The phenomenon of reality TV had certainly come full cycle when “I’m a celebrity-get me out of here” arrived on Australian TV sets in 2012. While many successful media careers launched on reality TV shows such as Big Brother, this program seems to have been where careers went to die instead. Long-remembered heart-throbs and those whose names still sat on the tips of our tongues perceived no shame in the humiliation of eating African animal bits or being bitten by stinging fangs from slimy, scaled faces in the night cold. One last grasp at the limelight was a temptation too pressing for those in their media death throes. Some celebs might celebrate the show’s end (“Ten takes axe to I’m a Celeb jungle”, DT 23/5), lest the risks of their career demise might have had them lining up as future contestants. Alan Sexton, North Parramatta 25May2026