When is I'm A Celebrity 2026? Mark Herlaar is switching from Deals on Wheels to the Jungle Hotline for the 2026 series, with Kiosk Kev now taking calls from his own verandah instead of manning the ice cream van. The change sits alongside wider camp adjustments, including work done for Ade Adepitan MBE. ITV has not said when the 2026 series will start, but the format shift is already in place.
The centrepiece of every Jungle Hotline challenge is the golden phone box. ITV said: "The centrepiece of every Jungle Hotline challenge – which still takes place out of camp – is the golden phone box."
"Each time, it’s locked shut in a different way, and the challenge is to figure out how to get inside it. If the campmates manage to open it, they will be able to call Kiosk Kev to order a treat on his brand new Jungle Hotline," ITV said. That setup changes the old routine: the treat is revealed in camp before the celebrities have a chance to win it, and the challenge now decides whether the reward ever reaches them.
Mark Herlaar and Kiosk Kev
Mark Herlaar, who plays Kiosk Kev, was a contestant on the 2017 season of Australian Survivor. For the 2026 series, he will no longer front Deals on Wheels; he will work from home during challenges and call celebrities in camp to ask a trivia question or set them a task. The move keeps the character in play, but it changes the action from a van-side handout to a call-and-response challenge built around the golden phone box.
The new Jungle Hotline also adds a sharper risk-reward edge. If celebrities pass their challenge, the locked post box containing their reward opens. If they lose, the reward is destroyed in front of them. That is a cleaner television mechanism than a simple delivery system: the prize is visible before the contest starts, then held back or wiped out depending on the result.
Ade Adepitan MBE in camp
Ade Adepitan MBE is a 2026 contestant, and the production team worked with him to make camp suitable for his wheelchair. He flew out to Australia earlier this year to visit camp and work with the production team, and the changes were physical rather than cosmetic: pathways have been made deeper, parking bays created for his wheelchairs, and a stairlift installed so he can access the jungle shower.
He can transfer between his crutches and wheelchair as he would outside camp, and he will have different wheelchairs in and around camp for trials or more difficult terrain. That is the practical side of the 2026 series update: the show is not just changing a challenge format, it is also reshaping access so one contestant can move through camp on his own terms.
Australia and the 2026 series
The change to Jungle Hotline gives campmates a different kind of pressure point, because the treat is now something they have to earn after seeing it rather than something they simply receive. For viewers, that makes the challenge itself part of the prize economy, while the accessibility work around Adepitan shows the production is adapting the camp environment, not just the game design.
What the show still has not given is a start date for the 2026 series. Until that arrives, the clearest read is that ITV has already moved the format on: a new challenge system for Kiosk Kev, and a camp built to let Adepitan compete without the set getting in his way.
