Kilroy leaves I’m a Celebrity

Slight surprise as bickering duo fight on

Robert Kilroy-Silk was the first person voted off I’m a Celebrity last night after coming in the bottom two of the vote with former policeman Brian Paddick.

The outcome shows the success of I’m a Celebrity’s voting system whereby you vote for who you want to save rather than who should go, which means that controversial contestants like David Van Day and Nicola McLean survived while less entertaining ones like Paddick struggle.

In the winners market, Esther Rantzen’s price with Betfair has halved to 5.4 over the last 24 hours after she won an endurance task in a coffin but Joe Swash remains the clear favourite.

Posted: November 27th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

George Takei overtakes Joe Swash as I’m a Celeb favourite

Will the Star Trek actor become the first ever foreign winner?

George Takei has overtaken actor Joe Swash as the favourite to win this year’s I’m a Celebrity after the show kicked off last night. The Star Trek actor was 8/1 on Friday afternoon but has dropped to 5/2 with Swash close behind at 11/4 with Paddy Power.

There has never previously been a foreign winner but it’s been getting closer and closer with Australia’s Jason Donovan coming third two years ago and America’s Janice Dickinson coming second last year. Martina Navratilova is third favourite at a general 5/1, though you can back her at 6/1 with Paddy Power.

Carly Zucker is still 7/1 with Bet365 to finish as top female despite a promising first episode. Joe Cole’s WAG may also gain sympathy if Robert Kilroy-Silk continues to antagonise her.

Click here for all the latest odds.

Posted: November 17th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | 2 Comments

I’m a Celebrity: The Men

A mayoral candidate, a popstar, an ex-Eastender and two old men

Brian Paddick’s goal for 2008 was to become the Mayor of London but after losing out to Boris Johnson he altered his aspirations and decided to settle on the next best thing: munching on witchetty grubs for the public’s amusement. Five of the seven previous series have been won by a man: have any of these got what it takes to become the sixth?

Click here to place your bets

Brian Paddick
In the space of six months the former Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner has gone from campaigning to become Mayor of London to accepting a spot on I’m a Celebrity. Paddick is fifty but age isn’t a negative factor: four of the previous seven winners were over forty while series two winner Phil Tufnell was close behind aged 37.

George Takei
At the age of 71, Star Trek’s Mr Sulu will become the oldest contestant in the history of the show. Prior to this series Tommy Cannon was the oldest entrant and he was the voted out first in series five. The last American cult actor to appear was Huggy Bear, who came seventh in series four.

Joe Swash
The popularity of ex-Eastenders has declined since Sid Owen’s third-placed finish in series five and Marc Bannerman was the first person voted off last year. However, despite only being 26, Swash has an interesting backstory: he lost his dad when he was twelve, contracted a serious illness that nearly killed him in 2005 and has a reputation as a party animal.

Posted: November 16th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Kilroy Gaffe No. 1

I’m a Celebrity contestant enjoys putting his foot in his mouth

I’m a Celebrity contestant Robert Kilroy-Silk has made a number of terrible errors of judgment over the years and it would be wrong of chickendinner not to bring them to your attention. Here’s number one in our series of Kilroy’s top foot-in-mouth moments, courtesy of an Independent article from 2004:

He was forced to apologise to the Irish people and the EC Commissioner Ray MacSharry over comments in an article for the Daily Express in 1992. The former MP described Mr MacSharry as a “redundant second-rate politician from a country peopled by peasants, priests and pixies”.

Posted: November 13th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment