Gillian McKeith must be hoping a return to I’m A Celebrity will boost her stumbling career as a “dietetic technician” – and her bank balance.
Before entering the South African bush this week, the nutritionist’s last major TV outing was in Celebrity Big Brother in 2016, offering to examine housemates’ poo.
Fans may wonder why ITV chose the 63-year-old – famed for fainting during her first stint in the jungle – as an “All Star” given she only came eighth before.
Considering two of her companies are in the red, the appearance fee will certainly be worth going through a few trials for.
Gillian made her name hosting Channel 4 ’s hit show You Are What You Eat in 2004. A number of bestselling books followed.
The mum of two stopped using the title “Dr” after the Advertising Standards Agency warned it was “likely to fool the public”.
She had a PhD from the non-accredited American Holistic College of Nutrition.
A year earlier she was censured by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for selling unlicensed herbal sex pills. Since the 2010 version of I’m A Celebrity, her fame has waned and she has published only a couple more books.
The Perth-born broadcaster drew attention for her controversial views during the pandemic, when she tweeted: “They want you to buy into the idea that you don’t have Natural Immunity. But you do!!! .”
She went viral briefly on social media in 2019 for suggesting “the country needs the sperm of unvaccinated men” and in May 2021 was reportedly among anti-vaccine protesters who stormed Westfield shopping centre in West London.
Her businesses are not faring as well as when she was a TV regular. McKeith Research was £144,777 in the red on 30 September 2021 and McKeith Global Holdings, now listed as dormant, was £31,614 in the red on 31 August 2022. It owns three non-trading firms: McKeith Foods, McKeith Media and McKeith Retreats.
A number of trademarks for various health foods are out of date. Two others, Gillian’s Boot Camp and I’m a Fatty Let Me in There, are also dead.
One remaining trademark – Gillian McKeith’s Living Food Immune Defence – is due to run until October 2031.
Gillian and her husband Howard Magaziner’s property investments in Hampstead, North London, are worth millions.
However, firm H&G Kingsford Two’s company books show bank loans and the 2022 accounts are overdue.
Gillian has over 71,000 followers on Instagram, where she promotes her Wellness and Weight Loss Club – which could be boosted by her I’m A Celeb appearance. Last night, a spokesman said the “information and conclusions are not correct as to the reasons Gillian entered the jungle”.
The representative added that the host did not hold anti-vaccine views and “only advocated for medical choice”.
Despite Companies House information, Gillian’s businesses were “not in the red” and it was “completely normal [for a property company] to have a mortgage or development loan”, the spokesman added, while accounts were not late as an extension was agreed. In November, Gillian claimed she was often asked about her stint in the 2010 camp.
She said: “Every day or at least every other day, regardless of which country I’m in, people come up to me and say ‘Please tell me about the jungle’. And I say “That was 12 years ago’.”
She went into the camp this week hidden in a box and sporting hair braids like model Katie Price wore in 2004.
And quickly the poop expert ruffled feathers – by moaning about the camp’s long-drop toilet.
