Reality catches up with punker

To the dismay of aging punk fans, a British television company announced Monday that former Sex Pistols singer and angry punk icon Johnny Rotten -- now known by his real name, John Lydon -- has agreed to appear in the reality show “I’m a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!”

“If it has come to this for the prince of punk, then mediocrity really does get us all in the end,” wrote Lee Randall in The Scotsman newspaper.

“I’m a Celebrity,” which begins its third run Jan. 26 on the commercial ITV network, strands C-list celebs in the Australian jungle and allows the public to vote them off the show one by one. The show has been a hit in Britain, drawing up to 14 million viewers. A U.S. version on ABC last year fared less well.