Celebrities start jungle ordeal

Ant and Dec return as the show's hosts

Bush tucker trials and other ordeals await 10 showbiz personalities with the start of the latest series of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!

Tennis star Martina Navratilova, singer Simon Webbe and TV host Esther Rantzen are among the stars vying to be crowned queen or king of the Australian jungle.

TV duo Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly return to front the show, which has been running on ITV1 since 2002.

Christopher Biggins became the show's seventh winner last year.

His victorious predecessors include DJ Tony Blackburn, cricketer Phil Tufnell and former Atomic Kitten member Kerry Katona.

MEP Robert Kilroy-Silk, former EastEnders star Joe Swash and one-time London mayoral candidate Brian Paddick also form part of this year's eclectic line-up.

Models Nicola McLean and Carly Zucker will also compete, alongside presenter Dani Behr and Star Trek actor George Takei.

'Quirky winners'

The contestants have already been getting to know each to each other, with Swash, 26, asking Navratilova, 52, about her home country, the Czech Republic.

I'M A CELEBRITY... ODDS Joe Swash - 4/1 Simon Webbe - 5/1 George Takei - 6/1 Martina Navratilova - 6/1 Esther Rantzen - 7/1 Carly Zucker - 10/1 Dani Behr - 10/1 Brian Paddick - 14/1 Nicola McLean - 16/1 Robert Kilroy-Silk - 16/1 Source: Ladbrokes

"Is that near Prague?," he asked, before she pointed out that it was the country's capital.

Bookmakers have made Swash the 4/1 favourite to win the series, but Ladbrokes spokesman Robin Hutchison said his firm had taken more bets on Navratilova.

"We've taken more bets on Martina than anyone else and have already had to cut her price," he said.

"Given the quirky winners in the past she may just have what it takes to upset the odds."

The show's executive producer, Richard Cowles, has promised "bundles of surprises and some of the most gruelling bush tucker trials ever seen".

Already, the celebrities have been divided into two teams and told to nominate members for a "trauma tank" challenge, with contestants having to collect small stars guarded by rats, eels and scorpions.

Singer Webbe, 30, will compete in the tank against actor Takei, 71.

The series begins at 2100 GMT on ITV1 with a follow-up programme on digital channel ITV2 at 2230 GMT.