This year’s celebrities are TV presenter Vernon Kay, broadcaster and journalist Victoria Derbyshire, star of stage and screen Shane Richie, Paralympic gold medallist Hollie Arnold MBE, Radio 1 DJ Jordan North, Corrie icon Beverley Callard, ballroom dancer AJ Pritchard, author and podcaster Giovanna Fletcher, Olympic legend Sir Mo Farah CBE and soap star Jessica Plummer. In a shock twist in this weekend’s launch show, the celebrity campmates were forced to abseil down a cliff in Snowdonia. One by one, five celebrities flew over Snowdonia in a helicopter, in scenes shown on Sunday’s show. The celebrities saw each other and waved, they were Shane Richie, Beverley Callard, AJ Pritchard, Hollie Arnold and Sir Mo Farah.

They were dropped off at the bottom of a cliff and met each other for the first time where they noticed a chest containing a scroll, boots and a walkie talkie. Meanwhile the other five celebrities were driven by jeep to the top of the cliff and met each other for the first time, they were Vernon Kay, Jessica Plummer, Jordan North, Giovanna Fletcher and Victoria Derbyshire. They also noticed a chest with a scroll, boots and a walkie talkie and then noticed abseil ropes over the side of the cliff face. Jordan read out the scroll to his fellow celebrities telling them that before they entered camp they had to retrieve all 10 rucksacks which were hanging over the edge of the cliff. They needed the help of the five other celebrities who would be responsible for lowering them down the cliff face. The celebrities at the top of the cliff would each be paired with a celebrity at the bottom of the cliff and they had to work together to abseil down the cliff and retrieve the rucksacks. In true I’m A Celebrity style it wouldn’t be that simple, the rucksacks were padlocked to the cliff and to unlock them they need to answer questions about their fellow campmates (the answers will always be numerical).

Any celebrity who failed to unlock their rucksack wouldn’t have their kit for the first night. In other scenes on Sunday’s launch show, the celebrities reacted to ‘camp’ which will be their home for three weeks. “Oh wow” exclaimed the campmates as they entered the living quarters of the castle for the first time. “It’s actually a castle” said Vernon. Jordan said: “This is actually a proper castle.” Victoria commented: “The vibe from the group at this stage is a very warm one. I think we’re going to have a lot of laughs, there’s some funny people out there.” As they moved into the sleeping quarters, Victoria lay on one of the rusty damp beds: “Aw it’s as hard as nails,” she complained. Shane got onto a hammock and immediately fell out the other side: “Mo, we’re doubling up,” he joked.

And the washroom caused some consternation amongst the campmates. “I’ve never seen a more… basic is putting it nicely… horrific bathroom,” complained Jordan. “The washroom. First of all its minging. It needs a really good clean. Well I’m sorry but no. My hair. I will look like I’ve had Donald Trump’s hairdresser,” complained Beverley.