Josie Gibson ‘is in talks to star on I’m A Celebrity for a £100,000 fee’
Josie Gibson is reportedly in advanced talks to enter the I’m A Celebrity jungle for a fee of £100,000, according to The sun.
The This Morning presenter, 38, appeared to be a fan favorite when she made her debut on the ITV show to replace Phillip Schofield after his scandalous fling.
‘I’m A Celeb producers have entered negotiations with Josie’s team to lure her in with a £100,000 contract. Talks are at an advanced stage,” said a source.
The source added that Josie has been a fan of the ITV series for many years and is now determined to take a bigger step in her TV career.
“The stint could propel her into the mainstream and land her bigger gigs,” they said.
The people’s favourite: Josie Gibson is reportedly in advanced talks to enter the I’m A Celebrity jungle for a fee of £100,000
In the works: ‘I’m A Celeb producers have entered negotiations with Josie’s team to lure her in with a £100,000 contract. Talks are at an advanced stage,” said a source
An I’m A Celebrity representative told MailOnline: “Any proposed names for I’m A Celebrity…Get me out of here are just speculation.”
MailOnline has reached out to a representative for Josie Gibson for comment.
Josie rose to fame after winning Big Brother in 2010 and has been tipped as a favorite to replace Phillip Schofield amid his controversial fling with a This Morning colleague.
In a recent exclusive interview with MailOnline, Josie’s mother said her “natural and caring personality” makes her the perfect replacement for Philip Schofield on This Morning.
The former Big Brother winner supported Holly Willoughby by giving her co-star a hug after the under-fire host addressed her fallout with Phillip during a speech on Monday’s show.
And now the Bristol-born favorite is being tipped to play a bigger role in the scandalous series, which has been plagued by reports of a toxic atmosphere behind the scenes.
Josie’s mom Mandy says her daughter is naturally affectionate and caring, leaving viewers in no doubt that her support for Holly was genuine.
And she says her “values” were shaped by her traveler roots, where she spent eight weeks each summer touring the countryside in a horse-drawn caravan.
‘Natural and caring’: Josie has a ‘natural and caring personality’ and, according to her mother, is the perfect replacement for Philip Schofield on This Morning
Support: The former Big Brother winner supported Holly by giving her co-star a hug after the under-fire presenter addressed her fallout with Phillip Schofield on Monday’s show
Mandy explained, “That’s where she got her values from — it taught her to respect and care for people.
“When you saw her hug Holly Willoughby on TV, it was sincere, from the heart.”
Josie was without electricity, gas or running water for months when the family took off in the brightly colored caravan.
Her mother said they would make a “circuit” along country lanes and never know when they would come back.
She said, “We’d be gone for eight weeks at a time, we’re old-fashioned people, that’s how we live.”
“When you live in the van, you don’t waste water, electricity or time. We have always had horses, traps and carriages, we are simple people and we live a simple way of life.
“It’s very different from the life she leads now, but I’m glad she got the chance to live in the caravan as a child.”
She adds, “If you bring a child into the world and people love and admire her, you should be very happy.”
Alan, Mandy and Josie’s stepfather, drives to Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria on Wednesday, an annual gathering of gypsies and travelers in Cumbria.
The pair breed and sell horses, especially cobs, at their cottage near Yate, Bristol, where Josie grew up.
Mandy says she loves watching Josie on TV every morning and she totally deserves to share the couch with Holly.
She said, “I was tidying up the other day and found a little school notebook from Josie in which she wrote, ‘I’ll be on TV when I grow up.’
“I think she got there through hard work and being natural and kind to people, she’s always been kind — sparkling, she’d help anyone.”
“What happened (on This Morning) is terrible, but we didn’t discuss it with her – that’s her own private matter.
“The greatest part of life is respecting other people and that’s who Josie is. That’s how she’s progressed in life.’
Josie attended North Road Community Primary School in Yate and then Brimsham Green, where her mother said she was a ‘bright’ student.
She had a part-time job flipping burgers at Yate train station and Mandy described them as “a good worker who never quits.”
For real: Josie’s mom Mandy says her daughter is naturally affectionate and caring, leaving viewers in no doubt that her support for Holly was heartfelt
Roots: Mandy says her “values” were shaped by her traveler roots, where she spent eight weeks each summer trekking the countryside in a horse-drawn caravan
She explains, “There’s a big city where Josie has had a lot of support. Yate is a loving community, her friends and people who live there are very proud of her.
Mandy said they regularly see Josie when she visits her four-year-old “beautiful” son Reggie from her relationship with ex-boyfriend Terry. The couple is no longer together.
The shiny Romanesque-style caravan still stands in front of the mansion where Josie’s parents live and work.
Her stepfather delivers horse-drawn coal to the area and Mandy is known for raising ponies.
She has just returned from Turkey where she had her front teeth replaced and Josie has yet to see the results.
After winning Big Brother in 2010, Josie gave an interview to OK magazine in which she said she was a “buffer” — a gypsy word for non-travellers who live on the net, own their own homes, and send their kids to school.
She said: ‘I’m actually a buffer, because I grew up in a house and not a caravan. But we were always surrounded by caravans and horses and carts. Life was never boring!’
Josie’s status as a rising star on This Morning is in stark contrast to her post-Big Brother life, when she struggled to hold down a job on TV.
Indeed, she revealed that she was rejected from 72 jobs.
She says, “I think because of the Big Brother thing it kind of held me back and nobody wanted to know — and I mean nobody.
“For over two years I tried and I literally put myself out there. No one knows this, but I fell for it [TV presenting] because I didn’t stop trying. I tried more than 72 people — I had a list of people I had asked for a job.”