I'm a Celebrity back to Australia from Wales 'if we can'

I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here came to Wales when restrictions prevented travel to Australia in 2020

I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here will not be held in Wales again this year if travel to Australia is possible by the time it airs, the head of ITV has said.

Covid restrictions meant producers relocated from sunny Queensland to chilly Gwrych Castle in Abergele, Conwy, in December.

Despite the success in Wales, chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall said the show "was meant to be in Australia".

Co-host Ant McPartlin has said he would be happy to return to Wales.

Speaking as ITV published its group annual results, Dame Carolyn said the revised format in the 200-year-old castle had been a "tremendous success".

Last year's contestants needed thermals rather than sun cream

Podcast host, children's TV presenter and author Giovanna Fletcher was the eventual winner from a field which included fellow finalists BBC Radio 1 DJ Jordan North and television presenter Vernon Kay, along with Olympic runner Sir Mo Farah, actor Shane Ritchie and BBC presenter Victoria Derbyshire.

Dame Carolyn said: "If we can go back to Australia - and this show is meant to be in Australia - then that's what we'll do.

"We have a very good plan if not, as we have already done it once [in the castle]."

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Ant McPartlin, who presents along with Declan Donnelly, recently told Digital Spy he would be happy to return to Wales.

"There were cardboard cut-outs of me and Dec in the butcher's, and the local school did a tribute," he said.

"We'd happily go back there. We'd miss the sunshine, mind."

The relocation of the series to the north Wales town was estimated by the castle's owners to have brought in more than £1m to the local economy.

The money was described as a "lifeline" during the coronavirus pandemic by one local company.

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