Iannucci rejects reality TV approach

Armando Iannucci has been asked to be on the next series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

However the satirist admits the approach came as a shock as he never considered – or wanted to consider – himself as a celebrity.

Writing in his Observer column today, Iannucci said: ‘Celebrities are dirty, stupid things. Their brains are in their wardrobes and their souls are parked outside the gates of hell. How can I be a celebrity? I'm normal.’

The Thick Of It creator added that when the e-mail arrived asking if he was interested in being on the show, it triggered several questions: ‘Does this mean I'm a celebrity? But also: Which kind of a celebrity am I? A C-list one, whose time has come? Or a Z-list one who's in desperate need of a comeback?'

However, it's unlikely Iannucci will take the producers' up on their approach.

‘Does the world see me as someone so dead in the heart I'd be happy to wash my pants in an infected river and stick my arse in a bath of dung beetles so Ant and Dec can laugh at me crying?’ he wrote.

Published: 28 May 2006