Strictly's Arlene Phillips is set to become I'm A Celebrity’s oldest ever contestant

Virgin Radio

1 Oct 2021, 11:51

With it almost being time for a new batch of celebs to go to the castle, the show has revealed the first name for this year’s series, and with the announcement, two little bits of history have been created.

Dame Arlene Phillips, at 78 years old, will not only become the oldest campmate that has ever appeared on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, but she is also the first Dame on the show.

According to The Mirror, a source said the former Strictly Come Dancing judge is unlikely to be fazed by her time on the show, adding: “Arlene is strong and tough and her energy is boundless.”

The source added: “No doubt she’ll have the group dancing around the campfire in a bid to beat the cold and keep morale high.”

There have, of course, been other septuagenarians on I’m a Celeb before. Winner Harry Redknapp was 71 during his series, and Caitlyn Jenner was 70 on the following year’s run. The oldest campmate, at least until Arlene appears in the new series begins, was Boris Johnson’s father Stanley, who appeared at the age of 77, four years ago.

In a recent interview, award-winning choreographer Arlene, who will be directing new musical, The Cher Show, in 2022 said: “I now want to do things that are totally out of my comfort zone.”

Whilst the mother of two grown-up daughters may have been hoping that her stint on the show would coincide with a return to Australia, due to complications with border closures and the Covid-19 pandemic, it will be returning to Gwrych Castle in North Wales for the second year.

As yet, there is no confirmed date for the return of the show, but we know that production has commenced, as Ant and Dec recently posted a picture on their Instagram page of the two of them posing by a road sign in south east Wales. 

We can expect to hear more announcements soon regarding which celebs will be joining Arlene, and the show will likely air sometime from around mid-November, as is usually the case.