Noel Edmonds vows to retire from TV if he wins I'm A Celebrity
ITVITV has finally confirmed Noel Edmonds is heading into the jungle to join I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
The veteran broadcaster, 69, said he expected viewers to "put him through absolute hell" and had been eating worms from his garden to prepare.
But he vowed to retire from TV if he is crowned King of the Jungle.
Edmonds was one of the most popular British TV and radio hosts from the 1970s onwards, with hit shows like Noel's House Party and Deal Or No Deal.
But his latest show, Channel 4's Cheap Cheap Cheap, was not a success last year.
The star used to be a firm fixture on TV screens thanks to shows like The Late, Late Breakfast Show, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop and Telly Addicts.
He was also known for his pranks - and for giving the world Mr Blobby - on Noel's House Party, BBC One's 1990s Saturday night staple.
Edmonds said he had been persuaded to go into the Australian jungle by his 15-year-old son Harrison. "He put me under considerable pressure," Edmonds told ITV.
"I think the British public will enjoy seeing me finally getting my comeuppance," he continued.
"After everything I have done with Gotchas and gunging, I am well aware they are going to put me through absolute hell and I deserve it."
Noel - a 20/1 outsider with bookmakers to win the reality show - has offered viewers who are not fans of his an incentive to keep him in.
"I will retire from television and I will never appear again," he pledged. "There's a deal that I am striking with the great British public who have supported me over the years."
Edmonds' addition to this year's line-up has already spawned its fair share of puns.
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In a separate interview with The Sun, Noel revealed how he had been getting his taste buds ready for eating bugs in the show's infamous bushtucker trials.
"There are now no worms in our garden," he said.
In recent years, Edmonds has been battling for compensation from Lloyds Banking Group after being the victim of a multi-million pound bank fraud a decade ago.
He revealed in March that he tried to take his own life as a result of the ordeal.
The Chase's Anne Hegerty, football manager Harry Redknapp, TV presenter Nick Knowles and actor John Barrowman are among the celebrities he will meet when he joins the camp later.
Little-known facts about Noel Edmonds' career
- He was born three days before Christmas - hence the name
- He was the second Radio 1 breakfast show host, from 1973 to 1978
- He reached number 15 in the charts in 1981 as a member of the group Brown Sauce, with his Multi-Coloured Swap Shop co-hosts Keith Chegwin and Maggie Philbin
- He was an early co-host of Top Gear in 1979 and 1980
- He presented The Late, Late Breakfast Show on BBC One in the '80s. The show was cancelled after a volunteer named Michael Lush died when a stunt went wrong in rehearsals
- He's a helicopter pilot whose company ferried stars to and from Live Aid in 1985
- He had a one-week tryout as a late-night host on US TV in 1986, during which he interviewed The Who's Roger Daltrey while they were in the (same) bath
- He presented the first National Lottery draw in 1994, watched by 20 million viewers
- He capitalised on the success of Noel's House Party to launch three Blobbyland theme parks in the mid 1990s
- He's been nominated for a Bafta - for Deal Or No Deal? in 2006
- He attracted criticism in 2016 when he suggested a man might have developed cancer because of his "negative attitude"
- Also in 2016, a company that makes an electromagnetic pulse machine distanced itself from his claims that it "tackles cancer"
- Earlier this year he launched a dedicated radio station to take on the Lloyds Banking Group amid his ongoing legal battle for £60m compensation
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