Ruby Wax is among the stars on the line-up for this year’s I’m A Celebrity – and some fans of the show reckon she has just what it takes to be crowned Queen of the Jungle, especially as she has taken part in a very similar show before…
The 72-year-old comic is one of this year’s biggest signings for the ITV reality juggernaut hosted by Ant and Dec.
“Meeting everybody, that’s what I’m excited about,” she told The Sun at the airport, before admitting she’s hoping to get under the skin of her fellow campmates. “The people are what’s exciting, to pick them apart and find out what makes them so interesting. Or not.”
And with a storied TV career, a string of therapy qualifications and even her own survival show under her belt, she might just be the most prepared contestant the jungle has ever seen.
Has Ruby Wax been in the jungle before?
No, but she’s not a complete jungle novice either. In 2023, she starred in Ruby Wax: Cast Away, a solo survival experiment filmed off the coast of Madagascar.
Ruby Wax on Cast Away
While Ruby has never set foot in the I’m A Celebrity jungle before, she’s no stranger to survival.
In the BBC show Ruby Wax: Cast Away, Ruby spent 10 days alone on a remote island in Madagascar. Armed with a camera and her wits, she documented everything from foraging for food to withstanding torrential storms.
Although she admits that it was a carefully planned documentary, it gave her a taste of jungle life and the psychological toll of isolation. “I’ve been on desert islands before,” she told The Sun. “So this is nothing.”
Why fans think she’s got the edge
Fans think her unique combo of wit, survival experience and psychotherapy training might give her a serious edge.
As one social media user posted: “She’s a professional psychologist now, though. She’ll know how to ride it out, I think.”
“She’ll definitely win it – she has desert island experience!” declared another, noting her experience on survival show Cast Away.
“Absolute icon,” said another on social media, “and the entire reason I’m watching!”
However, despite her previous experience, Ruby doesn’t see herself as a frontrunner. “I can’t imagine it, I haven’t got one of those minds that pictures things, so I don’t know. I can’t picture anything.”
Who is Ruby Wax?
Ruby Wax first made her name on British television in the 1980s. She shot to fame with Girls on Top in 1985, performing alongside comedic powerhouses Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders and Tracey Ullman. The ITV sitcom only ran for one season, but it launched Ruby’s TV career.
She became best known for her sharp-tongued, quick-fire interview style in a string of her own hit BBC programmes, including The Full Wax, Ruby Wax Meets and The Ruby Wax Show. Ruby grilled the likes of Tom Hanks, Pamela Anderson, Imelda Marcos, and even OJ Simpson.
She was also a script editor on Absolutely Fabulous, where she made two cameo appearances. Although her persona was often seen as brash and combative, Ruby now says that was all nerves.
“I looked quite aggressive and pushy, and I think it was just my nerves,” she told ITV. “I am not aggressive. It’s just the way I talk.”
Why was Ruby Wax awarded an OBE?
In 2013, Ruby earned a Master’s degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy from Oxford University.
She’s since been appointed a Visiting Professor in Mental Health Nursing at the University of Surrey, and in 2015 was awarded an OBE for services to mental health.
How old is Ruby Wax?
Born April 19, 1953, in Evanston, Illinois, Ruby is 72 years old, making her the oldest contestant in this year’s jungle line-up.
Difficult childhood and mental health journey
Ruby has never shied away from discussing her struggles. In an episode of Grounded with Louis Theroux, she revealed: “My mother was insane, and my father was insane. I use that lovingly. I thought they were normal.”
At 11, she was once left alone in South America with just $16 after missing a flight, wearing only a swimsuit. Her childhood was marked by chaos and emotional abuse, with Ruby recalling her mother chasing her down the street, screaming.
She didn’t recognise her depression until her thirties. “It’s not sadness. You’re gone. Nobody’s home,” she said. After a severe episode in 2003, Ruby decided to study therapy herself. That journey led to her Master’s at Oxford and a new mission: to destigmatise mental illness.
In 2022, she experienced a relapse while staying in a Yorkshire monastery. “I thought I was possessed by the devil,” she told HELLO! magazine in 2024. She admitted herself to a psychiatric clinic and later transformed the experience into a bestselling memoir and stage show titled I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was.
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Is I’m A Celebrity star Ruby Wax still married?
Yes, Ruby is still married.
The star has been married three times. Her first marriage was to theatre administrator Andrew Porter. They tied the knot in 1976 and divorced in 1980. In 1981, she tied the knot with TV producer Trevor Walton; however, they split in 1986.
In 1988, Ruby then got married to TV producer and director Ed Bye, whom she’s still married to today. Together they had three children, Max, Madeleine, and Marina.
Speaking about Ed, she has said: “He is selfless, he sacrifices a lot. Ed is normal, he can make me laugh and he’s brought balance to my life.”
However, the pair have been hit by split rumours over the years. Ruby has, naturally, hit back at them, though. It was claimed that Ruby, then 48, was having an affair with a 32-year-old internet entrepreneur.
She told the Standard in 2012: “Don’t believe any of those stories about our marriage break-up. Ed and I are very much together – it’s just that we had a nanny who turned out to be insane. On day three, she told me she’d been abused by her stepfather. Ed called up the nanny agency to complain. And that’s when the trouble started in earnest.
“I’d had years of great nannies. But, sometimes, people are jealous; I don’t know why. Anyway, when I fired this girl, she was really inflamed. What she claimed was that I’d had an affair. However baseless the accusation, you can only imagine the tension it produced with Ed and me. She invented the whole thing. But that’s all in the past now, and Ed and I are stronger for it.”
Ruby Wax on I’m A Celebrity
Ruby is fully aware of the challenge that lies ahead. “It hasn’t actually sunk in that I am doing this,” she told ITV. “But I like doing adventurous things. It will be nice for people to get to know the real me. You can’t hide in the jungle.
“In my personas before, I looked quite aggressive and pushy, and I think it was just my nerves. I am not aggressive, it’s the way I talk. I’m not confrontational and it looked like I was.”
Ruby is also looking forward to the guaranteed weight loss that comes with taking part in the show. She told ITV: “The food part of the experience I don’t mind, as I am on a diet. I do need to lose weight, so rice and beans won’t be a problem.”
As for the infamous jungle shower, she added: ” I have been working out, as I don’t want to show my body the way it is. But I know you can wear a bra and pants. I have a sensational bra!”
Read more: I’m A Celebrity star Kelly Brook confesses camping has ‘never appealed to her’ ahead of jungle debut
Catch Ruby Wax on I’m A Celebrity this Sunday (November 16) from 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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