Tears, tantrums and saucy shower scenes draw in the viewers, but a lot of work goes into making I’m a Celeb.

It’s been 12 years ago since the show first aired and although the set up might look simple, it takes hundreds of people and months of hard work to pull it off.

 Jimmy Bullard on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!
Jimmy Bullard (ITV/PA)

Here are a few things you might not know about what goes on behind the scenes in the jungle.

1. In the first series, there wasn’t a shower and deodorant was banned, but the rules were changed when the camera crew complained.

The smell was so bad, the crew complained and from series two, the celebs were a little more fragrant.

2. When the show launched celebs complained about changing on camera.

Myleene Klass having a shower on I'm A Celebrity... Get me out of here!
Some celebs don’t care about bearing all on camera (ITV/PA)

Executive producer and co-creator Richard Cowles was faced with a string of irate celebs in the Bushtucker Telegraph, furious about having to change on camera. Cowles got someone in the art department to create the modesty smock – a sheet with a hole to put your head through, and they’ve been used ever since. The celebs don’t seem so modest when it comes to the requisite waterfall posing, however.

3. The crew thought they’d come across an Aboriginal graveyard on the site of the first series.

The first series was filmed in Mission Beach, near Cairns in Queensland. Bones were discovered but disturbing a traditional burial ground isn’t allowed. Luckily they actually belonged to ostriches.

4. From series two the show moved location to Dungay Creek, and the celebs are taken to a lavish 5* hotel after they’re booted off the show.

Dungay Creek is 20 minutes from Queensland’s Gold Coast. The likes of Michael Burke, Melanie Sykes and Tinchy Stryder can all look forward to being pampered at the Palazzo Versace on leaving the jungle. Meanwhile most of the crew stay in the holiday resort of Coolangatta

5. When the show is in full swing there are 500 people working around the clock. 
And man, can they eat! During production last year, the crew went through 8,500 meals, including 15kg of bacon and 540 eggs on a daily basis.

6. For the last series, 250,000 cockroaches, 153,000 crickets, 2.5million meal worms, 400 spiders, 500 rats and 30 snakes were bred for the show.

Meal worms
(Sojka Libor/Czech News Agency/PA)

Ahead of series one, Mark Busk-Cowley, one of the show’s writers and co-creator, was tasked with ordering in bugs for the trials. Fast-forward to 2014, and there’s now a dedicated bug breeding factory on site.

7. The celebs are chaperoned from the UK and put up in different hotels so they don’t meet each other before the programme starts.

When they arrive in Australia, their phones and laptops are confiscated.  There will be meetings with the health and safety and wardrobe teams (according to casting executive David Harvey, most celebs will lie about their size).

8. Medic Bob works every day for seven weeks while the show is live.

The medical staff also look after the crew, treating an average of 30 cases a day in the clinic. Bob also works on the German version show, Ich Bin Ein Star – Holt Mich Hier Raus!

9. The first thing the celebs do when they leave the camp is see the show’s psychiatrist and check in with Medic Bob.

10. Ant and Dec arrive at the site at 2.30am everyday.

Anthony McPartlin (left) and Declan Donnelly, as I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!
Not in their tuxes though (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

At around 4am, they and the writers will watch all the VTs before make-up and wardrobe at 5.30am. They then travel to the studio and rehearse the show before it goes live at 7am. After the programme’s aired, they’ll record the bushtucker trial and then the rest of the day is their own.

11. Several celebs have managed to smuggle items into the camp.

Amy Willerton managed to sneak in an array of lingerie and cosmetics. Gillian McKeith brought a selection of herbs and spices into camp with her, hidden inside some specially created pants, while Jimmy Osmond smuggled salt and pepper inside a teddy bear. David Haye was busted for taking in two mobile phones. Wayne Sleep tried to get a packet of plasters in (exciting).

12. The team that work on the bushtucker trials have to rehearse every trial several times before a celeb does it.

Apparently the stench at the trials clearing is overwhelmingly gross.

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! The Inside Story by Mark Busk-Cowley is published in hardback by Bantam Press, priced £16.99.