I’M A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here could be just what the nation needs right now, says a Welsh Government minister.

Responding to questions from the press at a conference held in Cardiff, North Wales minister Ken Skates says that the series – if filmed safely – could provide a much needed morale boost for the UK and help put North Wales on the map.

He said: “I’m delighted that the series is being filmed in North Wales at Gwrych Castle - which is a phenomenal location. If it can continue in a COVID safe way then clearly it has long-term benefits in terms of promoting North Wales.

“I think that the point there is that it has to be conducted in a COVID safe way. I know the producers of I’m a Celebrity are incredibly keen to demonstrate that they can produce a show of this nature during a pandemic and in a responsible way.

“It may well be that that the television-watching public just need something like that right now because, as a number of journalists have identified, there is a wellbeing and mental health crisis at the moment. We do need things that can unite people and this sort of programme can often do that.”

An ITV spokesperson stressed to the Rhyl Journal and its sister titles on Monday, October 19, that “I’m A Celebrity continues to adhere to all relevant guidelines as well as our own strict Covid protocols."

The 20th series of the hit reality series was forced to abandon its sunnier Australian setting for the colder climate of North Wales – and celebrities will call Abergele’s Gwrych Castle their home during the series as they fight to be crowned King or Queen of the castle.