Watch I’m a Celebrity Abroad — Three Weeks of Nightly Episodes, on ITVX
I’m a Celebrity returns to ITV1 and ITVX this autumn, and if you’re watching from outside the UK it presents a problem the other big autumn shows don’t.
It isn’t one appointment. It’s about twenty of them, on consecutive nights, and each episode assumes you saw the last one.
Why a Nightly Series Is the Hard Case
With a weekly show, a setup that fails occasionally is an irritation. You miss an episode, you catch it up, you carry on.
I’m a Celebrity doesn’t work like that. The trials, the alliances and the running jokes build night after night, and the eliminations are public the moment they happen. Miss two or three in the middle and you’re not behind — you’re out of it.
That’s the difference worth planning for. What you need overseas isn’t something that works once, on the night you test it. You need something that still works on night seventeen, when you’ve stopped thinking about it.
There’s a companion show as well: I’m A Celebrity… Unpacked returns on ITV2 this autumn with Sam Thompson and Kemi Rodgers, and it streams on ITVX too — so that’s a second thing to have working, most nights of the run.
What We Know About This Series
The series returns this autumn — the trade press reported it in July, from ITV’s commissioning release. Ant and Dec are contracted well beyond it: a further three-year deal with the broadcaster takes them through to the end of 2028.
The start date hasn’t been announced. We won’t print a guess: launch dates for this series move around by a fortnight between years, and last November’s date tells you nothing reliable about this one. The moment ITV confirms it, this page will say so.
Why ITVX Blocks You Overseas
ITVX reads the IP address your internet connection presents, and if it isn’t a UK one, the stream doesn’t start.
It doesn’t matter that you have an ITVX account in good standing, or that you were watching in Manchester a fortnight ago. The check is on the connection, not the person, which is why it catches British households abroad just as firmly as anyone else.
It also applies to every device at once, because they share one connection out to the internet. The TV, the tablet and the phone all present the same non-UK address.
Why VPN Apps Struggle Over a Long Run
A VPN app will often get you in on the first night, which is exactly what makes it a trap for a series like this.
These apps route large numbers of users through shared data-centre IP addresses. Streaming services recognise those ranges and block them in batches, so an address that worked on Monday can be dead by Thursday. Switching servers moves you along the same list.
Then there’s the television. Smart TVs are the most likely screen you’ll actually watch this on, and they’re the hardest place to put a VPN app — Samsung’s Tizen and LG’s webOS don’t support them at all. Which leaves you watching a jungle trial on a laptop, three weeks running.
What Works: a UK Residential IP
A pre-configured SmartHub VPN router connects through a genuine UK residential IP address — the same kind of address as an ordinary house in Sheffield or Swansea.
There’s no shared server to be recognised and no list to be on, which is why it holds up across a long run rather than for a single evening.
And because it works at network level, it covers the whole house at once. The television, the Fire TV Stick, the tablet someone’s taken to bed — all of them, with nothing to install and nothing to switch on before the show starts. That’s the part that matters at eleven o’clock on night seventeen.
Getting Set Up Before They Go In
We send a complete, pre-configured setup anywhere in the world. Plug the router into the internet where you’re staying, connect your television or streaming box, and open ITVX as you would at home.
For international orders we generally use UPS Express, keeping delivery and customs clearance as fast and hassle-free as possible; UK orders ship with DPD, usually next-day after dispatch (a few remote areas, like the north of Scotland, can take a little longer).
With no date announced yet there’s nothing to race, which makes now the sensible time to do it. You want this tested and forgotten about well before the first trial, not diagnosed during it.
The same setup covers the rest of the season, including Strictly Come Dancing on BBC iPlayer this autumn and The Great British Bake Off on Channel 4 later this year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I watch I’m a Celebrity abroad on ITVX?
Not on a normal overseas connection. ITVX checks the IP address your connection arrives from and refuses to play from outside the UK. A VPN router carrying a UK residential IP makes that connection look like an ordinary British household, so ITVX streams the series as it does at home.
Does a VPN app work for a three-week series?
It tends not to hold up. VPN apps use shared data-centre addresses that streaming services recognise and block in batches, so a connection that worked on Monday can fail on Thursday. Over twenty consecutive nights that’s a lot of opportunities to be locked out, and each one costs you an episode you can’t un-spoil.
Can I watch the ITV2 companion show abroad as well?
Yes. Unpacked airs on ITV2 and streams on ITVX alongside the main show, and it’s geo-blocked in exactly the same way. Because the router works for the whole connection rather than one app, both open normally once you have a UK residential IP.
Will it work on the television, not just a laptop?
Yes, and that’s the main reason to use a router rather than an app. Smart TVs and streaming boxes are the hardest devices to put a VPN app on, and several won’t run one at all. A router covers every device behind it, so the TV in the living room works the same as the phone.
Final Thoughts
Three weeks of nightly television is a genuine commitment, and it’s the sort of thing that keeps a household abroad connected to home in a way a box set never quite does.
The fix isn’t complicated. One detail — the address your connection appears to come from — is the thing standing between you and the whole run, and a VPN router with a UK residential IP puts that right for every screen in the house.
