Shane Warne was given ‘special privileges’ on I’m A Celeb

Appearing as a contestant on I’m A Celeb is a famously tough experience – but it turns out Shane Warne got to play by his own rules.

Appearing as a contestant on I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here is a famously tough experience – unless you’re Shane Warne, that is.

I’m A Celeb hosts Dr Chris Brown and Julia Morris conceded that late cricketing great Warnie, who appeared on the show back in 2016, had some provisos written into his (very large) contract before he’d agree to rough it in the South African wilderness with a dozen other celebs.

“There’s rules for Warnie and there’s rules for everyone else. No one else has ever got the privileges that Warnie got,” Brown admitted when he and Morris appeared on KIIS 101.1’s Jase & Lauren this morning.

Warnie on I’m A Celeb, hanging for a smoko. Picture: Nigel Wright

Warnie had some special allowances during his time at camp. Picture: Nigel Wright

Those privileges included “special Warnie time” – aka smoko breaks, where the Aussie sporting legend could duck off and have a cigarette off-camera.

“He is the only one that has ever been able to have special Warnie time,” Brown revealed.

Despite Warnie’s somewhat special treatment, life’s still pretty tough for those who do compete on the show, which will debut a new season back in Africa for the first time post-pandemic on Sunday, April 2.

The hosts said some viewers still assume the celebs are whisked off to lush hotels between breaks in filming, when in fact, “there is no stepping off the set – nothing like that,” said Morris.

But Morris explained that celebrities can negotiate for small allowances to make life more comfortable on the show.

“For example there was one contestant with a scar on their face and they used a tiny little bit of cover up each morning just over that scar. So that was something that they had written in,” she explained.

Warnie made it to the final five of his season. Picture: Channel 10

Warne provided some of the highlights of his season of I’m A Celeb, placing fifth in the competition and regaling his campmates with stories about his past relationships. He also confronted his lifelong fear of spiders on-camera.

But Warne scoffed at the time about rumours he was being paid $2 million to do the show.

“I wish. I thought I’d be getting a lot more than I’m getting but anyway, that’s that,” he told Newscorp at the time.

The rare reality TV outing for the cricketing legend came six years before his death in March last year at the age of 52.

This year’s crop of yet-to-be-announced I’m A Celeb contestants will include an outspoken TV host, a UK reality star and, in the most recent clue, a “Logie-winning legend”.

The new season of I’m A Celeb premieres on Sunday, April 2.