I'm a Celebrity a 'fake', says walkout contestant

Malcolm McLaren has lashed out at I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, calling the show “fake”.

The punk legend walked from the ITV show just before it hits TV screens tonight.

TV insiders suggested that the 61-year-old former Sex Pistols manager, who admits a fear of poisonous snakes and uncontrollable wild beasts, got cold feet.

But McLaren told The Sun: “This is not a reality show. It’s fake. They fix things. They know who’s going to win and lose.

“There are about 550 people in the jungle. It might have been a jungle once upon a time, but now it’s a film set.”

He said: “I had every intention of appearing on the show. But the trials are tricks to fool the public about a danger that isn’t there. It proves this show is nothing more than a circus.”

McLaren said he decided that the show was fake after meeting the show’s medic, known as Dr Bob.

He told the Daily Star: “The medic, Dr Bob McCarron, told me ’Things are so safe, I would send my own kids in to do the show’.

“There is nothing bad in there. They’re hoodwinking the public.”

But a TV insider said: “He bottled it... after the health and safety talk he became scared and was particularly worried about snakes.”

McLaren was one of this year’s highest-profile names on the ITV1 show, hosted by Ant and Dec.

Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon took part in 2004 and walked out early.

ITV is expected to announce McLaren’s replacement today – with former Apprentice contestant Katie Hopkins, pantomime star Christopher Biggins, and 'Right Said Fred' singers Richard and Fred Fairbrass the favourites.