I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here ! 2021 | Interview with Dame Arlene Phillips DBE (Choreographer)

Phobias: I am hoping I will overcome my fears to take part in the Trials!

Biggest misconception you want to dispel in the Castle: People don’t really know the real me at home and I’d like to show people the motherly side, the side my family sees.

Role in the camp: Mum and to organise some fun dance routines!

Miss most: My notepad and pencil –I am known for always having to write down ideas.

Dream camper: Giovanna Fletcher –she is such a lovely, warm person.

At 78, Dame Arlene Phillips is I’m A Celebrity’s oldest ever contestant but that is not stopping the former Strictly judge who is hoping to step into a fantasy world to help her overcome the famous Trials.

And she predicts her friend and former colleague on Strictly, Craig Revel Horwood, will think she is crazy to be going on the hit ITV show.

Laughing, Arlene admits her theatre peers will also be gobsmacked when they find out she is taking part.

“Craig will say ‘Darling, are you mad?!’

“I still can’t believe I am doing it either but I love and admire everybody who has done the show, I admire their bravery and I have spoken to so many people who have done it. Everyone has loved the experience and told me how it has added something new to their lives and that is why I have said yes this year after being approached before.”

Reflecting on how she will cope doing the Trials, she adds: “Spiders, all those things you find on I’m A Celebrity – I don’t like them but I have this great fantasy that I can put myself in a place that will deal with it all.”

She says age won’t matter a jot when she is in the Castle, explaining: “I am always the oldest and so I am used to it.”

Arlene, who, aside from Strictly, has worked in show business all her life, thinks going on I’m A Celebrity will be a chance for her to show the real her.

“I think people don’t see the motherly side of me,” explains Arlene, who has two grown-up daughters and a long-term partner. “I don’t think people know me and the real me is very different – I am very caring and I love that caring side of my life. I give myself so completely.

“I would like to take on the mum role in the Castle. Everyone is going to be younger and if anyone wants to talk to someone or share things with them, then they can with me.”

Her family, she adds, are split on how they feel about her going on the programme.

Arlene adds: “I have never experienced anything like this before, but you only live once and it will be something so different. My family is very split though. It’s a 50/50 split in fact! Some say, ‘Totally don’t do it’ whilst others say, ‘Oh it will be fine’.

“Aside from my family, I will really miss my notepad and pencil. I’ve always got ideas spinning around!”

Is she planning to organise a ballroom dance competition in the Castle? “Oh yes but it’s not going to be about technique,” she replies, laughing as she does. “It will be about the joy of movement and hopefully someone in the camp can sing.”

She readily admits she isn’t sure how she will cope in the Trials but Arlene says she isn’t planning to do any preparation in the run-up either, explaining it’s impossible to practice tasting awful things when you don’t know what you will have to eat. The lack of food rations won’t, however, be an issue, she insists.

“People going on I’m A Celebrity are making a choice to eat rice and beans,” she adds. “And if they are lucky, they will eat a little bit more. Food is the least of my worries. I am not afraid of being bored either as I do like to sit and think. It is the Trials and challenges that I am most worried about.”

Awarded a Damehood earlier this year, Arlene laughs when asked if she would like a new title – ‘Queen of the Castle’.

“Winning isn’t something that I see in my sights,” she stresses. “The most deserving person in there should win. For me, it’s about gaining something from it and just getting through it all!”