I'm A Celebrity 2011 kicks off
The 2011 series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here has launched with an action-packed show in which this year's 10 contestants received their first taste of jungle life. And it was business as usual for 2011's newcomers - who included TOWIE's Mark Wright, Corrie's Anthony Cotton, athlete Fatima Whitbread and Benidorm actress Crissy Rock - as they made the traditional arrival in camp via parachute. Mark in particular appeared terrified as he took to the air - but afterwards admitted "I feel like I've achieved something," while Anthony appeared almost hysterical following his landing in the jungle. Other celebrities, including The Real Hustle's Jessica-Jane Clement and jockey Willie Carson made their way to camp by boat. And there was a nasty surprise awaiting the new arrivals as they were divided into teams and went head to head to compete for a place in one of two camps. Both teams were dangled above a tank of fish guts as they competed in a trial which saw them sticking their heads into tanks of creepy crawlies and critters to retrieve stars. Freddie Starr fared well when faced with maggots, and Fatima appeared fearless when given a tank of eels, but Anthony Cotton was unimpressed by his tank of cockroaches, while Mark Wright was faced with scorpions. Eventually the yellow team - consisting of Anthony, Crissy, Mark, Freddie and Fatima - won the task, while the blue team - Jessica-Jane, Willie Carson, Stefanie Powers, Lorraine Chase and McFly's Dougie Poynter - had to face the fish guts. And as a result the yellow team won themselves a comfortable camp with proper bedding and decent food, while the blue team were faced with more basic living conditions and rations in their camp. Meanwhile the public had the chance to vote for the first bushtucker trial of the series - which will see Mark Wright and Freddie Starr go head to head in an eating challenge called The Greasy Spoon. Highlights from the trial will be screened on Monday evening's show.
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.