I’M A Celebrity chiefs codenamed Wagatha Christie sleuth Coleen Rooney “Marple” to keep her signing under wraps, The Sun can reveal today.
Bosses chose the moniker of author Agatha Christie’s detective Miss Marple — played by Joan Hickson on TV — in their own top-secret mission to prevent any leaks.
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Coleen, 38, wife of footie legend Wayne, had been dubbed Wagatha in 2019 after planted fake stories on her private Instagram to trap someone leaking stories about her.
She accused former WAG pal Rebekah Vardy prompting Rebekah to launch a £1.8million High Court libel battle, which Coleen won.
Our revelation comes millions watched mum-of-four Coleen take part in a race to reach the camp last night as the Aussie jungle challenged kicked off on ITV1.
A source told The Sun: “Bosses at ITV were desperate to keep Coleen’s signing a secret for as long as they possibly could.
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“She’s the biggest and best for years and they broke the bank to get her, so they wanted to keep schtum on it until the last minute.
“They come up with a codename for all the contestants, and sometimes it’s something to do with that particular person.
“The choice for Coleen was apt and it would take someone with her detective skills to work it out.”
Coleen’s jungle campmate, Sun columnist Jane Moore, 62, was given the codename “Moon”.
Former boxing world featherweight champion Barry McGuigan, 63, was “Cyclones”. During his fight career he was known as The Clones Cyclone after the town in Ireland where he was born.
And McFly singer Danny Jones, 38, had the nickname “Rocket”.
In an interview before heading into camp, Coleen said she has put the Wagatha saga behind her.
She said: “That’s a place that I’ve been, I’ve dealt with it. In my life now, I’m just moving forward and not looking back.
“That’s something I’ve done my whole life, dealt with things, moved forward at the time and got on.
“There are more important things to think about with the family and kids.”
She also said she is going on I’m A Celeb “for me” and “not for anyone else” — and added that she no longer wanted to be known as Wagatha Christie.
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She said: “I think I’d rather just be known as Coleen from Liverpool. Not from any other type of place.
“It’s just me, as I always have been. So hopefully people just think she’s that Scouser that she’s always been.”
Coleen made it to the camp with BBC Radio 1 DJ Dean McCullough but they did not have much luck as a hole in their canoe caused them to sink in a river. Both bailed frantically to no avail.
Our Jane made a splash in the race to reach the base, having to swim the river to get there.
Jane, who had earlier skydived from 10,000ft over Australia’s Gold Coast, and her podcaster partner GK Barry, 25, had no option as all the canoes for the celebs had gone but their efforts came to nothing.
They were battling four other pairs, including Coleen and Dean — to become the first camp leaders who will rule the roost and are exempt from challenges.
Along the way, the stars – with other pairs being radio host Melvin Odoom and dancer Oti Mabuse, plus Tulisa Contostavlos and Alan Halsall – also had to tackle green ants in their fight for top spot.
N-Dubz singer Tulisa and Coronation Street actor Alan let off a flare as they came out on top.
Their win means they will get to sleep in the newly-built Leaders’ Lodge – fit with proper beds – which overlooks the rest of the campmates, who kip in hammocks and basic beds.
After arriving at the £21million Diamond Head estate in Queensland to kick things off, five celebs – Jane, Danny, Tulisa, Oti and Dean – were given a grim cocktail of blended bull’s penis and fish eye with a vomit fruit garnish.
Jungle Jane
Danny finished his first, meaning he got the chance to skydive from his helicopter before the others.
After landing to meet the other five celebs and pair up for the race, Dean wasted no time in choosing his idol.
He said: “Melvin, I’m so, so sorry… Wagatha Christie, you’re coming with me!”
Tulisa and Alan later pipped Danny and Barry to first place after tackling green ants in a “hell hole” to get them through to the final stage.
They let off a flare to signal their win and were later flown into camp in a helicopter.
Jane was given the nickname Jungle Jane after helping start the fire in camp.
During a chat around the campfire, Oti asked Coleen if it was “love at first sight” between her and Wayne.
Coleen replied: “No it was for him, not for me. He fought to get me, yeah.
“I waited until I’d done my GCSEs and then I went on a date. I was pretty good at school.”
She said their first date was at a cinema and added: “We had a kiss around the church first.”