I'm A Celebrity viewers in hysterics over Ant and Dec's Rebekah Vardy dig

What did you miss?

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! was less than five minutes into its 2024 launch episode when co-presenter Declan Donnelly served up a Wagatha Christie pun.

One half of the infamous libel case – a play on detective fiction author Agatha Christie and the 'wives and girlfriends' of superstar sportspeople term – Coleen Rooney is among this year's jungle campmates, following in the footsteps of her rival Rebekah Vardy back in 2017.

As Donnelly made a funny throwaway reference to their legal battle in the opening segment of the show, fans celebrated on social media.

What, how and why?

Having name-checked McFly band member Danny Jones, boxing legend Barry McGuigan and influencer GK Barry on the I'm A Celeb roster, Donnelly told those watching at home: "Then of course we've got Coleen Rooney... It'll be nice for Coleen to face a trial that doesn't involve Rebekah Vardy!"

Kicking the air in amusement, his friend and colleague Ant McPartlin shouted: "Ha-haaaay! There'll be loads of them!"

Read more:

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"Took 4 minutes to get a Vardy pun in," pointed out one viewer on social site X (formerly Twitter).

Another person added: "Oh it wasn't even 4 mins and they referenced Rebecca Vardy! I can't wait for this to be the reference at every opportunity."

What was the Wagatha Christie case?

The 'Wagatha Christie case' all began just over five years ago, with former Manchester United and England star Wayne Rooney's wife alleging on X that private posts from her Instagram were being leaked to The Sun, and in order to catch the individual responsible, she'd restricted access on who could view them.

It turned out that the only person able to do so was Rebekah Vardy's Instagram account. The WAG has been married to Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy since 2016. Once this story went viral, Vardy herself responded by claiming that her Instagram account had been hacked.

Skip to June 2020 and Vardy sued Rooney on the grounds of defamation. Despite early success in the case, by July 2022 the judge had ruled against Vardy and determined that Rooney was in the right.

Several months later, she was ordered to pay 90% of Rooney's legal costs, which amounted to in the realm of £1.5m.

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! airs on ITV1.