They may or may not be celebrities. They're definitely out of there.
Not even the promise of three weeks' worth of prime-time self-promotion was enough to keep Heidi and Spencer Pratt from jumping ship on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
Though their first attempt at quitting NBC's jungle-set reality competition didn't stick, Speidi has, for the second and ostensibly final time, vowed to abscond from Costa Rica after being unable to shampoo rough it.
All told, the duo's run will last just two episodes. They will appear in a taped segment of tonight's show, but will not take part in the live portion of the telecast. Sources confirm to E! News that the Pratts are scheduled to return to Los Angeles just after midnight tonight.
"They're leaving right after the live portion of the show," an NBC source said. "The fact that they are leaving the show and deserting their charities is lame."
Meanwhile, I'm a Celebrity... producers are trying to replace the rapping, breakdown-prone couple with one or two other camera-ready personalities, who would continue playing for the couple's chosen charity.
The identity of the replacement(s) remains hush-hush at this point, though the DailyFill reports that producers are doing their best to keep it in the family, naming Daniel Baldwin, whose brother Stephen is already on the show, and Heidi's sister Holly Montag as the top contenders.
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! runs Monday through Thursday on NBC, with the finale set for June 24.
(Originally published on June 2, 2009 at 12:01 p.m. PT)
______
Follow us on Twitter @eonline and get our free iPhone app