Despite £200,000 offer

John Cleese has revealed that he turned down £200,000 to take part in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!

Although he has taken on extra work to pay for a reputed £15million divorce settlement, the 71-year-old said he would never appear on reality TV.

He said: ‘I was asked to do a reality show a few months ago. I forget which - it might have been the jungle one or perhaps Celebrity Root Canal

‘I just laughed, then asked how much they were offering out of curiosity. It was £200,000 but I would never agree to one of those shows. That would mean the collapse of western civilisation.’

Although he refused to be on reality TV, Cleese agreed to front a series of adverts for the AA, including one that has him hopping around in a sleeping bag.

He told the Sunday Mercury: ‘There is always a filter when it comes to accepting work. I call it the EQ - the embarrassment quota. I will only do embarrassing things if there is a lot of money involved and people won't really know about it.

‘But I am very happy to do the commercials for the AA because I think it's an extraordinarily impressive organisation.’

Published: 17 Jan 2011