‘I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!’ has secret back-up stars

A new batch of stars are getting ready to appear on I’m a Celeb. But one star won’t even have to leave the country, and they’ll still get paid.

A line-up of stars are getting ready to fly to South Africa to appear on I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! But one star won’t even have to leave the country, and they’ll still get paid.

News.com.au can reveal that each year a “back-up celebrity” gets paid a retainer to be on standby for the Channel 10 reality show, just in case one of the contestants pulls out at the very last minute.

The “back-up” star still has to get all the necessary vaccinations and have their passport updated, but they’re not required to fly to South Africa unless they’re called on.

“It’s pretty rare to make them come all the way over to Africa, make them wait and then not go in,” co-host Julia Morris told news.com.au. “That’d be pretty hard-core.”

But that is exactly what happened in the show’s first season though back in 2015, when former Justice Crew member Emmanuel Rodrigues spent six weeks in lockdown in South Africa only to never be used.

“I was gutted but at the same time I got to experience South Africa still,” he told The Daily Telegraph in 2016.

Justice Crew in 2013: Solo Tohi and Emmanuel Rodriguez upfront, Samson Smith, Lenny Pearce, John Pearce, Paulie Merciadez, and Lukas Bellesini up the back.

RELATED: Who is heading into the jungle in 2020?

“I was in lockdown for six weeks. All I got to do was check out the African animals, I taught a dance workshop there with the locals and I went to the local area and played in their local soccer league.”

The most recent series of I’m a Celeb was won by gossip guru Richard Reid. But the standout moment from the season was arguably Yvie Jones’ powerful protest against the weigh-in challenge, during which the celebs would see how many kilograms they had lost since being in the jungle.

“We’re going to celebrate how much weight we’ve lost and that somehow is something to be proud of, and I don’t think it is something to be proud of,” Jones said through tears on the show.

It was a speech that no one on the set was expecting, Julia Morris told news.com.au.

“It was incredibly powerful and very moving,” Morris said. “That takes a lot of guts, when you’re making a television show and when you’re in a situation like the jungle, you kind of do what you’re told.

“To watch her step out of that institutionalisation, if that’s the word, and be incredibly powerful, it was an amazing moment to be a part of and I was incredibly proud of her.”

Despite Jones’ speech, Morris expects the weigh-in challenge will still be a part of the show in 2020.

“Yvie felt strongly that way and I guess there are a lot of women who would feel that way,” Morris told news.com.au. “But there’s also a lot of people who go on the show with the anticipation of probably dropping a few kilos and having a different attitude about it … that’s seen as a reward by some of them.”

Morris admitted it’s a “tricky topic” and that no contestant will ever be forced to take part in the challenge in the future.

“Not everybody would be expected to do it, moving forward from Yvie’s speech,” she said. “If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to do it. But if you’d like to know, you can find out. Also, they are very welcome to find out off-camera as well.”

Julia and Chris are the hosts of I’m A Celeb.

2019 winner Richard Reid.

The sixth season of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! kicks off on Channel 10 on January 5.

So far we know that The Living Room’s Miguel Maestre will be a contestant and Ten has hinted that he’ll be joined by a loveable larrikin, a television megastar, a leading lady, a footy legend, a famous DJ, an Aussie comedian, a TV presenter and a pop culture guru.

Morris will once again be joined by her longtime co-host Dr Chris Brown, with whom she’s never had an argument.

“We definitely have not,” she told news.com.au. “And I tell you what is amazing about my beloved, is that I am of a certain age and when ladies are of a certain age they go through a lovely change of life which is really refreshing because every four-and-a-half minutes you could rip someone’s face off.

“Well, that’s certainly how it rolled out for me. He was incredibly generous with those mood swings of mine.

“Now, six years in, we know each other well and there’s such a mutual admiration society going on between the two of us. There hasn’t been a cross word. I’m sure there’s been a cross word out of my mouth but that would just have been general whingeing,” Morris laughed.

Dr Chris Brown and Julia Morris at Channel 10s 2019 Up Fronts.

2020 is shaping up to be another crazy year for the hugely popular entertainer who is set to return to the stage with her I’m Not Even Joking Tour which kicks off in Perth in September before heading around the country.

The tour will mark Morris’ 30th year in stand-up comedy which has seen her perform all over the world.

“When I did the Cape Town Comedy Festival back in the early 2000s, a lady laughed so hard that she did a little poo poo in her seat,” Morris told news.com.au. “They had to get her out very quietly. Maybe she’d had one too many and she just let the balloon go. I think they had to get a dry cleaner in!

“People have actually laughed so hard in my shows that they’ve sh*t themselves,” she told news.com.au. “Not the nicest sentence, but it’s factual.”

I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! season six premieres on Sunday, January 5 at 7.30pm on Channel 10