I’m a Celeb 2023: Winner, Full Line-Up and Final Results

Sam Thompson won I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! 2023, crowned King of the Jungle on 10 December 2023 after beating boxer Tony Bellew in the final public vote. Nigel Farage finished third and Josie Gibson fourth. The series, the show’s twenty-third, ran from 19 November to 10 December 2023 on ITV1, hosted as ever by Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly from the camp near Murwillumbah in New South Wales.

It was a series defined by two things: the most expensive signing in the programme’s history, and a friendship that turned out to be the emotional spine of the whole run. This is the complete retrospective record of the 2023 series, with the full line-up, the exact finishing order, the trials, the rows, what the cast have done since, and where you can watch the whole thing back in 2026.

I’m a Celeb 2023 at a Glance

The Full 2023 Line-Up and Finishing Order

Twelve celebrities entered camp across the run. The finishing order below is the confirmed final result of the series.

How the Final Was Won

The final three were Sam Thompson, Tony Bellew and Nigel Farage. Farage was eliminated first, leaving a head-to-head between the reality television personality and the boxer. Thompson took the title with a clear majority of the final vote, in the region of 56 per cent to Bellew’s 44 per cent.

The result was not a surprise by the closing week, but it was not obvious at the start either. Thompson entered as the campmate least likely to be taken seriously and finished as the one viewers had most invested in. His openness about living with ADHD, his relentless enthusiasm and, above all, his unlikely bond with Bellew turned him into the series’ emotional centre. Bellew, a hard man by reputation, was repeatedly reduced to tears by Thompson and became one of the run’s most quoted campmates as a result.

That friendship carried the series in a way producers could never have engineered. The two are physically, generationally and temperamentally unalike, and viewers responded to a relationship that felt entirely unmanufactured in a format that is otherwise heavily produced.

Nigel Farage: The £1.5 Million Signing

The booking that dominated the pre-series coverage was Nigel Farage, reported to have been paid around £1.5 million, comfortably the highest fee ever handed to an I’m a Celebrity contestant. The signing drew formal complaints to Ofcom before the series had even begun, and ITV defended it on the basis that the format has always featured political figures.

What actually happened in camp confounded some expectations. Farage did the trials without complaint, was polite to campmates who disagreed with him sharply, and had extended on-camera debates about Brexit and immigration with Fred Sirieix and Nella Rose that ITV broadcast rather than edited around. Ant and Dec ribbed him mercilessly in their links. He finished third, ahead of several better-liked campmates, which itself became a talking point about the show’s voting base.

The Nella Rose and Fred Sirieix Row

The series’ most contentious moment came early, when Fred Sirieix made a remark about being old enough to be Nella Rose’s father. Rose, who had lost both of her parents, took profound offence and the disagreement escalated over several episodes, drawing in other campmates and generating substantial press coverage and viewer complaints.

The row was uncomfortable rather than entertaining, and it illustrated something the format rarely acknowledges: campmates are sleep-deprived, underfed and confined with strangers whose frames of reference may be entirely different from their own. Rose was the first celebrity voted out, on day 15. Sirieix left on day 17.

The Two Medical Withdrawals

Both late arrivals had difficult series. Grace Dent, the food critic, entered alongside Frankie Dettori and withdrew on medical grounds around day nine, later speaking about how severely the lack of food and sleep had affected her. Jamie-Lynn Spears also left on medical grounds at a similar point in the run, having struggled visibly with homesickness as well.

Two withdrawals in one series is unusual but not unprecedented. Under the show’s rules, a celebrity who leaves on medical advice is not eliminated by public vote and does not take a finishing position in the ranking.

The 2023 Bushtucker Trials

Series 23 used the standard trial architecture: nightly public votes deciding who faced a challenge, with stars won determining how many meals camp received.

• Eating trials. The traditional stomach-turning menu of fermented plum, animal parts and live insects. Josie Gibson and Nigel Farage both took multiple turns.
• Enclosed-space trials. Coffins, tunnels and burrows filled with snakes, rats, spiders and cockroaches, designed to target claustrophobia as much as squeamishness.
• Height and water trials. Suspended platforms and submerged tanks combining vertigo with time pressure.
• Celebrity Cyclone. The penultimate-week staple, in which campmates scale a water-blasted ramp carrying letter boards. It remains the format’s most affectionately regarded set piece and 2023’s edition was no exception.
• Final-day trials. The last three each faced an individual challenge, including the traditional final eating trial, before the winner was announced.

Trial selection is driven by public vote, which is why certain campmates end up doing far more than others. Josie Gibson in particular was sent out repeatedly, becoming the series’ de facto workhorse and building considerable goodwill in the process.

What Camp Life Is Actually Like

The production reality behind the format is more structured than the broadcast suggests, and knowing it makes the series easier to read.

• Food. The base ration is rice and beans, supplemented only by meals won in trials. Weight loss over three weeks is significant and is medically monitored.
• Luxury items. Each celebrity brings one approved personal item, which is why so much emotional weight attaches to family photographs.
• Medical supervision. A medical team is permanently on site, and the show’s psychologists assess contestants before, during and after filming.
• No contact. Phones, watches and outside news are removed entirely. Campmates learn nothing about how they are being received until they leave.
• Crew scale. Several hundred production staff work on the series, with a camp rigged with fixed cameras running continuously and an editing operation turning that into a nightly hour.
• Animals. Creatures used in trials are handled under Australian animal welfare supervision, a point ITV has had to defend publicly on several occasions.

Ratings and Reception

Series 23 performed strongly for ITV. The launch episode drew an audience in the region of nine million on a consolidated basis, and the series was among the most-watched entertainment programming of the autumn schedule, sitting alongside Strictly Come Dancing at the peak of the pre-Christmas ratings battle.

Critical response was mixed on the Farage booking and warm on the cast chemistry. The consensus at the time, which has held up, was that a potentially divisive series was rescued by the Thompson and Bellew dynamic and by an unusually generous group of campmates.

Where the 2023 Cast Are Now

How to Watch I’m a Celeb 2023 Now

The full series remains available on ITVX in the UK, free to stream with advertising, alongside the companion show and the unseen-footage compilations. You will need a UK IP address and a TV licence is not required for on-demand ITVX content, only for live broadcast.

Episodes are catalogued by series, so search the programme title and select series 23 rather than relying on the most recent series shown by default. The launch episode and the final are the two to start with if you do not want to watch all twenty-two instalments.

How 2023 Fits Into the Show’s History

Series 23 sits in the run of post-pandemic series that returned the programme to Australia after two years in Gwrych Castle in North Wales. It is remembered for three things: the most expensive contestant ever booked, an unexpectedly moving male friendship, and a winner from reality television rather than from sport, music or soap opera.

Historically, the format rewards campmates who are generous with others and who do the unpleasant jobs without complaint. Sam Thompson won on exactly that basis, as Georgia Toffolo, Harry Redknapp and Jill Scott had before him. Viewers reliably vote for the person they would most want in camp with them, not the most famous name on the call sheet.

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How the Voting Actually Worked in 2023

Two separate votes run in parallel across the series and viewers frequently conflate them. In the first fortnight the public votes for who should do the next Bushtucker Trial, which is why unpopular or newly arrived campmates are hammered with challenges. From roughly the halfway point the mechanic flips and the public votes for who they want to save, with the campmate receiving fewest votes leaving that night.

ITV publishes the final vote percentages after the series concludes but withholds all interim figures, which is why speculation about who was leading runs unchecked for three weeks. In 2023 the released final-week figures confirmed what the closing episodes suggested: Sam Thompson had built a decisive lead by the last few days rather than winning narrowly.

Free voting via the ITV app was available alongside paid telephone and text voting, with a cap on votes per method. That app-based free vote has measurably changed the format’s demographics since its introduction, shifting influence towards younger viewers who are less likely to pay to vote, and it is a plausible part of why a reality television personality beat a boxer and a politician.

Records and Statistics From Series 23

• Longest-serving campmate by trial count. Josie Gibson was among the most frequently selected contestants of the run, a pattern that historically correlates with a strong finish rather than a weak one.
• Oldest and youngest. Frankie Dettori and Nigel Farage were the senior campmates; Nella Rose, then in her mid-twenties, was the youngest.
• First reality-television winner since 2017. Sam Thompson’s victory echoed Georgia Toffolo’s, both coming from the same broadcast stable.
• Two medical withdrawals in one series. Uncommon, and both fell on roughly the same day of the run.
• Twenty-two episodes. A standard-length series across three weeks, with the final broadcast as an extended edition.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who won I’m a Celeb 2023?

Sam Thompson won the 2023 series and was crowned King of the Jungle on 10 December 2023. The Made in Chelsea star beat former world champion boxer Tony Bellew in the final head-to-head vote, taking roughly 56 per cent of the public vote to Bellew’s 44 per cent.

Who was in the I’m a Celeb 2023 line-up?

The original ten campmates were Sam Thompson, Tony Bellew, Nigel Farage, Josie Gibson, Nick Pickard, Marvin Humes, Danielle Harold, Fred Sirieix, Nella Rose and Jamie-Lynn Spears. Grace Dent and Frankie Dettori entered later as late arrivals, bringing the total to twelve.

How much was Nigel Farage paid for I’m a Celebrity?

Reports at the time put his fee at around £1.5 million, which would make it the largest ever paid to a contestant on the programme. ITV did not confirm the figure but did not dispute the widespread reporting either. He finished third.

Why did Grace Dent and Jamie-Lynn Spears leave the jungle?

Both withdrew on medical grounds around day nine of the series. Grace Dent later described how severely the combination of hunger and sleep deprivation had affected her. Under the show’s rules, contestants who leave on medical advice are not eliminated by public vote and do not take a finishing position.

Where was I’m a Celeb 2023 filmed?

In the Australian bush in New South Wales, near Murwillumbah and close to the Springbrook National Park area behind the Gold Coast. This is the show’s long-standing permanent site, used for every Australian series since 2002 apart from the two pandemic years filmed at Gwrych Castle in North Wales.

Can I still watch I’m a Celeb 2023?

Yes. The complete series 23 is available on ITVX in the UK, free to stream with advertising, along with the companion show. Search for the programme and select series 23 specifically, as the platform defaults to the most recent series.