‘Door open’ for Tomic to return to the jungle
Channel 10 say the door is open for Bernard Tomic to return to the reality TV jungle after Nathan Buckley proved to be a “game changer” for the show.
Fiona Byrne
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Squandered tennis talent Bernard Tomic has an open invitation to return to Channel 10’s I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!
Tomic boasted he was set for a $1m payday when he was a contestant on the show in 2018, but missed out on the big money after quitting after a couple of days.
“Bernard Tomic, the door is always open,” said Ten’s head of entertainment and factual programs, Stephen Tate.
“I still wish that we could have turned Bernard Tomic around. I really like Bernard. He is a very complex person. I wish we could have talked him into staying (on the show) as it would have completely changed his perception with the Australian public.”
Tate said the success of I’m A Celebrity this year had seen him deluged with talent agents putting their stars forward to be part of the show in 2023.
“We have never had more approaches than we have had already for 2023. They want to be on our radar early.”
He said Nathan Buckley was a game changer in terms of attracting big stars to the show in future seasons who had previously been reluctant to say yes to reality TV.
“It was fantastic to have someone who was a genuine leader and a real coach in there,” he said.
“We are looking to strike out into new areas of celebrity. We try to do that every year.”
“There are certain worlds I would like to cast from. I love having musicians in the cast and so it would be amazing to have, say, a young rapper who comes from a very urban world.
“I am always very interested in politicians, I think politics is the ultimate show, I think that is a fascinating world for us to cast within.
“And you love legends because they have so many stories to share.”
Tate said one thing that had been stopped was contestants having secret riders.
Most famously Shane Warne was allowed to smoke while in the jungle camp when he took part in the show in 2016.
“Shane Warne taught us a lesson and that is we cannot make exceptions. If we make an exception for one, we make an exception for all,” Tate said.
“Shane was very open with us about needing to smoke and we made a concession.
“There were other smokers in the camp who went, ‘well, that is unfair’ so we had to agree to let them smoke too.
“We have not made a concession like that since Shane. There are no more riders.”
The current season of I’m A Celebrity wraps on Sunday, January 30.
Live voting for the winner opens on Thursday, with the king or queen of the “so-called jungle” announced next Sunday.
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