I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, McLaren Quits
I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here... Malcolm McLaren has pulled out of the new reality TV series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! He flew 5,000 miles to take part but on the day they were due to go into the jungle he changed his mind," said a spokeswoman for the ITV1 show. It is not clear why McLaren decided to pull out at the last minute. Other contestants include former Catatonia singer Cerys Matthews. The first show airs on Monday. Former Hollyoaks actress Gemma Atkinson and Jason Brown, who used to be in boy band Five, are favourites to win the series.The show will go on with nine contestants instead of the usual 10. But the news will be a blow to producers - McLaren was arguably the biggest name on the show.
On the prospect of being faced with his worst fear in the jungle - snakes - McLaren said before flying to Australia: "I should imagine I'm going to act with extreme trepidation."
He added all he knew about the series was that "one of my ex-Sex Pistols, Johnny Rotten, was on the show once upon a time". John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, quit the show when he took part in 2004.
The other contestants are ex-EastEnders actor Marc Bannerman, Changing Rooms' Anna Ryder Richardson, PR guru Lynne Franks, 1970s supermodel Janice Dickinson, football pundit Rodney Marsh and chef John Burton Race.