I’m a Celebrity live: Maura Higgins prepares to enter jungle as two new contestants announced

After Barry McGuigan opened up about his daughter’s death, Rooney reflected on losing her own sister, Rosie, who died when she was 14.

“Even when Rosie died, I kept it together for me mum and dad,” she said.

Rooney revealed that Rosie’s anniversary was coming up in January, adding: “She was 14 when she died, she’d be 26 now. It’s hard to lose a child, I’ve always said that… so we’re lucky to have what we’ve got.”

The N-Dubz singer hasn’t had an easy time in the spotlight over the years.

Find out why she’s made a return via reality TV, below:

Annabel Nugent writes:

The singer, who rose to fame as one-third of the hip-hop group N-Dubz, is entering the I’m a Celeb jungle this week already a survivor of sorts. When she was 26, Tulisa said she felt as though she’d clocked 60 years of life experience – a good chunk of those not positive. The highlights (or lowlights rather) being: the lurid leaking of a sex tape, a drug sting operation by a tabloid, and of course, the good old-fashioned misogyny and classism inherent to being a working-class woman in the public eye. Eating a platter of raw fisheyes? It’ll be a cakewalk in comparison.

Northern Irish BBC Radio 1 DJ Dean McCullough admitted he was “terrified of everything” ahead of his arrival in the jungle.

But now, the 32-year-old, who was dubbed an early fan-favourite because of his ‘Wagatha Christie’ jibe at Coleen Rooney, will be facing his first Bushtucker Trial as he tackles the ‘Sinister Sarcophagus’.

The reality TV juggernaut has been a fixture on screens since 2002 and, over the years, the amount of money paid to the participating contestants has exponentially increased.

This gap has widened even more in the last four years alone, with Noel Edmonds, the one-time highest-paid star, receiving £600,000 for what ended up being just one week in the jungle in 2019.

The 2024 line-up features celebrities ranging from singers Danny Jones (McFly) and Tulisa (N-Dubz) to Loose Women panellist Jane Moore and Love Island’s Maura Higgins.