I’m A Celebrity’s most dramatic weight loss transformations on rice and beans diet

I’m A Celebrity has finished for another year and as has been the case after previous series campmates are leaving the show lots of lbs lighter.

Contestants on the show have to go through gruelling challenges and stick to a diet, which consists of rice and beans, unless they can win luxury foods in Bushtucker Trials.

It emerged this week that Shane Richie, Hollie Arnold and Russell Watson had all lost lots of weight, despite the show taking place in the much cooler North Wales instead of Australia this year.

And they aren’t the first to see their bodies change dramatically in the show’s 18-year  history, Birmingham Live Reports.

Mirror Online takes a look at some of the stars who have slimmed down massive during their time in camp over the years.

Hollie Arnold – 14lbs

Speaking on I’m A Celeb spin-off show The Daily Drop, she told host Vick Hope: “I’ve currently lost nearly a stone so I’m actually really happy. I also kind of feel bad as I feel like I’ve lost a bit of muscle mass, too.”

The athlete continued: “I took my hat off. There was the lovely food and they’d written ‘welcome Hollie’.

“I saw chips and crisps and went straight for that. Food, flavour, salt! After that much chips [mimes small amount] I was like, ‘I feel sick’.”

Shane Richie

After his elimination earlier this week, Shane’s wife Christie said: “I am really surprised at how different he looks. We knew he would lose some weight and in some respects he went in there looking at it like a boot camp.

“To see that jawline after all these years, it was like greeting an old friend! I haven’t seen it in years. I wonder if he can keep all the weight off.”

It is not known how much weight Shane shed – but Christie says it has put a “twinkle” back in his eye.

Nick Knowles – 2st 2lbs

Knowles finished in sixth place during the 2018 series and shed over two stone during his 19-day stay.

Nick also claimed that the show bosses got angry with him for not enjoying the treats bought back to camp from winning the Dingo Dollar challenges.

“The food has no flavour – there’s no salt and pepper and it’s really difficult to swallow… worse than chewing cardboard. After a few days you’re starting to get used to it. Then they send you off on the Dingo Dollar challenge and you come back with a little square of chocolate,” Nick went on.

Colin Baker – 2 stone

The Doctor Who legend said: “I’m very happy to tell you I lost just over 12 kilos on the jungle diet, but I didn’t beat Biggins.

“I gather Biggins lost 15 kilos, but he was in the jungle until the end. I’m extremely pleased, but I’m ashamed that I needed to lose 12 kilos – and my shame is now public.

“I haven’t done the sums yet, but I gather that’s about two stone. That’s fantastic. You can only imagine what I looked like before!”

During his exit interview, he admitted his body “shut down” because of lack of food.

He told Ant and Dec: “My body started to shut down bizarrely, but it was the fact that I couldn’t walk past jobs that weren’t done, so if the water needed topping up, I’d go and fill it up.

“I was up and down the stairs the whole time and I was burning a lot of calories and a lot of adrenaline, and, obviously, all the walking to go to the trials.

Michael Buerk – 17 lbs

Buerk appeared on the show back in 2014 and was the third celebrity to be voted off.

He was in camp with the likes of politician Edwina Currie, TV presenter Melanie Sykes, X Factor contestant Jake Quickenden and World Superbike Champion and eventual winner Carl Fogarty.

Despite being one of the first to go home, he still managed to lose an impressive 17 pounds.

Stanley Johnson – 20lbs

He headed to Australia in 2017 for his stint in the jungle and managed to shift 20 pounds on the rice and beans diet.

On leaving the show he said “I’m distraught to be out but I’ve loved every minute of it,” and thanked the public for their support. He also raised eyebrows by enquiring whether his son, Boris Johnson, is still the Foreign Secretary.

Russell Watson – 20lbs

Russell was axed from the 2020 show this week, alongside Jessica Plummer, the ex-EastEnders star, as part of a double elimination.

He said: “I was mainly wearing the leggings for the first few days.

“But once I put my red pants on they were falling down my backside. I lost nearly 20lbs in two weeks in there, the weight literally fell off me.

“I was quite pleased with that, I was a big unit when I went in there, so I put my trousers on today and they fell down, I had to put two belts on to keep them up.”