Contestants like GK Barry have helped LGBTQ+ representation (Picture: ITV/Shuttersthock)
I love reality TV. I’m not fussy about what it is, as long as it’s camp, meme-able and contains plenty of drama then I’m on board.
However, the one big reality TV series I’ve struggled to get on board with is I’m A Celebrity.
As far as reality television goes it’s just so… straight.
To me, it has always seemed to be the show for cricket fans and people who love daytime television without any hint of irony. It hasn’t been for people like me for a long time – if ever.
And I’ve always put that down to the noticeable lack of LGBTQ+ representation in the jungle.
Unlike Big Brother, which just crowned its second consecutive LGBTQ+ winner in Ali Bromley, I’m A Celebrity has only crowned two openly LGBTQ+ king or queens of the jungle in its entire 22 year and 24 season long history.
Most recently, in 2022, Jill Scott won the show, but the first was Christopher Biggins in 2007.
Jill Scott was also a trailblazer (Picture: Getty Images)
But considering he was axed from Celebrity Big Brother in 2016 for claiming bisexuals bear a major responsible for spreading Aids in the 1980s, it’s hardly a legacy to be proud of.
Out of the 281 contestants who have entered the jungle, only 20 have been openly LGBTQ+, which is surprisingly low in the realms of reality television.
That being said, this year’s line-up is the most LGBTQ-friendly since 2012 when Sam Fox and interior design couple Colin McCalister and Justin Ryan entered the jungle.
This year there’s also three openly LGBTQ+ contestants in GK Barry (real name Grace Eleanor Keeling), Reverend Richard Coles and Dean McCullough. And already, within a few episodes, there were important conversations about the LGBTQ+ experience being had around the campfire.
Grace told the camp she’d only recently come out to her family after finding love with her first girlfriend, Ella Rutherford. Now, barely an episode goes by without the mention of Ella’s name.
GK Barry has been having eye opening conversations (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)
During a conversation with jungle priest Richard, GK revealed she can’t see herself ever dating a man again. ‘I always thought, “why do I always lay there with the lights off and top on waiting for it to be over?”,’ she told him.
‘[It’s] because I like women. It makes a lot of sense, it took me 25 years but that’s where we are.’
I can’t remember such a frank and open discussion about being LGBTQ+ in the jungle before.
In the same conversation, the Rev and GK Barry discussed his relationship with his sexuality and religion, with him stressing: ‘I’ve never given it a moment’s twinge of anxiety over whether God thought it was alright or not.’
Seeing LGBTQ+ friendships thriving, particularly between two campmates born 37 years apart, is such a special moment to see on a platform like I’m A Celebrity.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports …read more
Source:: Metro