I’m A Celebrity’s stars have been warned to look out for the ghost of a Scots laird’s bad-tempered wife.
Legend has it that 200-year-old Gwrych Castle in Abergele, Wales, where this year’s show will be shot, is haunted by the ghost of its previous owner Winifred Cochrane, the Countess of Dundonald.
The countess, who died in 1924, was a wealthy heiress who had a “not entirely happy” marriage to Aberdeenshire-born Douglas Cochrane.
Known locally as the Woman in White, she is said to be angry that her husband – described as “tyrannical” – stripped the castle of her valuables and sold them.
The castle’s website claims the Countess’s Tower is “one of the most paranormally active areas” and she is said to walk the gardens surrounding it.
The ITV show has played up the ghostly stories at the castle, which is also said to be haunted by a servant girl who died falling off a horse.
Ahead of the launch show next Sunday, they tested their pyrotechnics at the site, shooting 10 ghostly figures made of shimmering fire 100ft into the night sky.
The apparitions, with long orange and red flaming bodies and round heads floating above them, gave a glimpse of what to expect in the show after Covid forced its relocation from the jungle.
The 10 fiery figures are thought to represent the 10 starting contestants on the three-week show – with two more joining later.
