Last month ITV announced that I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here (2002-) would be returning to Australia. The reality TV show, which sees celebrities living together in jungle conditions and undertaking a range of challenges in order to win food and avoid being voted off by viewers, moved to Gwrych Castle in Abergele, north Wales, as a result of travel restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic and both the 2020 and 2021 series were filmed at the castle. The castle itself is a ruin, owned by the Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust which bought it in 2018 with the aim of renovating it from a ‘derelict ruin’ to a ‘consolidated ruin’ allowing entry to the public and preserving the castle and grounds. Mark Baker, Chairman of the Trust, said that he hoped “the development of the show [would] reference Wales and the history of the castle” and that it would “bring new audiences, new ways of engaging and really open up Wales.” What particularly interested me – as a Welsh media studies academic with an interest in screen tourism – was the ways in which tourism into Wales had been impacted by the series, and what might happen now that the show is moving back to Australia.
Tourism has been identified as one of four priority foundational economy sectors by the Welsh Government and, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, was one of the fastest growing sectors in the country, benefitting “many rural areas as the main driver of the economy and source of employment.” At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, however, lockdowns were implemented across the UK and hospitality and tourist venues in Wales closed. Visit Wales, the team within the Welsh Government which is responsible for the development and promotion of the visitor economy in Wales, launched a “Visit Wales. Later” campaign as a result of restrictions on non-essential travel, limited access to national parks and restrictions on holiday accommodation. The campaign ended up going viral after Owen Williams shared his alternative versions of tourism posters along with a #DontVisitWalesChallenge hashtag.
Fig. 1: Cwm Bach Later – Satirical advert based on Visit Wales’ “Visit Wales. Later” campaign.
Over the course of the pandemic, Welsh Government undertook research with tourism businesses to establish how they had been affected, what support packages they had been able to take advantage of, and how likely they were to survive. These reports revealed a significant impact on businesses, and the Scarborough Tourism Economic Activity Monitor figures for Wales, published in December 2020, showed a £6bn hit to the economy. There were 100m fewer visitor days compared to 2019, and North Wales was the most affected, with a £2.17bn reduction in the economic impact of the sector. What I’m a Celebrity… did was to highlight what north Wales had to offer. The first task in episode one saw the celebrities helicoptered onto Anglesey and divided into two teams, with one team having to abseil down a cliff while the other team guided them. Viewers also took in the north Wales landscape, including Angelsey’s Trwyn Du lighthouse, resulting in scores of comments on social media about the Welsh landscape. This was reinforced by the Visit Wales marketing strategy.
A department within Welsh Government, Visit Wales aims to promote Welsh tourism and assist the tourism industry. Following the launch of the series, its website featured I’m A Celebrity… on the front page, directly underneath the pinned coronavirus information, for the duration of the show. Although both celebrities on the show and online commentors had mentioned the beauty of the location, Visit Wales focused its marketing on the trials the celebrities were undertaking and the outdoor activities north Wales had to offer. The first task of the series, referred to above, was referenced by Visit Wales in their copy for the ‘nap while hanging off a cliff’ trial.
Fig. 2: Visit Wales referencing the I’m a Celebrity… challenges
Visit Wales’ main focus was on Wales as an adventure destination, which is a relatively recent marketing angle for the country, and they used the excitement and adventure offered by I’m A Celebrity… as a hook to make interested viewers aware of what experiences were available across north Wales. They also catered to a wider potential group of visitors, widening the information available to those attracted to the website to the north Wales costal path, family activities and Welsh history.
Fig. 3: Visit Wales highlighting further activities across north Wales.
A variety of commentors expressed hope that I’m A Celebrity…’s move to Wales would boost tourism to the area, much the same as Game of Thrones did for Northern Ireland. And I’m A Celebrity… reportedly brought over £1m into the local economy during 2020. Indeed, a variety of companies in Abergele utilized the filming of I’m A Celebrity… in the marketing of their own businesses, with shops such as hairdressers and opticians featuring posters and cardboard cutouts of Ant and Dec in their windows, and the Pen-y-Bont Inn began selling a £5 bushtucker platter, which included a mini locust burger, a crispy-chocolate mealworm cake and a milk, crickets and jalapeño chilies cocktail.
Fig. 4: The bushtucker platter, on sale at the Pen-y-Bont Inn for £5, was inspired by I’m a Celebrity…, comprising a mini locust burger, crispy-chocolate mealworm cake and a milk, crickets and jalapeño chilies cocktail.
According to Tracey Brennan, chair of Abergele Association of Traders, I’m A Celebrity… brought in about 20% more business by mid-November despite a three-week ‘firebreak’ lockdown preventing people from England travelling into Wales. Various newspapers reported on the increase in tourists to the area, including those from south Wales and parts of England.
So what will happen now I’m A Celebrity… has said goodbye to Gwrych? Plans for the castle had always been to open it up to the public, and ITV contributed £300,000 to enable the trust to carry out urgent works ahead of the show being filmed. Following the 2020 season further restoration work was carried out, placing the castle two years ahead of schedule and enabling visitors to see parts of the building used on the show. These include the main courtyard, featuring the toilet, the red telephone box and the lookout, as well as The Clink, a new addition for the 2021 series and which has been left exactly as it was on the show. The castle also sells I’m A Celebrity… themed merchandise in its shop on site, situated just off The Clink at the end of the visitor route and an official I’m A Celebrity… ‘capture point’ which allows visitors to pose in front of a green screen and select their background from a range of images from past series.
Fig. 5: I’m A Celebrity… merchandise on sale at Gwrych Castle.
Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust clearly hope that tourism will remain once the series has left, but Conwy County Borough Council also refer to the show their 2021-2026 cultural strategy for the county:
More recently, Oriel Colwyn and local schools used the massive impact of ‘I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here’ as inspiration for a fun history trail around Abergele. Short films with archive images of the castle were projected on to shop windows and pieces of vinyl artwork from the castle’s archives were placed in empty shops. More than 100 community members featured in ‘Celebrity Town’, a large scale, open-air photography exhibition, which recognised the people who live, trade and work in Abergele.
An I’m A Celebrity… inspired arts trail designed to “inform, raise smiles and leave a lasting legacy in Abergele” was also developed, conceived of by Mark Baker and supported by Conwy Arts Trust, Cartrefi Conwy, Abergele Town Council and Conwy Council. Paul Sampson, curator at Oriel Colwyn, creatively produced and installed the project in both 2020 and 2021, which he hopes “be used to kick-start a community driven, long-term focus on improving the visual amenity of the town”. An I’m A Celebrity… themed golf day is also planned for August 2022.
It remains to be seen whether this level of engagement with the show will continue over the coming years but it is clear that I’m A Celebrity has had at least some effect on regional development. It highlighted the attributes Wales has to offer to a domestic audience, leading to an increase in tourism. ITV’s investment also allowed for work to be done to restore the castle, with the aim of it reopening to the general public. The Gwrych Castle Preservation Trust also encouraged ITV to employ local people and businesses for the production, and ITV advertised for runners from people living in Abergele, Llandudno, Conwy, Colwyn Bay, Rhyl, Prestatyn, Wrexham and Chester (the latter just over the border in England). ITV also used local builders to work on the set and local businesses to provide transport, accommodation and clothing. It would be interesting to see whether this has a long-lasting impact on Abergele and north Wales as whole, and what lessons can be learned from this kind of collaborative working.
Bethan Jones is a Research Associate on the SIGN project at the University of York, where her research focuses on skills and training in the screen industries. She has written extensively about anti-fandom, media tourism and participatory cultures, and is co-editor of Crowdfunding the Future: Media Industries, Ethics, and Digital Society (Peter Lang) and the forthcoming Participatory Culture Wars: Controversy, Conflict, and Complicity in Fandom (under contract with University of Iowa Press). Bethan is also on the board of the Fan Studies Network and co-chair of the SCMS Fan and Audience Studies SIG.
