I'm A Celeb: The man teaching Ant and Dec to speak Welsh

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Ant and DecImage source, PA Media
Image caption,
I'm A Celebrity hosts Ant and Dec have been welcoming viewers from Wales every night

"Noswaith dda" may not be the usual welcome message to primetime British television - until now.

Welsh for 'Good evening', it has been the nightly greeting from hosts Ant and Dec on ITV's I'm A Celebrity.

But they are not the only Welsh words sprinkled across the show filmed at Gwrych Castle in north Wales this year.

It is all with the help of a former BBC Wales journalist and TV executive Garffild Lloyd Lewis, who lives in a neighbouring village.

He was asked to lend a hand to the show, when it was first revealed it would be heading to the castle site in Abergele, in Conwy.

It followed calls from the chairman of the Gwrych Castle Trust for the programme to give the Welsh language "sensible attention", said Mr Lewis.

"We've been working closely with the production team planning ahead, for example putting Welsh names up around the castle," explained Mr Lewis, of Llangernyw.

Media caption,

How do you pronounce I'm A Celeb's Gwrych Castle?

So alongside signs for 'Ye Olde Shoppe' is a sign for 'Yr Hen Siop' while campmates covered in cockroaches or fish guts from bush-tucker trials head straight for the 'Ystafell Ymolchi' (bathroom).

"We have also been sending a number of audio files back and forth to Ant and Dec on how to pronounce words," said Mr Lewis.

"Sometimes it's a few days before hand and sometimes half an hour before the programme. On Sunday night we got a call about 10 minutes before the programme asking how to pronounce 'Deganwy' and 'Conwy'.

"They may not always get everything right but the attitude is great."

Image source, PA Media
Image caption,
This year's series is taking place in Gwrych Castle in north Wales

According to latest figures, over 45,000 people in Conwy county speak Welsh - just over 40% of the population.

Across north Wales, almost 280,000 people speak the language, including two-thirds of islanders on Anglesey, where the series and its celebrities opened the show.

"Things might have seemed a bit stereotypical at first but we've also been discussing that the language has to be fun, we don't want the language to be academic," said Mr Lewis.

"We want them to have fun with [it] but not poke fun at the language."