I'm A Celebrity bosses have measures in place to cover for almost every eventuality, including a celebrity leaving the jungle after just 24 hours. In upsetting news, Olivia Attwood has been forced to withdraw from camp on medical grounds and will not be allowed to return.
The Love Island star, who jumped out of a helicopter along with Chris Moyles in the series opener on Monday night, is already believed to be on her way home to the UK to be with her fiancé, Blackburn Rovers striker Bradley Dack. A contestant having to leave so soon is show bosses' worst nightmare - but they have stand-in celebs waiting in the wings to take Olivia's place.
It's certainly not the first time that I'm A Celeb chiefs have had to deal with the headache of an early exit, so they always make sure there is a back-up plan for such eventualities.
Gemma Collins sensationally quit after just three days, while Spencer Matthews was told to leave two days into his jungle experience, later admitting he had a steroid addiction.
Last year, Richard Madeley had to depart after being rushed to hospital in the middle of the night and breaking the strict Covid bubble.
There is usually always standby ready to go - and they get paid a staggering amount of money even if they don't make it into the jungle.
Used predominantly in the early series of the show, the standbys would be flown on a first-class flight out to Australia so they could be drafted in at short notice.
The replacement celebrities would stay in a hotel near the jungle camp in case someone decided to quit or was ejected before the voting stage.
It would be assumed that the standbys would be relatively minor celebs, but bosses still managed to reel in some very famous faces.
One of the original back-up campmates was legendary TV presenter Keith Chegwin, who kept bumping into hosts Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly around the hotel.
Cheggers, who sadly passed away in 2017 at the age of 60 after struggling with lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, was drafted in as a standby contestant during the very first series.
Sadly, the much-loved entertainer never actually made it into camp, which is a shame as he would have been a hilarious addition to the show.
"We had stand-bys in those days, Keith Chegwin, just in case anybody pulled out," Ant explained during special recap show I'm A Celebrity...Jungle Story.
Dec added: "And he never got on."
But that didn't stop Ant and Dec bumping into the Cheggers Plays Pop star during their time Down Under, as they would catch him walking around the hotel with a video camera.
"He never got on, he just hung around the hotel with his camcorder filming the cast, poor Keith Chegwin," said Ant.
Ant and Dec explained more about their hilarious interactions with Cheggers in their 2010 autobiography Ooh! What a Lovely Pair: Our Story.
"When we arrived at the big hotel, we had the first of several thousand surreal experiences we'd face over the next few weeks," recalled Ant.
"We bumped into Keith 'Cheggers Plays Pop' Chegwin. Every year on I'm A Celebrity they fly stand-ins out in case any of the cast get ill or realise what they're getting themselves into and, in series one, Cheggers was that stand-in."
Keith was very much prepared to enter the jungle and had come up with a plan in case he was dropped into camp at short notice.
Ant continued: "One thing about Cheggers is that he's a very heavy smoker and, when we ran into him, he'd just got off the 24-hour flight from London.
"To combat his cigarette cravings on the plane, he'd come up with a carefully thought-out plan - he would wear nicotine patches, chew nicotine gum and drink copious amounts of Coke.
"All of this meant that when we saw him, he was completely wired. He was also keen on showing us some of the home-made footage he'd already taken around the hotel."
Ant went on to add: "When we bumped into Cheggers, he had just finished filming a cassowary [a type of Australian emu] attacking its own reflection in a car door.
"So there we were, jetlagged, standing in our second hotel of the day with wired children's TV legend Keith Chegwin showing us home-video footage of a giant bird attacking its own reflection."
The standbys are very well paid for the time - as they get a generous fee as well as having all all expenses paid holiday Down Under.
Former campmate Nicola McLean lifted the lid on the behind-the-scenes secret that is put in place in case one of the contestants has to leave early,
Speaking in November 2020, the model claimed back-up stars still get paid a hefty £20,000 alongside a first-class flight to Australia.
"Aside from the two latecomers, other celebrities are standby in case anyone gets injured or ill – but get sent home once the voting starts, as then it doesn’t matter if someone leaves", she penned in her Closer magazine column.
The former contestant added: "They travel first class, stay in a hotel and get paid £20,000."
It was reported that Timmy Mallett had flown out to Australia to replace John Lydon if he decided to quit the show back in 2004.
Nicola claimed Timmy was waiting to get on the show for a whopping three years before he actually entered the jungle with her in 2008.
"Timmy Mallett did that for three years before he got in, but that’s rare because most don’t go in the show," she added.
I'm A Celebrity bosses will be needing to send a standby into the jungle as soon as possible after Love Island star Olivia's sudden exit.
Olivia, who had been voted a 'VIP' by the public and - not knowing that it meant 'Very Isolated Person', was seen jumping out of a helicopter in the first episode.
And she takes part in the series' first Bushtucker Trial, which will air on Monday night, but sadly it's going to be the last we see of the reality TV star.
Olivia was taken out of camp after a medical incident - and medics decided that she needed to pull out of the show altogether.
An I'm A Celeb spokesperson told The Mirror: "As a precautionary measure Olivia needed to leave the jungle to undergo medical checks.
"Unfortunately, the medical team has advised that it is not safe for Olivia to return to camp as there needs to be further investigation.
"She has been absolutely brilliant and she'll be very much missed on the show."
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