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IT’S A FIX... I QUIT, SAYS I’M A CELEBRITY STAR

Monday November 12,2007

By Tony Bonnici

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THERE was a rumble in the jungle last night after the first contestant quit ITV’s I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here show before it even started, claiming the reality programme was “a fake”.

Ageing punk Malcolm McLaren, former Sex Pistols manager, is the first person to pull out of the show before entering the jungle.

Show sources claimed the 61-year-old backed out because he was terrified of creepie-crawlies. But McLaren hit back, saying: “It’s nonsense to say I quit over a spider. The reality is their jungle is a glorified film set.

“The whole show is a circus. I had meetings with the producers and was shocked to hear I was never going to be in any danger in the jungle. There is nothing bad in there, they’re hoodwinking the public.

“Viewers need to wake up to the fact that the celebrities are just a motley crew in ITV’s horror movie and basically, I’m no longer interested in the script.”

He added: “It might have been a jungle once upon a time. Now everything is covered over and it’s a film set.

“The snakes are always pythons and they’re not poisonous. They probably yawn before slithering off. The poisonous ones don’t attack you. I had every intention to appear on the show, but I told them ‘when you sit me down and tell me that the trials you put the celebrities through are tricks to fool the public about a danger that isn’t there this proves this show is nothing more than a circus’.”

Producers decided against substituting one of the stand-ins – panto favourite Christopher Biggins and Apprentice star Katie Hopkins – leaving only nine celebrities to go into the camp.

McLaren further infuriated the show’s producers by claiming they edited the coverage to manipulate the public vote.

He said: “I think they fix it and they know exactly who is going to win the show. It’s all set up. They know who’s gonna win and who’s gonna lose. In my opinion it’s totally and utterly fixed. This is not a reality show, it’s a fake one.

“If they want to get rid of someone they will. If they want to keep someone they will.”

McLaren, who lives in Paris, said his girlfriend Young Kim had been against his appearing on the show, but he agreed after being offered £350,000.

Last night a furious insider said: “By his own admission he has never watched the show and has never been in camp. All the celebrities receive health and safety talks because of the deadly animals which lurk in the rainforest.

“To suggest there is an impropriety around the TV show is utterly false.”

A spokesman for the show, which starts on ITV1 this evening, said McLaren was on his way home.

IT'S A FIX... I QUIT, SAYS I'M A CELEBRITY STAR

13.11.07, 2:21pm

I watched last night's 'I'm a Celebrity..." and I would point out to Mr McClaren that the viewing public are not stupid enough to believe (at least I don't think so) that the producers would put anyone in serious peril during the making of the show. I think we also realise that they are not in mortal risk of being eaten by crocodiles or that any other creepy or crawly is likely to bring them to an untimely end for the pleasure of the viewing public...

What those of us that watch the show are getting is 60 minutes of 'entertainment' - yes we like the fact that celebs are made to feel uncomfortable and that one or two might have to face fears or phobias along the way. Of course its contrived and we accept that and I think he must have realised that when being offered his fee... as I watched his withdrawal from the show I wondered who had footed the bill for his lavish suite... will the show get a refund?

• Posted by: Descartes007 • Report Comment