I’m A Celebrity… South Africa: Tuffers would have been punter’s choice for South Africa Crown

Phil Tufnell would have been the most popular punter’s choice out of the I’m A Celebrity… South Africa starting campmates, according to historical betting data from William Hill.  

The former England cricketer was the winner of the second season in Australia back in 2003 and was the only previous King or Queen of the Jungle out of the nine starting celebrities in this year’s all-star series in South Africa, with other previous winners Joe Swash and Georgia Toffolo late arrivals to the camp.

Ahead of Friday’s final for the inaugural all-star series, William Hill examined how popular each starting celebrity was with punters in their retrospective series using historical betting data, with the bookmaker suggesting that Tuffers would have drawn a massive 28% of bets to win this season’s pre-recorded show – twice as much as the next most popular contestant:

The popularity of the charismatic former cricketer with bettors highlights the enduring appeal of certain celebrities; this loyalty to selected contestants is not uncommon in reality television shows, with viewers often becoming attached to specific personalities or characters. It also conveys how betting trends can reflect public opinion and can be a useful tool in predicting the outcome of reality TV competitions, with Tufnell in the final four of the all-star series.

Meanwhile, Helen Flanagan and Carol Vorderman, who appeared in the 2012 and 2016 seasons respectively, were likely to be the joint-second most popular campmates and receive 14% of bets apiece, with Jordan Banjo and Shaun Ryder – the former in the final four in South Africa and the latter finishing second in the 2010 series – forecasted to have received 11% of punts.

The remaining celebrities from the starting nine contestants all found themselves in single percentage figures in terms of punter popularity, with Fatima Whitbread (7%), Paul Burrell (6%), Amir Khan (5%) and Janice Dickinson (4%) seemingly unlikely to woo voters and William Hill customers alike – despite Fatima being in the final four before Thursday night’s episode.