Amir Khan 'overtakes Katie Price as highest-earning I'm A Celeb star after landing near-£400k deal'

He’s earned a few quid in his time as a boxer but he didn’t have to come up against any snakes or critters in the ring.

Amir Khan is certainly earning his money on the current I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! series, and he is said to have overtaken Katie Price as the highest-paid contestant ever.

Bosses of the ITV show reportedly forked out nearly £400,000 to get the professional boxer onto the programme.

A TV source told The Sun: “Amir was a great get, but he came at a hefty cost. He’s going to be the best paid celeb they’ve ever had.”

They have effectively been partly repaid already after Amir hit the headlines when he quit the first Bushtucker Trial early because he was so scared of a snake.

While “often highly exaggerated” claims are made about how much the stars of the series earn, they are in fact said to be on between £250,000 and £25,000, to take part in the show.

But the former light-welterweight world champion came at a premium after he was involved in a public feud with his wife Faryal Makhdoom when he accused her of having an affair with fellow boxer Anthony Joshua.

The source added to The Sun newspaper: “There have been rumours of huge sums being paid to the celebrities but they’re often highly exaggerated.

“Katie Price got somewhere close, but Amir’s is slightly higher again.

“He’s a huge name in sport and current after his recent marriage problems.

“He has plenty to gain in improving his public image – but he also wasn’t doing it for peanuts. ITV have dug deep.”

Amir and Faryal – with whom he has three-year-old daughter Lamaisah and is expecting another child – later reconciled, and he admitted he had “embarrassed” himself.

He said: “I did a lot of silly things. When I accused my wife of messaging Joshua, it was all just nonsense from the start. I lived my life on social media. I assumed things which were wrong and I really embarrassed myself.

“I’d just had my hand operation and wasn’t fighting as much, so I was frustrated about not being in the boxing ring and not being able to train. I think that made me hot-headed.”

Katie, 39, was previously said to have been paid around £400,000 to return to I’m A Celebrity in 2009 – five years after she met ex-husband Peter Andre on the show.

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