Rebecca Adlington to be a jungle queen on I'm a Celebrity?

(Image credit: Suzan/EMPICS Entertainment)

Rebecca Adlington could be taking on a challenge tougher than the Olympics - the bushtucker trials in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

The swimming champion is the latest name rumoured to be going into the jungle later on this month, according to The Sun.

It is believed that she has signed a deal to appear in the show and will be flying out to Australia next week in time for the start of the ITV series on November 17.

Last year, Olympic medallist Rebecca said: "I'm absolutely awful with creepy crawlies and I couldn't eat that stuff they do in the jungle."

Other celebrities thought to be taking part in this year's show, fronted as usual by Ant and Dec, are The Only Way Is Essex star Joey Essex, Emmerdale's Lucy Pargeter, snooker legend Steve Davis, Westlife's Kian Egan, EastEnders' Laila Morse and talk show host Matthew Wright.

According to bookies William Hill, Rebecca is currently 14/1 to be crowned queen of the jungle, with Joey Essex in the lead to win on 4/1.

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.