In the midst of this #MeToo era, isn’t it time the I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here jungle shower was disabled for good? Over the years, young female celebrities have become almost obliged to make the grim, bikini-clad trudge to said shower in order to stretch, arch, undulate and generally prance about in scenes that are about as natural and unforced as a Playboy centrefold shoot.
As I recall, the first notable I’m a Celebrity shower scene was enacted by Myleene Klass, but now it’s as though female contestants have to factor in these desperate, watery posing sessions as part of the jungle deal. You can almost imagine them shopping for minuscule bikinis in a state of high anxiety – “Will the Daily Mail like this one – will I be flaunting my curves enough?”
Would it ruin the programme if all contestants (male and female) were permitted to either wash in privacy or at least stick to bathing in the rock pool? Failing that, to at least get some more men strutting their stuff beneath the droplets? Who wouldn’t be mesmerised to see contestant Harry Redknapp have a go at his armpits with a cold flannel? I, for one, would be thrilled to see the admittedly fit-for-his-age Noel Edmonds give himself a thorough soaping. Not for any lewd reason (how dare you!) – it just might give us all a break from him strutting about the camp with his top off, and maybe stopped him from being voted off first.
Apologies to all those contestants who are genuinely trying to clean off the jungle muck, but these scenes are starting to rival what happened to Janet Leigh in Psycho for shower-based, anti-woman sentiments. In the 21st century, who needs what amounts to a Z-list celebrity wet T-shirt competition?
• Barbara Ellen is an Observer columnist
