nigel Farage on 'I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!'", said Zoe Williams in The Guardian. "Thousands of you, I bet, have already made the decision not to and will have no trouble sticking to it." But the "damage has already been done", continued Williams, because Farage, "whenever [he] appears on anything, manages to fun-wash himself in some obscure way".

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"Not to worry, you're thinking; there are a million people at home, ready to dunk the villain in a vat of insects or engorged, lemon-sized testicles," said Williams. But the show "rarely pans out that way; the minute anyone gets even a whiff of an underdog, people start rooting for them". When Matt Hancock appeared on the show last year, it "more or less guaranteed his rehabilitation" with the disgraced former health secretary finishing in the top three. "We, as a populace, just have a predisposition for empathy and a very low tolerance for people looking sad."

As a public service broadcaster, "surely ITV has a duty not to cast disgraced politicians" on the show, argued Ellie Harrison in The Independent. Turning divisive public figures into "protagonists for primetime entertainment" only "trivialises their wrongs against society". The show has become "a dystopian de facto rehab centre", she said.

A 'launchpad for a political comeback'?

As a "critical fan" of Farage, I have to ask whether his decision to join the show is yet another demonstration of his knack of reaching audiences "less gifted politicians cannot touch" or if he is making a "major mistake", said Nigel Jones in The Spectator.

Politicians who have entered the jungle in the past, including Edwina Currie and Nadine Dorries, have "found the experience a bruising one that did little to enhance their (un)popularity with the public". And neither does the show do anything to "boost the dignity of the political class, or raise the already low level of respect that our 'rulers' enjoy", said Jones.

But Farage clearly sees value in appearing on the show "beyond the gigantic appearance fee", rumoured to be around £1.5 million, said Ed Cumming in The Telegraph. "I'm a Celebrity…" is watched by millions in the UK, "many of whom will not have paid close attention to Tory conference," he continued.

"Could 'I'm A Celebrity' be the former Ukip leader's launchpad for a political comeback? You would not bet against it."

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Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.