Nigel Farage & Jamie Lynn Spears Fail To Spark Gangbuster Ratings For ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!’, But GB News Producer Claims Otherwise

Max Goldbart
·2 min read
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The inclusion of right-wing firebrand politician Nigel Farage and Jamie Lynn Spears in this year’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! failed to spark gangbuster ratings for last night’s launch episode, although you wouldn’t think so reading GB News producer Ben Leo’s X timeline.

Leo, who is in Australia covering the show featuring GB News presenter Farage, tweeted this morning that the series opener had been watched by 9.1 million people and a peak of 10.3 million. The figure is in fact 7 million and 7.8 million respectively – I’m a Celeb’s lowest for several years. Leo appears to have been confusing last night’s ratings with 2022’s and hasn’t yet taken his tweet down, which led with “FARAGE SPARKS BOMBSHELL RATINGS.”

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Farage’s inclusion mirrored last year’s decision to sign up former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and ITV had been hoping the former UKIP leader, who hosts one of GB News’ most-watched shows, would bring in the viewers for the Ant and Dec-hosted returner.

Another big get was Lynn Spears, the sister of Britney Spears who also stars in Netflix series Sweet Magnolias. Other contestants on the two-decades old ITV smash include First Dates host Fred Sirieix and former Big Brother winner Josie Gibson.

Produced by ITV Studios-backed Lifted Entertainment, the show will run nightly for the next three weeks and remains a late-year juggernaut for ITV despite the opener’s lower return. According to Barb data supplied by overnights.tv, last night’s rating was still ITV’s most-watched episode since the 2022 launch ep and its top-viewed with the crucial 16-34 year old demographic. It made light work of the launch of BBC One drama Boat Story, which was watched by 2 million.