Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Membership today.
Already a member?
Log in
Ant and Dec have joked they need to sue themselves after discovering a surprising detail about the I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! theme tune.
The presenting duo, who will go back to Australia for a brand new edition of the series next month, were left stunned when a podcast listener highlighted a similarity between the long-running show’s recognisable theme and their own 1994 song “Tonight I’m Free (Cool Mix)”, which they released as PJ & Duncan.
On Hanging Out With Ant & Dec, Ant McPartlin said: “We have to play this – because we might sue ourselves.”
After hitting play on the track, the pair couldn’t contain their shock after hearing a drum breakdown that sounded very similar to the one featured in the I’m a Celeb theme. “Right, someone is getting sued,” Declan Donnelly said, adding: “I’m going to sue… you.” McPartlin replied: “Yeah, and I’m going to sue you, countersue – so we both win.”
Ant and Dec originally starred in TV series Byker Grove, playing students PJ & Duncan. After being written off the show, they embarked on a successful music career, releasing “Tonight I’m Free” in 1993, and the hit track “Let’s Get Ready to Rhumble” the following year.
“Tonight I’m Free (Cool Mix)”, which has a drum breakdown similar to the I’m a Celeb theme, was a remixed version of the track, released as part of their 1994 single “Why Me?’.
The I’m a Celebrity theme was composed by Grant Buckerfield, who used samples of the 1975 song “Africano” by Earth, Wind & Fire and the 1989 song “Get Out Of The House!” by Boom Crash Opera.
ITV is once again facing renewed pressure to pull together an impressive list of famous faces due to the high calibre of stars the BBC has managed to recruit for The Celebrity Traitors – series two of which is on now.
Celebrities in the running to enter the jungle for the 26th edition of I’m a Celebrity include footballer Wayne Rooney, Kaiser Chiefs frontman and former Voice UK judge Ricky Wilson, Big Brother host AJ Odudu and Christopher Dean, one-half of Olympic champions Torvill & Dean.
It’ll be the first series since a second run of the all-stars show aired. The series made headlines earlier this year thanks to the biggest showdown in reality TV history after a fallout between Adam Thomas and Jimmy Bullard, which even put Ant and Dec through their paces.
