Guided by the Memory of Her Mum

Emmerdale favourite Lisa Riley has revealed the deeply emotional reason she finally agreed to enter the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! jungle. Speaking from her hotel room in Queensland, she said she has spent days thinking about her late mum, Cath, whose loss still shapes her life.

Cath died in 2012 after breast cancer spread to her pelvis, ovaries and pancreas. She was just 57. Lisa says the grief has never fully faded. Even with a chaperone by her side 24 hours a day, conversations kept circling back to her mum.

Lisa explained:
“I feel like she is sending me a message from heaven. She’d be saying, ‘Go on, knock them dead and have a laugh.’”

The two were inseparable, speaking up to ten times a day. Lisa knows her mum would watch with pride, even if she also worried every night in front of the television.

Robin Windsor’s Dream Lives Through Her

Another powerful force behind Lisa’s jungle decision is the memory of her Strictly Come Dancing partner and best friend, Robin Windsor, who died last year at age 44. Lisa said Robin had always wanted to take part in the show and never understood why she kept turning it down.

“He thought I was mad for saying no,” she said. “I know he’s on my shoulder. He will want me to be myself, and the best friend I was for him.”

His laughter, encouragement and belief in her have now become part of the reason she enters the jungle with courage.

Strength Forged From Three Decades in the Industry

Lisa began acting at 13. She has rarely been off-screen since, with roles in Emmerdale, Waterloo Road, and the award-winning drama Three Girls. At 49, she feels ready for one of the biggest challenges of her career.

“If I can last this long in such a strong industry,” she said, “I can cope in the Australian jungle.”

At home in Yorkshire, she shares her life with her partner, Al, who has already teased her about jungle food trials.

Body-Positive, Honest, and Unfiltered

Lisa says she is not worried about appearing on screen without makeup or glamour.

“People will see me as a frizz bomb and I will embrace it,” she joked. She describes herself as body positive, adding:
“I like my wobbly bits. They are part of me.”

Loyalty is her biggest trigger. “Disloyalty sets me off. That is when Mandy Dingle comes out. Never mess with her.”

To keep her jungle trip secret, the show was given a code name in her diary:

“It just became Costco,” she laughed.

Ready for the Adventure Ahead

Now nearing her 50th birthday and celebrating 10 years of sobriety, Lisa believes the timing is perfect.

“I want fun and a good giggle, even if I end up covered in sheep guts,” she said.

With love, loss and loyalty guiding her, Lisa Riley enters the jungle not just as a contestant, but as a woman honouring two of the greatest relationships of her life.