Jungle fever as celebs kick-start their careers

Nov 21 2008 by Alan Shaw

SO WHAT do someone who used to be a TV presenter, an ex-policeman, a bloke who quit Eastenders, Sulu from Star Trek, a former tennis player and several others I’ve never heard of all have in common?

If you don’t know the answer then you must have been living on the moon for the past week. They all have, of course, been sent to Australia to sleep under some trees, swim with crocodiles and eat parts of a kangaroo that don’t bear thinking about, all in a vain attempt to revive their careers.

And if we’re really unlucky, some of them may even succeed. Yes, it’s all thanks to I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here that we’ve had to suffer endless programmes featuring Peter and Jordan; it helped put Kerry Katona on practically every commercial break advertising frozen food, and secured TV presenting jobs for Carole Thatcher and Phil Tuffnell.

So what could come out of this series? Blue getting back together? Kilroy-Silk getting his job back at the BBC? Mickey Miller returning to Eastenders? Thankfully they all seem unlikely. The best we can hope for this time round is that Esther Rantzen revives That’s Life, if just for the amusing shaped vegetable features.

However, not all celebrity reality shows spawn comebacks – look at the last series of Celebrity Big Brother. Remember Jo O’Meara? After all the fuss of that show, the best she’s managed is a reunion of S Club 7. And even that was a disaster, as she could only get two others to join her.

There is hope after all.

Remember to join West FM if you’re out and about over the next few days. This Thursday you can join Jen McGinlay at Ayr Central for the Christmas lights switch-on, starting at around 5pm.

The team are also out and about with Keegan on Friday at the Rivergate Shopping Centre in Irvine for the third round of the X-Mas Factor competition.

And there’s more Christmas lights fun on Sunday – join Jen once again on Sunday at Wellington Square in Ayr for the switch-on of the town centre Christmas lights, it kicks of there at around 2.30pm.

James is still on West FM’s Breakfast Show for the rest of this week. I’ll be back with you on Monday morning from 6am!