Olivia Attwood has been forced to quit I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! on medical grounds, less than 24 hours after the launch show.
The 31-year-old star, who rose to fame on Love Island in 2017, was among the favourites to win this year’s series of I’m A Celebrity, which has returned to Australia after being moved to the UK during the pandemic.
During Sunday night’s opening episode, viewers watched as Attwood skydived out of a helicopter alongside radio presenter Chris Moyles.
However, ITV said on Monday she has since had to leave on medical grounds after being told it was “not safe” to go back to camp.
A show spokesman told Sky News: “As a precautionary measure Olivia needed to leave the jungle to undergo some medical checks.
“Unfortunately, the medical team has advised it is not safe for Olivia to return to camp as there needs to be further investigation.
“She has been absolutely brilliant and she’ll be very much missed on the show.”
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The first episode of the series saw Attwood and singer Boy George revealed as the two celebrities voted by the public to become Jungle VIPs, and they were both allowed to pick another star to enjoy a slap-up meal with.
Attwood picked Moyles, and after their food the pair jumped 10,000ft out of a helicopter on to a deserted island beach – where they later discovered that VIP stood for “Very Isolated People”.
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Speaking about the skydive, an emotional Attwood said: “Oh my God I’m crying, that’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever done, ever. That is incredible. Top 10 experience of my life. Just amazing.”
The pair were joined by Boy George and his VIP pick, TV presenter and property expert Scarlette Douglas, who had to row their way to the beach.
The group then discovered they would spend the night marooned on the island together, before taking on the first trial of the series and then joining their fellow celebrities in the main camp.
Attwood appeared in series three of Love Island and went on to become one of the show’s most successful stars. Speaking before the start of I’m A Celebrity, she said she was looking forward to debunking the misconception that she is “high maintenance”.
It is not clear if she will appear in any of the second episode of the series, which is set to air on Monday evening.
Sky News has contacted representatives for the star for comment.
Hancock expected to join in next few days
The launch episode saw the 10 starting celebrities enter the Australian jungle for the first time since 2019, following two series set at Gwrych Castle in North Wales due to COVID travel restrictions.
Hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly confirmed there will indeed be two extra campmates showing up in the next few days, and poked fun at Hancock, who is MP for West Suffolk, saying they would be “rolling out the welcome mat for them soon”.
Business Secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News on Monday morning that he would not be voting for Mr Hancock and that he thinks his fellow Tory MP should instead be “looking after his constituents”.
Asked if he was looking forward to seeing the politician having to eat jungle nasties such as crocodile anus, Mr Shapps replied: “Tempting as that is, I think I’ll probably be focusing on my job as business secretary, and I’ll be off at COP27 later this week as well, so I fear I might miss him depending on how long he survives.”
He added: “I just think he should be here looking after his constituents, rather than in the jungle somewhere.”
Mr Hancock is expected to join the series alongside comedian Seann Walsh, who made headlines after being photographed kissing his Strictly Come Dancing partner in 2018.
Adele has bid a tearful farewell to her Las Vegas residency show, as the Someone Like You star admitted she doesn’t know when she’ll perform again next.
The British singer-songwriter, 36, launched Weekends with Adele at Caesars Palace in November 2022 and performed her 100th show there on Saturday.
Her mammoth run of sell-out shows at the venue, which seats around 4,000 people, has been a success but has taken its toll.
John David Washington says he felt like he had to conceal his desire to act because of the external expectations of him being the child of Denzel and Pauletta Washington.
He tells Sky News it took some time for him to pursue an acting career, choosing football instead to assert his “independence” and create his own “identity” separate from his famous family.
“I’ve been wanting to do this my whole life… but I was hiding it,” he said.
“I had to conceal that passion based on my relationship to the world and more specifically, my folks being in the industry, so I chose ball.
“I loved ball, but I was sort of hiding my love for the arts under a helmet – literally an American football helmet – and so when I wanted to become an actor, when I decided to pursue it, that was a big shock to some people.”
The 40-year-old actor says when he decided to pursue an acting career, he kept the decision quiet.
“Some people didn’t know I was even pursuing it professionally until I got a job,” he said.
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Since switching to acting, John David has starred in a number of notable roles including the protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, Ron Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman and Joshua in The Creator.
He also led the stage revival of the 2022 Tony-nominated play The Piano Lesson on Broadway alongside Samuel L Jackson.
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“He [Jackson] originated the role [I play] in 1987 at Yale with Lloyd Richards and August Wilson,” John David said.
“So it was of great importance for us to learn from both he and Michael Potts about August Wilson. It was a great blessing for me, I think, for all of us to have him present on set.”
The Piano Lesson is the third August Wilson play to be adapted for the screen by Denzel Washington’s production company Mundy Lane Entertainment.
It is part of a pledge made by the Gladiator II actor to make all 10 of the playwright’s works into films.
The Netflixproject is directed by another Washington family member, Malcolm, and stars most of the cast from the Broadway revival.
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the film centres on a family heirloom, a piano, that is etched with the carvings of their family history made by their enslaved ancestor.
Malcolm says he started reading the play for the first time during the pandemic and immediately wanted to be involved in the film adaptation.
“I think with this movie, reclamation of story and identity is so central to the theme and it’s something that’s central to my life where I both acknowledge the fertile ground that I was raised on and who I am today.
“That’s what Wining Boy [played by Michael Potts] really is trying to do, he’s trying to build on that legacy, so that’s a story that really resonated with me.”
The filmmaker added: “I take all the gifts that my ancestors laid in front of me, and I’m trying to build something for the next generation to pass down – all of their gifts, plus mine to the next generation and let them build on it.”
Malcolm says his goal was to put family at the forefront of the production. By dedicating his feature debut to “Mama”, he is acknowledging the dedication and sacrifices that mothers make for the growth of their families.
“There’s so much pointing to my mother in particular, who inspired this adaptation so much. I see so much of her life in Berniece’s character [played by Danielle Deadwyler] – and that became a guiding light for me in this adaptation,” he said.
“As we made this thing and started reconnecting with our ancestors, my mum became like a kind of representative of them.
“She’s the matriarch of our family. She tells me about my grandparents and great-grandparents and the line that I come from, and I see them in her.
“And when the movie ends, I want people to kind of have that moment of reflection for their own lives. So in dedicating it to her, I was trying to dedicate it to all mums everywhere.”
Blockbuster Wicked has landed the largest opening weekend of 2024 at Vue International.
The film, starring Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo and Grammy-winning pop star Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, surpassed both Gladiator II and Paddington In Peru.
It has also had the largest opening weekend for a stage musical adaptation in the cinema chain’s history.
A boss for Vue International said it had seen a “sea of pink and green” over the weekend.
Released on Friday, Wicked is up 60% on Les Miserables’ opening weekend in 2012 and three times larger than the 2022 film adaptation of Matilda.
Founder and chief executive of Vue International Tim Richards said: “Vue has seen a sea of pink and green over the opening weekend of Wicked, which has shown continued high demand for the big screen experience.
“We saw record-breaking pre-sales for Wicked, followed by a chart-topping opening weekend – the biggest for 2024.”
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The film is the first of two parts, with the second expected in November next year.
Wicked and Gladiator II – known together as Glicked – have reportedly failed to beat out Barbenheimer, Barbie and Oppenheimer, in its own opening weekend last summer.