#15 Nella & Nigel: Everything that's wrong with the world

When 'light entertainment' suddenly highlights all that's wrong with the world, I'm going to shout about it.

The twenty-third series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here has just concluded with the lovable-labrador-in-human-form Sam Thompson being crowned King of the Jungle. But for those of us watching more closely, the Australian jungle was a microcosm for the world today and the way we build relationships and communicate with each other and, frankly, we can all learn a lot from it.

My dad is a Tory. He’s voted conservative his entire life. I disagree with his politics in almost every sense and his opinion on certain topics can have me seething with frustration but he also taught me the art of debate and would often spend long journeys taking the opposite side in an argument just for the fun of it and it was fun. He taught me the power of listening and thinking and being open to learning. I loved those journeys. I loved learning to hold my own, to carve thoughtful responses, challenging replies. For us it was sport; it was something we did to pass the time while we shared a bag of Fruit Gums and when we arrived at our destination, we put a pin in it and moved on. I didn’t agree much with him then, and I still don’t, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t love him to death, even if his politics stink and while, I’m not comparing my dad to Nigel Farage (good lord, I just got the willies) the point I am making is this: it’s possible to like someone, love them even, despite disagreeing with them on certain issues. In fact, it’s more than possible - it’s deeply necessary if we’re ever going to progress in a world that everyone has to live in.

This is where I’m a Celebrity… comes in and, if you’re not an avid watcher of I’m a Celebrity… then bear with me. I promise this is more than an opinion piece on whether we should be paying an ex-EMP over a million quid to relocate to the jungle. It’s not about whether Fred deserved the backlash from sassy-pants Nella when he happened to observe that he was old enough to be her father. It’s not about the animal rights issues that the show inevitably brings up. It’s also not about who should have won or not because frankly, the only reason I watch the show is to try and trick my brain into forgetting my body is exercising, or ironing, so I can get those things done.

Normally, this show is candy-floss for the brain - nothing too challenging to digest, a bit of a guilty pleasure, and an easy dopamine hit - but this year, it became something else. In a world where there is no grey, no ‘on the fence’, no nuance, no discussion, this season of I’m a Celebrity… managed to confront us all with the reality of the wonderful grey areas in life, and bring to the forefront everything that is wrong with the world.