I’m a Celebrity 2020: 9 things you probably didn’t know about the ITV show

From the highest-paid contestant in the show’s history to why they all wear red socks – here are the best behind-the-scenes secrets

The 20th series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! is just around the corner – with this year’s show taking place in a brand new location and sending 10 fresh stars out into the wild.

To get you in the mood for the ITV competition, here are nine secrets from behind-the-scenes…

Caitlyn Jenner was the highest-paid contestant ever

According to reports, I'm a Celebrity bosses spent £500,000 on getting Caitlyn Jenner to appear on the show. The reality star made headlines when she was voted out of the series, as none of her family came to meet her as she walked out of the camp.

A Welsh castle was ‘saved’ by the show  

The campmates will live and complete their challenges in Gwrych Castle (Rex Features)

I’m a Celebrity “saved” a Welsh castle by using it as a filming location for their new series. With the coronavirus pandemic making overseas travel impossible, this year’s campmates will be swapping the Australian jungle for a new home at Gwrych Castle in Wales, a 200-year-old building that some believe is “haunted”.  

Lockdown measures have limited the number of visitors that have been able to visit the castle in 2020, and head of the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust Mark Baker told the Radio Times that ITV’s £300,000 payment to use the castle would act as a lifeline for many local workers.

The contestants are only allowed three sets of pants

Although the celebrities could be in the jungle for three weeks, they can only pack three pairs of pants and three pairs of swimwear. The only other thing they are allowed to bring is one luxury item, but it can’t be anything that will stop them from interacting with others, such as phones, books or laptops. The most popular luxury items chosen include photographs, pillows and chairs.

The show has its own bug-breeding factory

The Bushtucker Trials require so many bugs that the show has created its own bug-breeding factory. 

On average, there are 250,000 cockroaches, 153,000 crickets, 2.5 million mealworms, 400 spiders, 500 rats and 30 snakes bred for each series of the show.

There’s a reason they all wear red socks

Bob the medic revealed the cast are given red socks to wear so that blood from insect bites doesn't show up on camera. They also happen match their trousers and fashionable fleece gilets…

Crew members are all wearing ‘proximity monitors’ this year

ITV’s entertainment director Richard Cowles recently explained what technological precautions the production crew are taking due to coronavirus. “Everyone’s got proximity monitors on them, so they can’t come within two metres of each other without it buzzing, flashing and reminding them to step away,” he said.

The show originally had a different name

It was originally going to be called Get Me Out of Here – I'm a Celebrity! but bosses later decided it would work better the other way around.

Producers meet up to 90 celebrities each year

The casting process for I’m a Celebrity is longwinded, with producers considering between 60 and 90 celebrity contestants each year.

Before they're selected, each star is given the “Talk of Doom” and sent a pack with details so they understand exactly what they're getting themselves into.  

Deodorant used to be banned – but it didn’t go well

In series one, deodorant was banned in an attempt to make the jungle experience as authentic as possible. But the camera crew complained so much about how badly the stars stank that it was allowed from series two onwards.

I’m a Celebrity begins on ITV at 9pm on Sunday 15 November.