The start date for I’m A Celebrity… South Africa premieres in a matter of hours, and we can’t wait to see how the stars tackle the gruesome Bushtucker trials.
One of the stars is Olympic legend Fatima Whitbread, who’ll be joining the likes of Janice Dickinson, Shaun Ryder, Carol Vorderman, and Helen Flanagan in the ITV show, hoping to have a shot at being crowned the winner.
Paul Burrell, Phil Tufnell, Amir Khan and Jordan Banjo make up the main list, though ITV has confirmed further names will make a surprise appearance throughout the series.
Fatima recently teased that viewers can expect plenty of drama in the upcoming episodes.
But before we tune into the chaos, here’s everything you need to know about Fatima and her stellar career.
Who is Fatima Whitbread?
During her stint on a hit Channel 4 programme she opened up about her emotional childhood.
‘I was abandoned as a baby, and some would say left to die, in a flat in London, and a neighbour heard that baby crying for a couple of days and didn’t see anyone coming or going, so she reported it,’ she said.
‘The police obviously came along, banged the door down, rescued the baby and it got taken into hospital, where I stayed for six months.
‘I spent the first 14 years of my life in children’s homes, I didn’t have any visits, I didn’t have any birthday cards or anything to indicate that there was anybody out there.
‘I was fortunate to find the love of the Whitbread family at 14,’ explaining this came about through sport being her ‘saviour’.
Is she married?
Fatima was married to Andrew Norman between 1997 to 2006.
The pair had one son together.
Andrew passed away in 2007 from a heart attack.
Has she appeared on TV before?
The 61-year-old won a silver medal representing Britain in the javelin throw at the Olympics in Seoul 1988, having won bronze in 1984 in Los Angeles.
She broke the world record with a throw of 77.44m in the 1986 European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, becoming the first British athlete to set a world record in a throwing event.
The next year, Fatima went on to win the 1987 World Championships, and took part in the 1990 UK Athletics Championships before she formally retired in 1992.
The Olympian also starred in Channel 4’s Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins alongside Ferne McCann and Maisie Smith.
When was she in I’m A Celebrity?
Fatima appeared on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2011, which saw McFly’s Dougie Poynter crowned King.
Her stint in the 11th series in the Australian jungle left her in joint third place, and also left a pretty memorable moment in viewers’ minds when a cockroach ended up getting stuck up the former professional athlete’s nose, with Fatima requiring help to flush the creepy crawly out from her nostril.
However, she ended up keeping the cockroach, which she dubbed ‘LB’ to stand for ‘little b*****d’.
I’m A Celebrity… South Africa starts Monday at 9pm and all week on ITV1 and ITVX.
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