Matt Hancock's Bushtucker Trials

Former Health Secretary Matt Hancock has joined the cast of I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here - and we think he may end up facing more Bushtucker challenges than any other contestant in the show’s 20 year history. 

The MP has received a wave of criticism for his decision to join the ITV show. But the programme makers must be beside themselves with glee as his decision to join the cast has brought them more publicity and media coverage than they could possibly have hoped.

Many pundits are now predicting that the great British public may force Matt Hancock to take part in every single Bushtucker trail just to watch him squirm.

So we decided to discover which previous participant has had to tackle the most Bushtucker trials - to see how many trials Hancock would have to face to become the most challenged I'm a Celeb cast member ever.

Who has faced the most trials?

Delving through the data from the past 20 years shows that former soap actor Adam Thomas currently stands victorious in the greatest number of trials completed after his appearance in season 16 found him competing in a record-breaking 12 Bushtucker challenges.

Adam came third in season 16 after rival competitors Scarlett Moffatt and Joel Dommett beat the soap star out of the top two spots.

Not only do we have a four-way tie for second place, but we also have a wide-range of celebrities who have claimed the silver medal, from supermodel Janice Dickinson to Eastenders legend Jacqueline Jossa.

While we were surprised that Gillian McKeith didn’t make the list after her infamous fainting from being nominated for six trials in a row, she was still one of the most highly voted for celebs to take part in the trials, which were purely based on the public vote.

However, Lady Colin Campbell (‘Lady C’), who stole the show in its 15th season, managed to reach sixth place after taking part in eight of the menacing challenges, including the “Helmets of Hell” trial, where she had to wear a helmet containing a stake inches away from her face.

Even though the five celebrities at the bottom of the table tied for the same amount of trials, each of them took part in an impressive eight trials in their respective season.

Unsurprisingly, most of the stars on this list made it all the way to the grand final and some even took home the crown. But the true question we want to know is: who from this series will be joining our honoured list?

While Adam Thomas currently remains the King of the Bushtucker trials, could his title be lost to Matt Hancock once the public make their feelings felt?

Who has won the most stars for camp?

But could Matt Hancock surprise everyone and end up becoming one of the most successful contestants in the history of the show?

As he's likely to face lots of trials he has the potential to become a big winner when it comes to stars and earning meals for camp.

We delved back into the data to see which contestants has won the most stars in the programme's 20 year history.

When it comes to securing stars some of the biggest winners have earned the status of legends of the show.

Jacqueline Jossa is the name to beat with a super impressive 76 stars won for camp. It'll be a tall order for Matt Hancock to beat that but who knows? Anything is possible in the jungle.

How we did it:

We searched for every contestant who had participated in I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! - from series one in 2002 to last year's season in 2021. We looked at how many trials each celebrity competed in based on a total combination of public voting, compulsory trials and team challenges. The data was then formatted onto a spreadsheet where we totalled up the number of trials each star participated in and then created our top 10 list.

The show has been named as one of the most popular shows on TV this year and is estimated to have drawn in over 10 million viewers for the first episode of the 22nd season. All data collected is accurately based on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! Series one to 21.

Note on usage: please feel free to republish data and graphics in return for a follow link to this page.

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