Who Is John Barrowman?
51-year-old John Barrowman is one of the ten celebs taking to the jungle this year to compete on ‘I’m A Celebrity’. With an MBE under his belt, the actor, singer and presenter is Scottish-American, having moved across the Atlantic when he was eight.
What Is He Known For?
John’s work has spanned a number of arenas, but he’s known best in the UK for acting roles in ‘Torchwood’ and ‘Doctor Who’, the latter for which he was nominated for a BAFTA-Cymru in the role of Captain Jack Harkness.
Across the pond, he’s appeared in ‘The Producers’, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’, and played the recurring role of Patrick Logan in the suburban drama ‘Desperate Housewives’.
His theatre career began in the West End, as Billy Crocker in ‘Anything Goes’ alongside Elaine Paige; but John later moved more towards fairytale retellings and pantos, from ‘Cinderella’ to ’Beauty And The Beast’.
In the realm of presenting, John was one of the original hosts on the BBC’s children’s morning show ‘Live And Kicking’. In 2006, he read bedtime stories on CBeebies, before going on to judge ‘How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria’, and Graham Norton’s ‘Any Dream Will Do’ the following year.
Politics
John has been politically vocal alongside his acting. Having worked closely with Stonewall on anti-homophobia campaigns, he also opposed the Conservative Party policy regarding the BBC in 2010, publicly endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 US elections, and was an advocate for the Remain campaign in the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum.
Past Controversies
John found himself in the middle of an awkward controversy in 2016 when his husband walked through the back of shot in a livestream, accidentally revealing a bit more than either of them probably would have liked.
The blunder was reminiscent of a similar incident back in 2008, in which John had to apologise after flashing on a live BBC Radio 1 broadcast as part of a joke that “went too far”.
John’s Hopes For The Jungle
John is in a civil partnership, so isn’t looking for romance in the jungle.
With a serious phobia of confined spaces, he said: “If they put me in a box like a coffin, I know I am going to have a problem”.
“I will have to really figure that one out when it happens as I know filming Torchwood, there was a scene where we filmed in a coffin. They put me in a coffin in a drawer and I couldn’t do it. It was see through and so I could see space but I couldn’t do it. I had a panic,” the star explained.
“That might be the challenge that is most fearful for me. But realistically, you know they are not going to do anything that hurts you.”
John added that he was definitely keen to take on the infamously strenuous Bushtucker Trials, in which contestants perform challenges to win food and treats for camp. “I want to keep myself busy,” he said.
In terms of his hopes to win, the star said he wants to become “king and queen” of the jungle.
‘I’m A Celebrity’ begins on Sunday November 18 on ITV.