I'm A Celebrity is well underway for 2025, and Ruby Wax is already making a name for herself both with viewers, and with her fellow contestants.
The 72-year-old actress and comedian has been friends with author and woman&home columnist Kathy Lette since the 90's. This means there's nobody better placed than Kathy to reveal Ruby's true motivations for taking on the challenges of the jungle.
In a hilarious, must-watch chat with Lorraine Kelly on her daytime TV show, Kathy weighed in on exactly why Ruby wanted to appear on I'm A Celebrity. As well as being entertaining, Ruby reasons for taking part in the series are also very relatable.
"Ruby and I are both obsessed with women having a sensational second act," Kathy says of why her long-time friend can be found down under. "For women, life is in two acts," she adds.
Once women have "survived" the "interval" of menopause, Kathy says their second act can be "the best time of a woman's life." Listing the benefits of being post-menopausal, Kathy says, humorously, "there's no pregnancy scares, no period cramps, you've got all that tampon money to spend."
"You can cut the psychological umbilical cord that kept you tethered to the kitchen by your heart and your apron strings - you can put yourself first!" she says, in what has to be one of the best analogies of obtaining freedom from the drudgery of domesticity to ever be heard on TV.
Kathy goes on to say that once a woman gets through the other side of menopause and reclaims some freedom, "society puts you out to career pasture," giving women a "cloak of invisibility."
Using another brilliant analogy to get her point across, Kathy says to a giggling Lorraine, "a couple of years ago, MI5 said they wanted to employ middle aged women as spies, because nobody sees us."
Getting to the crux of why Ruby has decided to go into the jungle, Kathy explains that with choice to take on something so wild, she's effectively shouting for midlife women, "we are still there! And we're fabulous!"
"She's really game," Kathy says of her friend with pride. However, she did express concerns that viewers might not "get" Ruby.
Revealing a different side to her friend, Kathy explains, "beneath her comic facade, she's very vulnerable." She continues, "She's very empathetic."
Weighing on on the struggles with mental health and depression that Ruby has always been very open about, Kathy says Ruby is excellent at "getting people to strip off to their emotional underwear" in a "psychological striptease that reveals all."
Kathy predicts Ruby will take on the role of both mother figure and analyst within the camp, getting her fellow contestants to reveal their innermost thoughts.
Returning to the differences between the way women and men are treated in their advancing years, Kathy says contestants such as Martin Kemp would be referred to as a "silver fox," while women his age would be "written off as old hags and bags."
"You'd never hear a man referred to as 'mutton dressed as ram,'" she says, matter of factly. "I totally think she can win," Kathy says of her friend.
I'm A Celebrity is currently airing every night 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX. Episodes will be available for catchup on ITVX once they've aired.
