I’M A Celeb stars were almost left high and dry when the shower broke just before the start of last year’s show . . . and were only saved by the handiwork of a local emergency plumber.
The book has revealed that in previous years, cameramen have fought over who got to film stunning stars such as Myleene Klass, Amy Willerton and Helen Flanagan washing down in their bikinis in the Aussie Outback.
But as Gwrych Castle in North Wales had no running water, a special boiler was installed, operated by a hand pump and fuelled by wood which the celebs had to chop.
During the dry run the shower pump handle snapped. Then the back-up handle also broke and they were left without any water.
Luckily a plumber was hired to keep the system working, which he managed to do spectacularly, even though he’d never seen a system like it.
As the bathroom was in a part of the castle with no floor or roof, an entire new first-floor landing was created for the washroom — which consisted of an old tin bath and shower.
It was a two-person job to pump the shower so producers decided to give the celebs having a wash a curtain to preserve their modesty.
It was the first series where nobody got to show off their six-packs or curves in the shower!
The castle privy, or loo, was as basic as the one in the Aussie jungle — just a shed with a wooden plank seat with a hole in it over an open barrel.
One of the daily tasks was to empty it — no mean feat when a full barrel weighed up to 30kg.
One of the effects of a rice and beans diet on the campmates was widespread constipation, so when the call of the privy came, it was a great relief.
The only mod cons were a cold-water tap and a basin so the campmates could wash their hands.
All water had to be brought to the site in bowsers and pumped to the well in the courtyard.
The castle had fallen into disrepair since the late 1980s and the I’m A Celebrity team had just three months to transform it into a functioning camp and TV studio.
And because of Covid restrictions they had to stay socially distanced at all times.
The crew all wore buzzers that went off if they got too close to another person.
They slept in static caravans in a nearby caravan park.
There was regular Covid testing, of course, and a team of medics were on standby 24/7.
But the programme’s regular jungle medic, 70-year-old Aussie Bob McCarron, on the show since the first series in 2002, couldn’t make it due to travel restrictions.
Because of the scale of setting up the castle, two thirds more staff were needed in Wales than in Australia.
For a project of this size, work would normally have taken a year, but due to the pandemic, the crew didn’t have that luxury.
The castle was an empty shell — which meant it was the ideal location to test a group of celebrities.
A massive circus tent was put over the production village so everyone could stay dry but on one day the wind was so strong that the guy ropes came loose and everyone had to abandon their offices.
WIDESPREAD CONSTIPATION
Fortunately everything stayed intact and everyone could return to work.
As some of the castle floors had deteriorated to mud, new ones were put in and walls were constructed out of wood and painted to match the existing stone.
To make it look even more abandoned, a “greens team” hung ivy over the walls and planted fresh weeds and moss on the floors and parapets, copying the types already growing elsewhere in the castle.
The plants actually grew during filming. Nature was swallowing up the place.
Additional sets had to be constructed within the castle grounds, to provide enough safe space for the usual features of the show, from the trials to the challenges.
Spaces also had to be created for various groups behind the scenes, such as the trials team, challenges team, the reality team and edit team, each of which had to have its own cabin.
The crew also had to build production offices, an art workshop, 24-hour dining hall, medical centre, a live gallery for transmission, huge cabins for the engineering team and an audio and edit suite.
The crew even extended the castle’s original staircase, as much of the marble had been looted.
They created wooden steps which were painted to match the original.
Having the show running on UK time had a huge impact on how it was made.
In Australia, the trials are filmed first thing in the morning, then edited with all the content through the night, ready for the live show that goes out at 7am Australian time, or 9pm in the UK. But with the new edition in Wales, the timetable had to be altered.
Campmates started their day at 11am and had to wait until midnight, after the live show had finished, before they could take part in a trial.
After the series was completed, the set was dismantled and most of it loaded into 19 articulated lorries to be taken away and put into storage.
Landscapers then went in to restore the grounds to how they were before the cameras moved in.
Not everything was taken away after the last show ended.
There were a couple of fake walls left, plus the privy and a few small items, such as the I’m A Celebrity throne and some items used in trials.
But the castle will return to its familiar look when the stars roll up ready for action and millions of viewers settle down for the latest thrills and spills next Sunday.
Ghosts of Gwyrch
GWRYCH Castle is said to be haunted, with reported sightings of a distressed dairy maid, along with household staff, a gamekeeper and the countess’s former husband.
Opera singer Russell Watson, a campmate last year, claimed to have seen a ghost but it was part of a show prank.
No one reported anything spooky during filming of the first show in the setting.
The main road to the castle is said to be haunted by a headless monster – but this was later claimed to be a white sheep with a black head!
The castle is, however, inhabited by bats and the crew had to ensure these protected creatures were not disturbed during production.
