I'm A Celeb book Carol Thatcher for controversial TV return after being cancelled

Former I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here winner Carol Thatcher has been given the chance to redeem herself on TV, after being invited for a second stint in the jungle. The daughter of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has barely been seen in the media for the past 16 years, after she was sacked from The One Show for making a racist remark.

But the 72-year-old has now been handed a second chance by ITV bosses, who believe viewers will be intrigued to see how - or if - she has changed in the past two decades.

In 2005 Carol proved an unexpected hit on the fifth series of the ITV show, charming the audience with her quirky and eccentric ways and eventually emerging as Queen of the Jungle.

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Now the former journalist and lawyer will be hoping she can again turn around public opinion, having been cancelled four years after her jungle triumph over her use of the offensive term “golliwog”.

Carol has signed up for the second series of the All Stars version of the show, which is currently filming in South Africa. The last one, which aired in 2023, was won by Myleene Klass, earning her the first “legend” crown.

One source told the Mirror: “Carol was a revelation when she went into the jungle in 2005. Being the posh, boarding-school educated daughter of Margaret Thatcher meant there were many who thought she’d quickly crash and burn.

“But nothing fazed her, she became great friends with everyone and she didn’t flinch from the challenges, which earned her a lot of respect. The time has come to see if Carol has still got what it takes.”

Carol capitalised on her I’m a Celebrity success by expanding her broadcasting career and was hired by the BBC in 2006 as a roving reporter on The One Show. Her downfall came in 2009 after she was chatting backstage and was overheard by several people referring to a mixed race French tennis player using the term “golliwog”. They included presenter Adrian Chiles and comedian Jo Brand, who was a guest on the show that day. The BBC dropped Carol instantly and she has barely been seen in the media since.

Despite the furore, she also refused to apologise, telling The Guardian: "I stand by what I said. I wasn't going to apologise. I never meant it in a racist way. It was shorthand. I described someone's appearance colloquially – someone I happen to greatly admire."

One of the reasons she proved so popular on I’m a Celebrity in 2005 is that she didn’t baulk at any of the challenges presented to her - cheerfully munching kangaroo testicles and fish eyes as well as swimming across a lake with poisonous frogs, snakes and bush rats on her head. She was said to have inherited her mother’s qualities as an “iron lady” and was even referred to as an “unlikely national treasure”

Speaking a few weeks after her win in Australia, she said: “Everyone has to be famous for something, I never thought it would be for munching my way though a kangaroo’s private parts.”

Asked for the secret of her success she said she’d decided to take a “very British” approach. “I decided I was going to enjoy it and that whenever Ant and Dec said ‘it’s your turn’ to do whatever, that I’d give it a shot.”

Carol’s campmates included soap actors Sid Owen and Sheree Murphy, pop stars Antony Costa and Jenny Frost and comedians Tommy Cannon and Bobby Ball.

She admitted that she’d expected be the first person to be voted off and was staggered to have been crowned jungle queen. “To have been part of something deemed so have been the most jolly entertainment really was the most rewarding thing,” she marvelled afterwards.

Her mother died in 2013 so will not be able to see if her daughter is able to win people over again. Last time around Carol said it was unlikely that Maggie was tuning in. “With the greatest respect in the world to I’m a Celebrity, I’m not too sure that this is my Ma’s sort of programme. I don’t think she was glued to every episode.”

ITV has officially announced that the all-star version of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! will return for a second season next year. Bosses said it would feature "memorable campmates from series gone by” expected to include Scarlett Moffatt, who took the title in 2016, 2018 winner Harry Redknapp and Craig Charles, who had to pull out after four days when his brother Dean suffered a fatal heart attack in 2014.

This time around the group will face brand new trials and challenges in the South African wilderness. Hosts Ant and Dec have revealed that, unlike the first series, the second run will have a live final in the UK, meaning viewers can vote for the winner.

The first series of the spin-off show aired in 2023 and featured former campmates Fatima Whitbread, Jordan Banjo, Carol Vorderman, Joe Swash and Gillian McKeith.

A spokesman for ITV declined to comment.

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