Following the (quite literally) explosive 40th anniversary week of EastEnders, an iconic actor from the BBC One soap has been linked to this year’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
No, it’s not James Bye, whose character Martin Fowler was killed off in emotional scenes during the live episode, and it’s not Natalie Cassidy – aka Sonia Fowler – who will be bowing out of her legendary role later this year.
It’s actually none other than Patsy Palmer, who plays Sonia’s sister Bianca Jackson, who is the bookies’ early favourite to be an I’m A Celeb 2025 campmate.
According to Betway Casino, Patsy has odds of 2/1 to sign up for the 25th series of the ITV show.
If she does head into the jungle, she’ll follow in footsteps of fellow EastEnders stars like Shane Richie (who plays Alfie Moon), Danielle Harold (who played Lola Pearce) and her on-screen brother Dean Gaffney (aka Robbie Jackson).
She could even end up winning the show like Jacqueline Jossa (who plays Lauren Branning), Charlie Brooks (who played Janine Butcher) and Joe Swash (who played Mickey Miller).
Patsy first joined the cast of EastEnders in 1993, with her character Bianca quickly becoming a fan favourite. She starred in the soap for six years before leaving in 1999. Bianca returned in 2008 for another six years before leaving again in 2014.
Bianca returned once again in April 2024 and since then she’s reunited with her dad David Wicks (Michael French) and being kidnapped by Sonia’s murderer fiancé Reiss Colwell (Jonny Freeman).
Outside of her role as Bianca, Patsy lives in LA after swapping Albert Square for Malibu in 2014.
The soap legend – who shares Fenton, 21, Emilia, 19, and Bertie, 10, with her husband, Richard Merkell, 56, and also has 29-year-old son Charley with her ex, Alfie Rothwell – resides in a luxurious ocean-front mansion and counts the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Courteney Cox and Reese Witherspoon as her neighbours.
Oh, and she’s even got a secret link to Love Island’s Luca Bish.
She’ll have plenty of stories to tell if she does end up in the jungle…