I’m a Celeb: Which famous NI faces would Belfast like to see going into the jungle?

Action hero Liam Neeson, Fifty Shades star Jamie Dornan and former racing driver Eddie Irvine are just some of the local celebrities the public in Northern Ireland would like to see enter the I’m A Celeb jungle.

It’s not just celebrities either, our local politicians including Naomi Long were also among the popular suggestions.

Coming on the back of Newtownabbey DJ Dean McCullough and former boxer Barry McGuigan’s dramatic entrance on the launch episode of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! the Belfast Telegraph asked the public their view on who they would most like to see in the Australian jungle.

“Put Naomi Long in!”: NI public on which local celebrities should take on the I’m a celebrity jungle

Fan of the show Darragh McGiven (19) from Downpatrick, wanted to talk about one of those already in camp, saying he thinks McCullough is positively representing the country.

“He’s funny like, I like him,” Darragh said. Asked who would be his ideal celebrity to join the DJ, he said he’d like to see Ballymena-born actor Liam Neeson head down under — especially given his unique on-screen skill set.

“He’s a good actor and he has got a good personality,” he said.

Darragh thinks Neeson would excel in challenges with “spiders crawling around him”. “I think he is up for that,” Darragh added. Katie Jennings (27) from Newtownabbey agreed Neeson would be a good addition to the jungle.

“Just from all of his different movies and the character he portrays on screen and off screen. [But] I don’t think he would be good at the eating challenges,” she joked.

The Taken star isn’t the only Northern Irish actor Katie would like to see on the show. “Jamie Dornan would be good to watch. I think he’s just funny as a character,” she said.

Katie thinks The Fall actor would also be much better at the eating challenges.

“They would be a good pair together.”

Another Jamie Dornan fan is Nathan Savage (20), from Dunmurry.

“[I’d like to see] Jamie Dornan and Eddie Irvine — the old racing driver,” he said.

“He’s always had a really good personality and he’s a great race car driver and I just love Formula 1,” Nathan said.

He also thinks popular Northern Irish family vlogger Annalivia Hynds would make a great addition to the jungle. The influencer has over 350,000 followers on TikTok and 260,000 on Instagram.

“She has come on my page on TikTok so much recently and I’ve watched one or two of her videos, she seems good at multitasking so she’d be good.”

Alexander Strange (20) from Comber also thinks popular local influencer and entrepreneur Geady should appear on the show.

“I don’t think he would do well but put Geady in. I’d watch it if Geady was in the show with rats and snakes.

“I don’t think he’d handle it but he’d probably be good at the last challenge, the one where they run down the foam slide, he’d enjoy that,” Alexander said.

Following Matt Hancock and Nigel Farage’s previous success on the show, Alexander thinks some NI politicians should also give it a go.

“Put Naomi Long in it, she’d be good entertainment,” he said.

Jamie Willis (22) from Belfast thinks Danielle Walsh, a nightlife influencer, would excel in the jungle.

“I think she would be great at it. I think she would be both good and squeamish during challenges,” she said.

“She’d excel in the drinking challenges, she’d probably just down it and be like: ‘I’m done- all good’ it could be anything and she would drink it.”