This year’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here has been called one of the most brutal seasons ever. The Bushtucker Trials are getting harder every episode, with a few being called out by fans for being ‘unfair’ or even sometimes ‘impossible.’ One of the most recent trials had fans outraged that Alan Halsall had to take part, and they raise a very interesting point as to why.
One of the latest trials saw McFly’s Danny Jones, Coronation Street’s Alan Halsall and radio presenter Dean McCullough having to dive headfirst into crates of fish guts, pig testicles and fish eyeballs to raise money for their fellow campers. While this would be unbearable for almost anyone, viewers were quick to point out that one campmate in particular should have been exempt. Many who tuned in to the episode tweeted that Alan Halsall, who has been a vegetarian for his entire life, shouldn’t have had to take part. Alan previously opened up to his fellow campmates about his vegetarianism, saying, ‘I have been my whole life. I have no idea why. The only explanation I've ever been given by my mum is that I'm just too lazy to chew meat!’ One viewer tweeted, ‘Considering Alan is a vegetarian he's absolutely smashing this trial’ with another asking, ‘Hold on, Alan's a vegetarian, so how the f*ck is he doing this trial?’ So, why did he have to do the trial?
Earlier in the show, Reverend Richard Coles and Tulisa were both excused from being nominated for a trial as they each suffer from a fear of heights, and celebrities are sometimes excused from the eating trials if they have an allergy. In 2020, vegan actress Beverley Callard was allowed to bow out of some of a Bushtucker trial because she didn't eat animal-based foods, but it is rare that a celebrity would be offered this option. The same year, Mo Farah requested halal meals and did not need to take part in animal-based eating challenges.
A celebrity can always refuse a task, but it would mean forfeiting the chance to win stars and therefore dinner for their fellow campmates. Vegan comedian Shappi Khorsandi ditched her plant-based diet when she competed on the show in 2017. However, her body wasn’t yet used to processing meat, and she admitted, ‘I had meat, and I was really, really physically sick, five times in one hour. It was horrible.’ The following year, there were three vegans in camp—Coronation Street’s Sair Khan, The Vamps’s James McVey, and singer Fleur East — although she was not a strict vegan and only sometimes adhered to the diet in her daily life. Like SHappi, Fleur ditched the dietary restrictions for the show, but a representative insisted at the time that ‘this was her choice and no one made her say it.’ In 2022, Boy George was also granted an exemption from eating animals as he was a vegan.
It's likely that Alan could have asked to be exempt from the trial, but chose to do it so that the camp could have a better chance of gaining some stars. Thankfully, the rice and beans they eat each night is vegetarian.
Sarah O'Byrne is a News and Entertainment Writer at Bauer Media, regularly contributing to Grazia, heat, Closer, Bella, Yours and Crime Monthly. She wouldn't hesitate to convert to veganism to get out of a Bushtucker Trial.