Rebekah Vardy and her footballer husband Jamie appeared very excited about their six-star sunshine break to Dubai yesterday – just as rival Coleen Rooney enters the less-than glamorous Jungle.

The pair were pictured giggling in matching beige tracksuits as they pushed their £3,300 Dior hand luggage and five large Rimowa suitcases – worth £1,300 each – to the VIP lounge in Stansted Airport ahead of their first-class Emirates flight.

Some might speculate that Rebekah is jetting off to escape the limelight. After all, this weekend will see the debut of her mortal enemy Coleen Rooney on the new season of I’m A Celebrity.

The two Wags have been bitter rivals ever since Rebekah, 42, unsuccessfully sued Coleen in 2022 for accusing her of leaking stories about her family to tabloids after setting an ingenious trap on Instagram.

Rebekah still maintains her innocence, however, while Coleen, 38, remains furious that more than three years of her life were blighted by the ‘Wagatha Christie’ legal battle, as it became known.

But I can reveal that, far from lying low in Dubai, Rebekah is in fact plotting her next move to stir things up with Coleen.

Rebekah herself is an I’m A Celeb alumna, having appeared on the show in 2017 (she was the third contestant to be eliminated). She was reportedly paid around £100,000 – a smidgen of the rumoured £1.5million Coleen is set to rake in, the most ever paid in the show’s history.

But far from being jealous of Coleen’s I’m A Celeb payday, Rebekah is ready to make the most of her nemesis’ time in the jungle. One friend of Rebekah tells me: ‘The holiday came along at quite a fortuitous time. Jamie has a weekend off playing for Leicester as there is an international break so they thought they’d escape for some sun.

‘But it isn’t lost on Becky that she will be sipping her champagne while Coleen will be eating witchetty grubs. Becky thinks it’s hilarious and of course she will be tuning into the show.

‘She’ll watch from a hotel suite that Coleen would be so envious of while she is slumming it on I’m A Celeb – and Rebekah will be showing everyone.’

Sources tell me that they expect Rebekah to post a ‘deluge’ of Instagram photos showing off her luxurious holiday, as Coleen endures the show’s infamous bushtucker trials.

‘It never ceases to amaze those around Becky that she has still got the appetite to wind Coleen up. And let’s face it, the best opportunity has come up, you can’t help thinking that Becky has currently had the last laugh here,’ an insider tells me.

‘Becky is on the outside, she can stick two fingers up at Coleen. Far from being horrified about losing the High Court case, she is once again cleverly finding a way to use Coleen’s appearance to her own gain. Becky hasn’t forgotten all of this and she never will.’

There have even been rumours circulating that the show’s bosses are secretly planning for Rebekah to join the I’m A Celeb line-up again this year as a late arrival. The Vardys’ trip has only added to the wild speculation, given that Dubai is halfway between Britain and Australia. But ITV chiefs have insisted they would not do anything to threaten Coleen’s appearance.

‘Nobody at ITV knows where those rumours have come from,’ a source at the broadcaster says. ‘ITV is firmly in Coleen’s camp. They love her and can’t believe their luck that she has agreed to take part, so there is no question of Becky joining in. Coleen would probably quit on the spot, which would be a nightmare for them. There is a suspicion that those rumours may have begun somewhere close to Becky.’ 

However, Rebekah’s reported glee at the prospect of Coleen’s suffering in the jungle may not last long. For ITV has just bought the rights to the Disney+ documentary Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story, a dramatised version of the libel trial told from Coleen’s perspective.

In April last year, Rebekah trademarked the phrase ‘Wagatha Christie’ to cover everything from broadcasting to beauty lotions and beverages, as well as stationery, jewellery and fashion.

One source close to Rebekah said: ‘Now it feels like ITV are just rubbing Becky’s nose in it. As well as Coleen being in the jungle where she is almost certainly going to talk about the whole episode, it will be available to watch at any time on the channel’s streaming platform and the bosses are expecting big viewing figures. It’s like ITV has gone all “Brand Rooney”.’

And though the Vardys are set for a few days of pampering at one of Dubai’s finest hotels (they usually stay at a £10,000-a-night resort on Jumeirah Beach) there are still some close to them who are appalled at Coleen’s decision to reopen the wounds by appearing on I’m A Celeb.

‘While Becky is tough as old boots there were lots of people on the periphery of scenario who had a terrible time,’ said one source close to the Vardys.

‘It took its toll of family members, friends and work colleagues - who are not jetting off to Dubai at this time - so hopefully Rebekah will remember that while she is smugly sipping on her holiday cocktails.’