Joan Collins says she was offered a “massive” sum of money to appear on I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here!

The veteran star, who says she will be having a family Christmas with her children and those of her late sister Jackie, said she turned down the big money offer because reality television is not her “cup of tea”.

Collins, 82, said she loves Strictly Come Dancing but would not want to appear on it, and, asked if she would consider I’m A Celebrity, she told the Press Association: “No. I was offered a massive amount of money about three years ago, and I kindly turned them down. It’s not my cup of tea.”

She added: “It’s just not me.”

The actress was at Selfridges in central London to sign copies of her latest book, The St Tropez Lonely Hearts Club, and she said of Strictly: “I love it. Well now there’s real glamour. Nothing could be more glamorous than Strictly.”

The actress with a copy of her new book The St Tropez Lonely Hearts Club at Selfridges in London last week. Photo: Lauren Hurley/PA Wire

The actress and author has dedicated the novel to her sister, who died of breast cancer in September at the age of 77.

She wrote: “For Jackie. I will never forget you.”

Collins did not want to talk about her sister’s death as she was about to greet fans at the department store.

Asked how she will be spending Christmas, she said: “We are going to LA for my sister’s memorial celebration which I don’t want to talk about.

“I have to be happy now, I’ve got to go and sign books. And then we’re coming back here and there’ll be my children, grand­children, Jackie’s children and grandchildren, my brother ... we’ll all be together.”

She said “a wonderful set of fluffy white towels” is at the top of her Christmas list.

The book, set in St Tropez where the actress has a villa, is a “page-turner” with “a little bit of sex and scandal”, she said. It is also a whodunnit with tongue-in-cheek humour, she added.

Asked about the glamour of her day-to-day life, she said: “I live quite a simple life really. I do travel a lot, but I know loads of people who travel a lot who aren’t particularly glamorous.

“We have an apartment in LA, and we have a flat here, and we have a villa in St Tropez. So we travel between those three places and we occasionally go somewhere for a holiday like Mexico.”