The I'm A Celebrity 2026 line-up has reportedly taken shape, with Wayne Rooney, Joanna Page and Ade Adepitan among 12 names linked to the ITV series. Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly will return to host season 26, due to begin within weeks.
ITV has not formally confirmed the cast, but reports suggest the group will include actors, athletes, presenters, musicians and online creators. In other words, the usual carefully engineered mix of people who might not otherwise share rice and beans in Australia.
Which celebrities are reportedly entering the jungle?
Joanna Page, best known for playing Stacey Shipman in Gavin & Stacey, is reportedly joining the show as part of a return to major television appearances.
Paralympian and former wheelchair basketball player Ade Adepitan is also expected to take part. If confirmed, he would become the programme's first contestant to compete using a wheelchair.
A source previously said ITV executives were “really keen to make it work”, adding that they believed Adepitan's “infectious larger-than-life personality” would make him an ideal campmate.
Sharmarke Mohamud, known online as Sharky and as a member of the YouTube group Beta Squad, is another reported contestant. His online career took off in 2015, and his personal YouTube channel now has more than 1.5 million subscribers.
The remaining names linked to the series are:
- Love Island contestant Chloe Burrows
- Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson
- Big Brother presenter AJ Odudu
- broadcaster Mariella Frostrup
- model Leomie Anderson
- actor and television presenter Claire Sweeney
- comedian Leigh Francis, also known as Keith Lemon
- comedian and content creator Jack Skipper
Wayne Rooney could be the major signing
Former Manchester United and England footballer Wayne Rooney is reportedly heading into camp after weeks of speculation. Producers were previously said to be pursuing him as potentially the biggest signing in the programme's history, a description ITV tends to rediscover whenever a famous person agrees to sleep near insects.
Rooney would follow his wife, Coleen Rooney, who finished second in the 24th series. She lost the 2024 final to McFly musician Danny Jones.
What has ITV shown so far?
ITV has begun promoting the new series with a trailer featuring Ant and Dec conducting a choir while being covered in worms, gunge and assorted unpleasant substances.
Set to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, the song listed several familiar jungle hazards, including 12 tubs of offal, 11 dingo dollars, rice and beans, Celebrity Cyclone, vomit smoothies, blended brains, fish guts and two tonnes of mud.
After enduring the performance, McPartlin said: “That's really got me into the spirit.” Donnelly replied: “Isn't it just the most wonderful time of the year?” Their definition of wonderful remains admirably broad.
Former Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson had also reportedly been preparing to join the series and raise awareness of spinal muscular atrophy type 1. Reports later said she withdrew because her daughters were unwell.
