Amanda Holden says she would do I’m A Celeb on one condition – and would put anything in her mouth
SHE has been top of the I’m A Celebrity producer wish list for years, with the prospect of a waterfall scene sure to send ratings through the roof.
But Amanda Holden says there is only one way she would ever appear on the ITV reality show.
In an exclusive interview, the Britain’s Got Talent judge told The Sun: “If Ant and Dec announced it would be their last ever series, then I think they’d get to choose who is in it, and we’d all have to do it.
“But I can’t see their show ever ending, so I’m safe. But it’s my favourite reality show to watch.”
Asked how she thinks she would fare with the show’s gruesome eating challenges and creepy-crawlies, Amanda said: “I would rise to the challenges.”
She then added with a smile: “I’d be a screamer — but there’s nothing I wouldn’t put in my mouth, babe.”
But before there is any prospect of a trip to the Australian jungle, the star has a big awards ceremony to attend to, and a title to protect.
No, not the Baftas, nor the National Television Awards, but the hallowed Rear Of The Year.
ITV’s golden girl is the reigning champ, last year topping the public vote to beat Holly Willoughby, Meghan Markle and Rachel Riley.
And now Amanda, 49, is setting her sights on back-to-back victories, which would tie her with former Countdown whizz Carol Vorderman, 59, as the only woman to win it twice.
Talking ahead of this year’s Britain’s Got Talent series — which starts tonight with the audition stages that were recorded before Britain went into lockdown — Amanda said: “We’ll have to do a bum-off.
“I might have to do a bikini shot at the weekend.
“It’s difficult, I’m not on holiday, but if the sun comes out I’ll get my husband Chris to post a shot of my a**e.
“Because David Walliams constantly gets his National Television Award out, what I might do for the live shows this year, I might get my Rear Of The Year award out.
“No one else on that panel has got one, or ever even been nominated.
“It’s very special, it’s very close to my heart.
“You need a juicy one, one you can bite.
“Robbie Williams has got a nice bottom.
“Did you see him in his tiger pants? He should be the male winner this year.”
Amanda’s derriere has not only landed her gongs, but in hot water too, in particular on BGT’s live shows, where she is not afraid to flash the flesh.
ITV has yet to announce when the semi-finals — the programme’s live shows — will air but Amanda expects them to run in the autumn.
And then it will be business as usual, despite a plunging dress she wore in 2017 sparking that year’s largest number of complaints to the broadcasting watchdog.
She said: “I’ll continue to do a lack of dress.
“I know how popular that is with Ofcom.
“You never know what’s going to offend people.
“But I’d hope that in light of all the things that are happening now, that when the show does go out, a bit of side-boob will be less offensive after all we’ve been through.
“The side-boob of a nearly 50-year-old woman, I’d add.
“I just enjoy the whole dress-up thing and actually this year my eldest daughter, Lexi, who is really interested in fashion, is going to design a dress and Karl, my stylist, is going to have it made up and we’re going to do a little thing, so I’ll be wearing something that Lexi puts me in.”
Designing dresses is not the only input that Amanda and hubby Chris Hughes’s kids want in the talent show.
The mum of three is backing her younger daughter Hollie, eight, to take over when she can no longer do her job.
And Hollie wants to do so alongside the children of her mum’s colleagues — Simon Cowell’s son Eric, six, and Alesha Dixon’s eight-year-old daughter Azura.
Amanda said: “I think if anyone was going to do it, it’s her, and she sees this job as a God-given right.
“She says, ‘When Mummy dies . . . ’ Hopefully that’s how I’ll go off the show — in a box, when I’m really old! Hollie says, ‘That’s my job — me and Azura are doing it’. “She already thinks her, Azura and Eric are the natural choice to take over our jobs.
“I’ve said it to Simon so many times but David is more private with his son.
“So those three children, and maybe David’s dog Bert.
“We’ve all had the right-sex child for the photo.
“It would be fantastic, and they get on so well.”
The BGT live shows are the latest in a long line of TV projects cancelled or delayed due to coronavirus but it is a double blow for Amanda, as she was set to release her debut album this month and perform songs from it during the semi-finals, originally planned for next month.
She said: “Now we’ve put everything on hold until this lockdown ends.
“I want to perform on Britain’s Got Talent, so that will probably go out in the autumn now, in the live shows, so we are just putting everything on hold until then.
“It’s disappointing. The album is very family-based.
“I’ve chosen every song by hand and each has a story behind it.
“I know every artist goes, ‘Yeah, I had a lot of input’.
“But yeah, I actually did, because I’m a control freak.
“So it’s a really personal album.
“I want to put it out in the best environment.”
This weekend’s first show of the series, which starts at 8pm on ITV, is just what the nation needs right now, says Amanda, with the lockdown seemingly no closer to ending.
She said: “It couldn’t have come at a better time.
“It will make people’s Saturday night, it’ll make us feel normal again, because that’s usually what we all do.
“I’m so glad we’ve decided to keep it in the slot that it’s normally in.
“I think it’s like we’re keeping morale high really, which is important.
“The broadcasters are doing such a good job to keep everyone’s spirits up.
“What would you do without the telly?”
- Britain’s Got Talent returns Saturday at 8pm
David's top for frocks
AMANDA’S Britain’s Got Talent colleague David Walliams is no stranger to wearing a dress, having done so for years in BBC sketch show Little Britain.
But his most recent stint in drag, impersonating Amanda for a National Television Awards skit, was almost too good.
She said: “I think we look uncannily similar, especially when he’s in drag.
“When we were little, the pictures are all out there, our various school uniforms, we could be brother and sister.
“We both got kind of piggy eyes and big lips.
“And I said to him, ‘We look like we’re from the same tribe’.
“I mean, thankfully, I grew up to be slightly more attractive.”
David also dressed up as BGT’s Simon Cowell and Alesha Dixon – but his impression of Amanda, sparkly dress and wig included, was spot-on.
Amanda added: “I loved it when he sent me the picture.
“He was like, ‘Hope that’s all right and you’re not offended by this’.
"I was like, ‘Actually, no, you look good. You look really good’.
“I found it very funny.”
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Amanda herself made headlines earlier this week for taking out her bins in a ball gown and posting a snap on Instagram.
And she teased that she plans to keep the nation’s spirits up by going one better – without revealing how.
She added: “I’ve got another one up my sleeve for next week. You’ll have to wait and see.”