Reality TV producer spills details on new season of I'm A Celeb

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! is set to return to Australian television screens on Sunday.

And the executive producer behind the hit show, Alex Mavroidakis, told the TV Reload podcast on Friday that 'up to 70 names' were seriously considered to star. 

Insisting that Pete Evans was never confirmed to appear on the series, Alex also revealed whether he believes the chef would have been an ideal contestant. 

Alex, who interviewed this year's cast via Zoom from his Gold Coast home, said 'it's not an exaggeration' to say they had '60 to 70 names seriously in the mix'.  

In terms of what makes a great star lineup, he explained: 'We've got to check off diversity, we've got to check off fame, we've got to check off funny, we've got to check off headlines.' 

Alex went on to say, that while it may sound like a cliché, they've got to have that 'x-factor'.  

When asked his thoughts on whether he believes Pete Evans would have made an ideal contestant, Alex began by stating that 'there's absolutely zero confirmation Pete Evans was ever anything to do with I'm A Celebrity'. 

However, he did say that from a certain perspective, he would have '100 per cent' casted him in the jungle. 

'I'm commenting on this from the perspective of someone who reads Facebook and Twitter. From a headline-grabbing point of view, the hack producer in me says, "100 per cent put him in".'   

Pete was reportedly dumped from the I'm A Celebrity cast in November, after posting a neo-Nazi meme to Facebook.   

At the time, the

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