Netflix fans baffled by Holly Willoughby’s new ‘hide and seek’ TV series

Netflix has dropped the first look and release date for a brand new show that’s come at the right time after the end of I’m A Celebrity, but fans aren’t so convinced by it.

Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly’s ITV reality series came to an end on Sunday, with McFly singer Danny Jones crowned King of the Jungle and Coleen Rooney taking second place.

Over the last three weeks, viewers were treated to some grim bushtucker trials, a few dramatic meltdowns, and plenty of emotional moments.

And though all good things must come to an end, there’s not long to go before a very similar programme launches.

Celebrity Bear Hunt, fronted by former This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby and Bear Grylls will be hitting our screens in February.

The release teases: ‘Holly Willoughby hosts this action-packed competition show that sees a group of unlikely celebrities dropped into the Central American jungle as prey for one of the world’s most fearsome predators – Bear Grylls.

‘Bear believes there’s an action hero inside us all – even the celebs – but how strong is their will to survive?

‘As Bear puts them through their paces, those who fail to impress will face the dreaded ‘Bear Hunt’ – a brutal game of cat and mouse where they’ll be hunted down by Bear himself and, if captured, face elimination from the show.’

Fans aren’t so convinced by it, with some comparing it to a game of ‘hide and seek’.

‘I have so many questions…..,’ @gazlarplease commented, while @davidlouiscarp1 wrote: ‘Sounds more like a harmless hide and seek without an actual bear.’

‘Well this sounds truly awful,’ @TommoClaret blasted, while @paulc1989said: ‘Why is the host dressed like a contestant’.

Others compared it to I’m A Celebrity, with @TomGorianXVI saying: ‘Totally not I’m A Celeb rip off’.

‘I’m guessing this is like I’m A Celebrity only without the voting,’ X user Chris added.

‘Did they not already do this but on land? @Hunted_HQ,’ @edfen19 meanwhile said.

‘Every day I am proven correct in cancelling my subscription,’ @letitbeta2 slammed.

While @CarlGoddard_ fumed that Bear Hunt ‘sounds atrocious’ and @gervaisfan1988 said it ‘sounds dreadful’, others jumped to its defence, with @KatyPerrysSon saying: ‘This looks gooood.’

‘If Holly’s presenting, that’s enough to make me give it a go,’ @SpartanGhost30 wrote.

New pictures of the reality programme reveal Bear arriving on a motorbike and Holly – who also hosted I’m A Celebrity in 2018 – by helicopter.

She’s dressed in the jungle theme, wearing a khaki dress and combat boots in the arid setting.

Other images reveal the camp the celebrities will be staying in, which looks far more glamorous than the I’m A Celebrity one we’ve become used to.

The wooden villa has a large dining room and main area, opening out to the beach and the stunning scenery behind.

The celebrities will get proper beds rather than hammocks and floor mats, covered with mosquito nets as they lie side by side in Love Island-style bedrooms.

They’ve also been given decked out wardrobes with their uniforms and personal items at the ready.

Meanwhile, with cameras dotted around on the walls, it looks like the stars will be watched at every moment as they relax and take on the challenges in Costa Rica.

So far, we have yet to see which celebrities will be taking part, though it has been rumoured the famous faces include former Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson and Leigh Francis.

This comes after reports Holly was ‘torn’ filming the new series, as it meant she spent time away from her children during production in Central America.

The Dancing On Ice presenter is married to producer Dan Baldwin and shares three children with him: son Harry, 14, daughter Belle, 12, and eight-year-old son Chester.

‘Holly will naturally miss her children and husband when she is away – she had lived in a lovely bubble with them while she took time off work. So it will be hard being away,’ a source said earlier this year.

The insider continued to OK!: ‘Like so many mums, she feels that mum guilt as she tries to juggle family life with her TV career.

‘It’s something she’s spoken about openly in the past – and she also wants to show other mums that she is just the same, she feels it too.

‘But she knows that, ultimately, she is setting a good example to her little ones by being a working mum.’

As her new Netflix show was revealed, it had also been said that the Wylde Moon founder was eyed-up by the BBC, while other reports emerged that ITV are offering her a huge deal to remain at the channel.

Bear Hunt launches on Netflix on February 5, 2025.

I’m A Celebrity is available to watch on ITVX.

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