Emmerdale star Lisa Riley will be heading into the Australian jungle for the latest series of I’m A Celebrity. The soap star was announced in the lineup yesterday by ITV and she will be joining a whole host of other celebrities.
The actress has played the legendary role of Mandy Dingle on-and-off since she first appeared in the fictional village back in 1995. Lisa is one of most-loved Emmerdale stars, having played the role of Mandy Dingle for many years.
She was pictured at the airport on her way to Australia yesterday, she told our sister site The Mirror: “I am a Dingle I can cope with anything. We did Dingles Down Under many years and I feel it’s only right we do it again.”
In her absence and as celebrities hand their devices over to ITV teams for the duration of their stay in the jungle, an Emmerdale co-star will be taking over from Lisa’s social media channels.
Bradley Riches, known for his role as Lewis Barton on Emmerdale will be posting to Lisa’s social media pages. He shared a photo of her wearing her jungle attire and captioned it: “It’s OFFICIAL – our girl Lisa Riley is in the jungle! Who’s as excited as I am? Because I am LOSING IT.
“While Lisa’s off living her best jungle life, I’ll be running her socials – Brad Riches – (dangerous, I know). She told me not to push the votes for trials… but OH COURSE I WILL! Let’s vote Lisa for EVERYTHING – we need drama and we certainly need the laughs!
“So, my TikTok dances are on pause while we crown the one and only Lisa Riley. Get ready for the most Gen Z jungle socials you’ve ever seen. What type of content do you wanna see?”
Lisa explained to ITV why she finally decided to accept the offer to appear on the ITV challenge show. She said: “They have asked me to be in it numerous times before – but now I’ve finally said yes. The reason is I’m going be 50 next year, it’s thirty years on and off playing Mandy Dingle in Emmerdale and ten years of being sober.
“It’s like a big baguette where everything I wanted was in it! And it’s I’m A Celebrity’s 25th series anniversary too. Forget the NTAs and BAFTAs, the fact I’m going in the jungle means I am hopefully the best auntie in the world to my nephews, Jakey and Joshua, and niece, Everlyn. I can forever say to them I tackled the jungle head on. It’s going to be ace.”
Lisa’s nephew, Joshua, shared to Instagram: “Good luck auntie Lee Lee we we all love you and are rooting for you now go smash it.” Former Corrie star Katie McGlynn sent a supportive message to Lisa, saying: “Here she is” with fire emojis and Ash Palmisciano wrote: You got this Lisa! ps can you run mine Brad.”
Lisa also shared her best and worst attributes, she said “My best is to eradicate trivia and whinging. If morale is low, I would like to think we could have good giggle. My worst? Farting – and if they put beans in the diet, I’m screwed.”