I’m A Celebrity… Teach Me The Vocab!

An annual staple of British reality television, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! debuted on our screens over 20 years ago and is still going strong.

Each year, the TV powers that be ship a completely random group of celebrities – with past highlights including disgraced politicians, footballers, international popstars and even four-time gold medallist Olympian Mo Farah – to the Australian jungle for approximately three weeks.  

Snakes, rats, and all kinds of terrifying creatures abound… and that’s just the contestants entering the jungle. But one of the most exciting things about this weird and wonderful show is the lingo. Due to its location, the show is infused with Australian slang and some special terminology of its own.

For today’s Bushtucker Trial, we’ll be getting up close and personal with the lingo of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

Bushtucker Trial

Example sentence: ‘Did you see she drank a cockroach milkshake in her Bushtucker trial?’

If you only remember one thing from this guide, let it be a Bushtucker Trial. A staple of the show, Bushtucker Trials are an opportunity to for contestants to earn food or treats for their campmates. They tend to go one of two ways: an eating trial with some deeply unpleasant grub, or a physical or mental task that really challenges the contestant.

The most fun thing about Bushtucker Trials is they’re a public vote, which helps raise money for charity. Celebrities are forced to put themselves through hell for the enjoyment of the public. Think insect biscuits, climbing through dung, and cockroaches up your nose. The Bushtucker Trials take their name from the word ‘bush tucker’, which is defined as any wild animal, insect or plant from the Australian wilderness that can be used as food. So actually, a kangaroo burger could be pretty standard fare.

Camp

Example sentence: ‘It was pretty quiet in the camp last night.’

Even celebrities in the jungle deserve a chance to relax. Base camp, or camp, serves as the celebrity living quarters in the Australian jungle. Considering that part of the challenge for contestants is learning to eat, sleep, and even shower in the wilderness, the camp has become more comfortable over the years, with reports that part of the camp is covered by a secret roof provided some relief from tropical rain.

That said, it’s not all roses. In previous episodes of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! contestants have been forced to contend with cockroaches, mosquitoes and giant spider infestations. We imagine in the 2020 edition of the show, the camp was probably a lot easier to handle as it was set in Wales, though admittedly it may have been much colder than the Australian jungle.

Dunny

Example sentence: ‘The dunny was disgusting this morning.’

Which leads us swiftly on to an excellent bit of slang: the dunny. If you’re Scottish, you might think they’re talking about a cellar or a basement. However, in Australia and New Zealand, a dunny is an informal word for a toilet. It’s not entirely clear where this slang originated, but we’d assume in comes from the British English ‘dunnakin’, which may be related to ‘dung’ (aka poop).

In the wild west of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, using the toilet outside of the dunny will lead to a telling off from the show’s bosses. As experienced by Carol Thatcher in 2005, who decided to urinate next to the sleeping quarters to avoid using the dunny in the dark.

Dingo Dollar

Example sentence: ‘I can’t believe they didn’t share their Dingo Dollars!’

Ready for some more show-specific terminology? Welcome to Dingo Dollars, and the Dingo Dollar Challenges. A currency unique to I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, dingo dollars and their associated challenges allow contestants to purchase luxuries from such as chocolate, custard creams, and cheese. For the Welsh edition, Dingo Dollars briefly became Castle Coins.

To collect Dingo Dollars, celebrities must complete challenges in order to open a container stacked with cash. Past challenges have included swamp-diving, wading through spaghetti hoops, and putting the solar system in the right order. But that’s not all. Even if the celebrities manage to retrieve their dollars, if they fail to answer a trivia question correctly when attempting to make a purchase, they lose the cash.

Buckley’s chance

Example sentence: ‘Nigel’s got a Buckley’s chance at winning this year’s show.’

A very specific slang phrase used in Australian and New Zealand, if you were to describe someone as having a Buckley’s chance at something, you’re actually saying they have no chance, or a very slim chance. But where on earth does it come from?

There are a few theories to the etymology of this unusual phrase. The first is that it alludes to a 19^th-century convict, William Buckley, who escaped prison and went to live among Indigenous Australians, at a time when people believed it was impossible for non-indigenous people to survive in the bush. It’s said it could also have come from a Mr Buckley who unsuccessfully sued the government, or a dispute between another Mr Buckley and the crisis-hit Bank of Australasia, after he withdrew his savings and told them they would have no chance of using his money to pay debtors.

Grub

Example sentence: ‘They made him eat grubs in his Bushtucker trial!’

One of the most stomach-churning and controversial elements of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! seasons has been the consumption of grubs. A grub is defined as a young insect that has just hatched. So, imagine a short, fat, worm-like creature – appetising, no? A grub can be any insect. It can also be an informal slang word, used since the 17^th century , to mean delicious food. It’s believed to derive from the act of birds guzzling down insects.

The most famous grub to ever star on the show is the witchetty grub, a large wood-eating larva which inhabits the witchetty bush and can eventually become a ghost moth. That is, if it isn’t caught and fed to celebrities in a Bushtucker Trial. However, this trial was stopped in 2016 to avoid offending Aboriginal peoples who do depend on bugs as a source of protein, making grubs an important part of their culture.

Bush Telegraph

Example sentence: ‘He really let off steam in the Bush Telegraph.’

You might be wondering if it’s possible to get WiFi, or even phone signal, in the Australian jungle. The answer is, of course, no. The best you can get is a Bush Telegraph. In our dictionary, a bush telegraph is defined as a means of rural communication in areas with no radio or electronic communication, which may involve smoke signals, drum codes, or runners.

In I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, the Bush Telegraph is actually a small hut where celebrities can go to share their innermost thoughts, share some juicy gossip, plead for mercy from the public, or vent their frustrations with bush live. It’s a fairly basic set-up, but without access to TikTok, it’ll have to do.

Share your favourite I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! words and moments with us on Twitter @CollinsDict.

If you’re interested in more TV-related vocabulary, you should also read 100% faithful: The Traitors unofficial glossary and The totally rad guide to Stranger Things slang.

By Rachel Quin
Rachel Quin is a freelance marketer and copywriter with a love of language, books and cats.

All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.