Derry singer Nadine Coyle
The Derry-born star will join nine other celebrities, including former Arsenal footballer Ian Wright, who will be competing to be crowned King or Queen of the jungle at the end of their ordeal in camp.
Producers are hoping the 34-year-old mum-of-one, who divides her time between Derry and her London home, will spill the beans about the band’s turbulent falling out after they split.
“Nadine is a big name and ITV was keen to get her,” said a source close to the show.
“Her link to Cheryl makes her an even more exciting prospect.
“It’s no secret there’s no love lost between them, and Nadine is refreshingly honest about what went on from her perspective.
“And I’m a Celebrity could well be the start of something big again for her.”
The chosen 10 celebs will join Declan Donnelly and his returning co-host Ant McPartlin for the ITV launch episode this Sunday, November 17, as they enter the jungle and grapple with all sorts of tricky trials and nasty bugs.
Nadine, who recently split from her long-term partner Jason Bell, with whom she has a daughter Anaiya (five), will appear alongside Made in Chelsea’s Jamie Laing, ex-rugby star James Haskell and Corrie’s Lucy Fallon.
She and American football star Bell, who she started dating in 2008 when she moved to America to pursue her singing career, reportedly ended their relationship after they realised they were leading increasingly separate lives.
Nadine re-located to her native Northern Ireland three years ago to raise the couple’s young daughter closer to her family.
Also entering the jungle with her are former EastEnders actress Jacqueline Jossa, Good Morning Britain’s Kate Garraway, DJ Roman Kemp, X Factor champ Myles Stephenson, Radio 1 DJ Adele Roberts and the world’s most famous transgender woman Caitlyn Jenner.
Nadine, who has previously spoken of her joy at being a mum and said she “can barely remember” her life before having her daughter, will have to cope with being in the jungle without her.
“I can barely remember my old life at all,” she told one magazine.
“I think, ‘What did I do? How did I get through 24 hours a day without a baby to look after?’
“Every minute is directed towards Anaiya. There are no similarities between my old life and where I am now.”
Meanwhile, in her new jungle life, she will have to endure bugs, rats, snakes and spiders in the infamous Bushtucker Trials.
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