Soap favourite Lisa Riley is rumoured to be the first name being lined up for this year's I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! The actress, who has played Mandy Dingle in Emmerdale since 1995, has been at the centre of some of the soap's most dramatic storylines across three decades. Now, at 49, Lisa is said to be in advanced negotiations with ITV bosses to swap the Dales for the Australian jungle this autumn.

A TV insider revealed: "Lisa is the perfect celebrity for the show because not only is she from a soap watched by millions she's one of its biggest characters and it's an ITV show to boot. She also has a naughty, mischievous sense of humour which is guaranteed to get a big response from her other celebrity campmates during their time in the jungle. Lisa is by no means the first star from Emmerdale to have gone on I'm A Celebrity and those that do always tend to get a great response from viewers at home."

Over the years, eight Emmerdale stars have braved the bushtucker trials, including Gemma Atkinson, Chris Bisson, Lucy Pargeter and Adam Thomas. Danny Miller not only went in back in 2021 - he actually won the series.

Lisa has already hinted she had the hit reality show on her bucket list. Speaking earlier this year, she said: "I'm A Celebrity... is something I would do before I turned 50 as a test for myself."

She has also been candid about the infamous eating challenges, once declaring she could "eat anything" but admitted: "I could never ever do the mice and the rat box."

Lisa's career beyond Emmerdale is just as impressive. She starred in Fat Friends, Waterloo Road and famously competed in Strictly Come Dancing in 2013. She later joined the Loose Women panel before returning to Emmerdale full time in 2019.

Reflecting on her comeback to the soap, Lisa said: "I'm the type of person that must have an answer, I can't leave anything open ended.

"I was working for Strictly in doing a Q and A and there were 4,000 people asking me when I was going back to Emmerdale. But I've had that since the day I left.

"It was really weird for some reason these people asked 'Why won't you go back to Emmerdale?' and I had no answer so I thought, 'Well why not?'"

The 25th series of I'm A Celebrity is expected to kick off in November.

ITV is keeping tight-lipped on who will be heading to the jungle, with a spokesperson saying: "We do not comment on speculation about I'm A Celebrity contestants."

I'm A Celebrity will air on ITV1 and ITVX.