BBC Radio 1 presenter Dean McCullough has chosen to partner up with TV personality Coleen Rooney on the first I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! task of 2024 as she is “Wagatha Christie”.
Rooney is competing on the ITV reality show, which returns on Sunday, alongside Dancing On Ice judge and former Strictly Come Dancing professional Oti Mabuse, N-Dubz singer Tulisa Contostavlos and McFly star Danny Jones.
In the new episode, the wife of former England goalscorer, Wayne Rooney, landed on a beach and had to compete against her fellow celebrities by pairing up with another contestant.
Rooney was chosen by McCullough so they could fight to become the first leaders of the camp – which would exempt them from the first bushtucker trial, and allow them to sleep in the comfort of the leaders’ lodge.
After skydiving to the beach, McCullough has the choice of Rooney or his Radio 1 colleague Melvin Odoom.
McCullough says: “Melvin, I’m so so sorry, Wagatha Christie you’re coming with me.”
Rooney was dubbed the name, a combination of crime writer Agatha Christie, and the term given to the wives and girlfriends (Wag) of footballers, after accusing Rebekah Vardy of leaking her private information to the press in a viral post on social media.
Vardy, who is married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy and was in the jungle in 2017 – started a high-profile libel battle against Rooney.
In July 2022, a judge at the High Court found the post was “substantially true”, and Vardy was ordered to pay damages to Rooney.
The other celebrity pairings are Irish boxing champion Barry McGuigan and Jones, Coronation Street actor Alan Halsall and Contostavlos, Loose Women stars Jane Moore and GK Barry, and Odoom and Mabuse.
They then travel to a river where they must find the keys to unlock their boats by putting their hands into “hell holes” which are likely to contain insects, snakes or other animals.
Halsall and Contostavlos win the competition and are crowned the leaders.
Following the end of the initial contest and the celebrities entering the camp, Rooney recalls how she first met Wayne when they were children, and how the couple began dating when she was 16.
Mabuse asked her if it was love at first sight, and Coleen says: “No, it was for him, not for me. He fought to get me, yeah.
“I waited until I’d done my GCSEs and then I went on a date. I was pretty good at school.”
The 38-year-old says they went to the cinema, and “had a kiss around the church first”.
Wayne, 39, was a child football prodigy when they began dating and joined Everton as teenager. When he was 16, he became the Premier League’s youngest goal scorer, although his record was later broken.
Away from her campmates, she said: “Everyone’s so nice, and we can get together and chat, and that’s what I’ve been looking forward to.”
Later in the jungle, McGuigan and Jones have to take on the first trial after being chosen by their fellow contestants.
It sees them locked in padlocked cages and trying to earn stars, which equate to meals.
Jones earns five stars, and McGuigan gets nothing so the camp is given their first dinner of Kangaroo hind.
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! continues on Monday at 9pm on ITV1, STV and ITVX.
