tombola: The 5 Most Memorable Bushtucker Trials in I'm a Celebrity History
Twenty-plus series in to I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and the Bushtucker Trial has become classic British television, though it is hard to watch if your dinner time falls between 9pm and 10.30pm.
tombola, home to some of the most unique online bingo and arcade games ever (and sponsor of I’m a Celeb for eight years), asked us to count down the five most memorable trials in the show’s history. We’ve added all 5 videos to the bottom of the piece, for anyone who’s squeamish.
L:et’s get started.
5. Tom Read Wilson, Bushtucker Bonanza
Back in 2025, the final eating trial saw Tom Read Wilson. Someone with possibly the most impeccable manners and eloquent vocabulary ever put both a fermented duck egg and a scorpion in his mouth at the same time.
Ant McPartlin who has witnessed two decades of this show couldn’t believe what he’d seen and said that in 25 series’, no one had ever done that.
Tom came runner up for series 25.
4. Katie Price and Kim Woodburn – Vile Vending
Who remembers Katie Price going head to head with Kim Woodburn back in 2009? (A short moment to acknowledge the lovely Kim who was always a fan of WhichBingo, even joining Charlie Shakespeare for our Dabbing Out Buff Bingo episode.)
On the menu for Kim was kangaroo anus (she compared it to chewing “calamari with a raw egg popping in your mouth”), witchetty grubs, crickets, and more. Katie failed the fish eyes, kangaroo testicles, and insects. Honestly, how do these celebs do it?
The winner that year was Gino D’Acampo.
3. Ruby Wax and Angryginge
Ten rounds, ten dishes, and some of the best television of the series. Ruby Wax wasn’t so phased working through a witchetty grub with a cricket crouton, a cow’s teat with duck tongue coulis, vomit fruit, a pig’s testicle with fermented seaweed foam, and closed the evening with a bull’s penis served with a sparkler on top.
Meanwhile Angryginge’s final feast was a crocodile’s anus titled ‘Benedict Bum-berbatch’. He clung onto the sick bucket but somehow managed to keep it down and walked away with ten out of ten stars.
Angryginge won the 2025 series.
2. Paul Burrell – Hell Holes
At number two is former butler who served the Royal Household for over two decades, Paul Burrell, who gave us possibly the most memorable face on TV.
Putting his hand into a dark hole in a tree resulted in a reaction involving screaming and visible terror, becoming one of the most replayed moments in the show’s early history. Ant and Dec could barely contain their laughter.
Recognising quality entertainment when they saw it, the public voted him back for more, finishing runner-up that series.
Joe Pasquale won the show that year, 2004.
1. Gillian McKeith Faints Live on Air — Unfair Ground
Finally, top place in our five most memorable trials goes to clean eating guru Gillian McKeith. She had been voted for trial after trial by a British public that was unrelentless. Upon arrival at the Unfair Ground challenge, she proceeded to faint to the floor. The famous faint became one of the defining moments in the show’s history, sparking years of ‘did she or didn’t she’ debate.
Stacey Solomon was the winner of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! 2010.
The Takeaway
After twenty-plus years of I’m a Celebrity, the trials have remained, just like tombola, the show’s long-standing sponsor. Eight years of I’m a Celeb idents, 35 million viewers, and creatives that have stayed fresh across nearly a decade. The CGI tombola bugs finding celebrities’ phones and everyday scenarios that make you wanna shout “Get me out of here!” in the ad breaks have become as much a part of the show as the trials themselves.
While the campmates are doing their thing, tombola players are enjoying playing online bingo games, like bingo90 where tickets start from 10p and progressive jackpots from £500, bingo60 that has jackpots up to £20,000 and 5 different chances to win, or low stake bingo games like bingo Lite that offers tickets from as little as 2p. Every game is built in-house and exclusive to tombola, which means you won’t find them anywhere else.
If slots are more your thing, the tombola Arcade has a full range of exclusive spin and slot games, and make sure you check out the daily Prize League tournament promotion that awards extra prizes on top of your games.
If you’re new to the whole online bingo scene, check out our bingo bonuses or slot sites page for recommendations.
If and when I’m a Celeb returns, tombola could be right there with it. Just maybe don’t eat while you watch.
Reader comments