I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! draws in 12.9 million

The return of I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! featuring Mansfield’s Rebecca Adlington has been a hit with TV audiences drawing in almost as many viewers as Andy Murray’s triumph at Wimbledon.

The show proved be one of the biggest TV audiences of the year so far.

Peter Fincham, director of television at ITV, said: “A peak audience of nearly 13 million viewers in its 13th series is fantastic, a real testament to the continuing power of this brilliant show.”

The figure, which includes viewers tuning in on the catch-up +1 channel, is the biggest ever launch episode for the programme and it is up 1.4 million on the equivalent programme last year.

I’m A Celeb’s previous best launch figure was in 2011 when 11.8 million were watching.

Last night’s show saw Becky join the red team with Joey Essex, Eastender’s Laila Morse, snooker champ Steve Davis and Miss Universe model Amy Willerton.