It’s been a whirlwind year for KIIS star Robin Bailey following her high-profile axing and subsequent backflip, and the drama is set to continue. WE’VE GOT THE SCOOP
Multiple sources have told Scoop Bailey is expected to travel to South Africa early next year to film the 2026 season of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here!, hosted by Robert Irwin and Julia Morris, potentially leaving a noticeable gap just as the station attempts to steady itself after an extraordinary backflip.
Confidence Bailey is jungle-bound has only grown after I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! teased an incoming contestant as a “Radio Queen” heading into the jungle on January 18, alongside a series of flamingo images. The clue quickly sparked speculation it points to Bailey, who has just announced her new memoir, Flamingos Aren’t Born Pink.
Not the first time suggested
Scoop has also been told Tammy Hembrow’s ex Matt Zukowski is another expected contestant, after word filtered back that he had been openly discussing his appearance in public.
How can she be expected to head to Africa next year for the 2026 season, when it’s basically in the can now?
And unlikely there would be any gap in her returning to the airwaves, if she is in the cast, given they’re due back on-air the day after Celeb premieres.
They’re hardly going to sideline her for a few weeks to give the illusion it wasn’t taped in advance.
I would say he chose to stay with family. Most interviews with executives said filming would wrap before Christmas so they could get access to the best stars.
10 revealed last night that nature documentary Parenthood would be shown on Thursday nights from January 15, which could mean the next season of I’m a Celebrity will air on Sunday to Wednesday nights at most.
Assume the celebrities spent three weeks in the jungle (21 episodes) and four episodes per week, it should last around six weeks.
This is an assumption. We have no idea of 10’s plans. They could air Parenthood initially at 7.30 but then move to Friday or Saturday or after Celebrity. It is also possible that Celeb is Sun - Wednes.
Writing that as almost fact may be misleading.
How long will Australian Survivor: Redemption be? I reckon 10’s plan will be to stretch I’m a Celebrity for as long as possible, so that Survivor will finish after Married at First Sight (and not before).
It’s not a terrible idea to reduce the amount of episodes a week but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Documentary goes to 8:30 once celebrity starts. It’d be a bit odd having an elimination on different nights every week.
Acclaimed actor Sigrid Thornton is enjoying the art of surprise.
The star of SeaChange and The Man From Snowy River took on an emotionally challenging but rewarding theatre role and made her first, very unexpected, foray into reality TV in 2025, a year in which her decision to take part in Channel 10’s I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here caught many off-guard.
A sweaty South African jungle, where she spent time in a ghastly snake pit during a challenge to win meals for her fellow campmates, seemed like the most unlikely and surprising place to find the esteemed performer who had long vowed to give reality TV a wide berth.
For Thornton, 2025 was a passage of healing and new professional adventures after her mother Merle Thornton, a renowned feminist, activist, author and academic, passed away in August 2024.
It was a time to flex and push out of her comfort zone and the I’m A Celebrity offer landed at just the right moment to hold unexpected appeal for her.
“My mother had recently died and I thought, ‘you know, what better time to jump off that kind of metaphorical cliff’,” Thornton said.
“If I was ever going to do something like that (reality TV), it would be now. It was something that no one would expect me to do, something that would challenge my own perceptions of myself and I thought, ‘why not?’.”
But if they wrapped up filming before Christmas, why would they still be there after New Years Day filming? Unless they are posting - pretending they haven’t started filming yet - for the casual fan on their socials?
