No, Boris Johnson Isn’t Heading Into The Jungle For I’m A Celebrity 2023

Former prime minister Boris Johnson will not be heading down under to compete in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, his spokesperson has confirmed. 

Rumours swirled earlier this week claiming that the ex-MP and former Mayor of London had been approached by ITV to take part in their long-running reality show, after Johnson’s former health secretary Matt Hancock ventured into the jungle last year.

However, his representatives have shut down the speculation, telling The Sun that “Boris is not doing this programme and is not in talks to do so”. 

A source claimed to the paper that Johnson, whose father Stanley appeared in the seventeenth season of I’m A Celeb back in 2018, was offered a massive £700,000 figure to appear, which “would have been the highest ever on the show”, surpassing the £600,000 sum reportedly received by Noel Edmonds in 2018.

The Sun also claimed that the show’s producers are eyeing Johnson’s prime ministerial successor Liz Truss, who became the shortest serving prime minister in British history when she resigned after just 44 days in office last October. 

The paper suggested that former deputy PM Dominic Raab and ex-chancellors Sajid Javid and Kwasi Kwarteng could be of interest for the I’m A Celeb team, too. 

However an ITV representative told the paper that “any names suggested for I’m A Celebrity are speculation”. 

Hancock’s stint on I’m A Celebrity, which was filmed while Parliament was in session, proved deeply controversial. Shortly after it was revealed that he would be taking part in the ITV show, the MP for West Suffolk had the Tory whip suspended.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak said that he was “very disappointed” by Hancock’s decision as “MPs should be working hard for their constituents”. 

“I’m looking forward to him eating a kangaroo’s penis,” Andy Drummond, the deputy chair of the West Suffolk Conservative association said at the time. 

Hancock, who claimed he signed up for the show to raise the profile of his dyslexia campaign, reportedly received a £320,000 fee for his time in the jungle. It was later revealed that Hancock donated £10,000, around 3% of that sum, to charity. 

When Hancock entered the jungle last November, he was quizzed by fellow famous contestants about the decisions he made while serving as health secretary at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and about breaking social distancing guidelines during his affair with aide Gina Coladangelo. 

However, he eventually finished in third place on the show, which saw former Lioness Jill Scott crowned as the queen of the jungle.

I’m A Celebrity returns to ITV1 in November.