Tulisa Contostavlos touched down in Australia earlier this week for this years I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here, as the 2024 campmates are confirmed.
The singer is best known for being one third of noughties chart-toppers N-Dubz, as well as for her stunt as an X Factor judge in the early 2010s.
Tulisa opened up on the ITV show’s promotional video ‘Meet Tulisa Contostavlos‘ saying: “I’m like Frodo Baggins on an unexpected journey. I feel really adventurous this year and the place I’m now in, I want to do things that take me out of my comfort zone.
“I’ve always said I wouldn’t do this show in the past, as there are things that have terrified me. But the person I am now, I want to throw caution to the wind.”
Continuing, Tulisa said:”I’m not the person that people perceive me to be. This will be a chance for everyone to get to know the real me.”
But who is Tulisa and what should we know about her?
N-Dubz
Tulisa rose to face in the band N-Dubz, with her cousin Costadinos Contostavlos, better known as Dappy, and best friend Fazer. The hip-hop trio took the UK by storm in the early 2000s, winning five Mobo awards, getting a Brit Award nomination and releasing 14 top 40 singles over the years.
They were signed by All Around The World Records and released their first album, Uncle B, in 2008, named after Dappy’s dad and Tulisa’s uncle.
After this they went on to produce some of their most famous hits including Playing With Fire and We Dance On.
The band preformed their final gig together in September 2011 before taking an 11 year hiatus. They reformed in 2022, returning with the album Timeless, which raced to number six in the UK album charts.
The band embarked on their Back to the Future Tour, an arena tour around the UK in November 2022.
X Factor
In 2011, Tulisa replaced Cheryl Cole as a judge on the eighth season of The X Factor. At the time she was only 23, making her the youngest judge ever to be on the show’s panel.
In her first year she mentored the groups category, which included Little Mix. Despite three out of four groups from her category being eliminated in the first five weeks of the live shows, Little Mix went on to win the competition – becoming the most successful girl group in X Factor history.
She continued the following year where she mentored the girls category – which included Ella Henderson and Lucy Spraggan. Despite her success during the first season, she did not have the same luck this time around, being the first judge to loose all her acts.
Tulisa left the show after two series and was replaced by original judge Sharon Osbourne. Although she did come back to make a cameo for the show’s 11th season as Louis Walsh’s guest judge during the judges houses stage of the competition.
After leaving The X Factor in 2012, Tulisa embarked on a successful solo career, including a number 1 single with Young.
Health battle
During a recent interview with Olivia Attwood on her So Wrong it’s Right podcast, Tulisa opened up about her Bell’s palsy diagnoses. This is a condition that is described by the NHS as “temporary weakness or lack of movement that usually affects one side of the face”.
She recalls when her “whole face just dropped” when she was 24 and remained that way for seven months, explaining that she continues to struggle with Bell’s palsy.
The singer had multiple cosmetic procedures to deal the results of her conditions, in attempts to “balance out the symmetry”.
After the Olivia Attwood interview she spoke out on her Instagram story saying: ‘I’ve just had so many people in my DMs reaching out and asking me about my experiences and what’s going on, which has made me really happy about opening up because it has let a lot of other people know that they’re not alone.”
N-Dubz Glasgow reunion show
In November 2022, during the N-dubz reunion tour, Tulisa was smacked in the face with a phone live on stage at Glasgow’s Ovo Hydro.
The singer was preforming with her bandmates Dappy and Frazer when the mobile phone was launched out the crowd whacking her hard. After the incident, she held up the mic and said: “Sometimes in life you get hit in the face and you crack the f*** on. Don’t we Glasgow?”
The crowd roared and cheered as the band continued to perform and Tulisa took it in her stride.
Afterwards she shared the footage on her Instagram page, writing: “WALLOP! So, this happened. I am screaming me & @steffliverpool getting good joke today @iamfazer Come & look at this @n_dubz x.”
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The singer joins a star-studded cast including former Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse, Coronation Street icon Alan Halsall, Radio 1 DJ Dean McCullough, WAG Coleen Rooney, Loose Women’s Jane Moore, TV presenter Melvin Odoom, Influencer Grace Eleanor Keeling, McFly’s Danny Jones and boxing champion Barry McGuigan.
The 24th season of I’m A Celeb starts this Sunday on ITV at 9pm.
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