I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here star and Queen of the Jungle Carol Thatcher feasted on creepy crawlies and kangaroo testicles as part of the ITV show’s bushtucker trials. Inspired by her performance, Bucks Free Press reporter Paul Leat took up a challenge to eat bugs in a copycat contest…

There was a sharp intake of breath from onlookers as I picked up a large, mean-looking black caterpillar.

“He is going to try it”, I heard someone whisper behind me.

Bristling with confidence, I defiantly popped the bug into my mouth and waited for my tastebuds to take over.

Oh how I wish they hadn’t.

When the news desk asked for a volunteer to give the bugs a try, I jumped at the chance to try some foreign delicacies.

It was only when I came face to face with three bowls of dried insects that I began to regret my hastiness.

Staff at First Choice in High Wycombe had reliably told me that the cheesy mill worms were the least repulsive of the three bugs, so, wishing I hadn’t skipped breakfast, I took the plunge.

The two inch dried worm was a pleasant surprise, and my first thought as I slowly chewed the creature was of a cheese puff crisp.

On I’m a Celebrity … the celebs are always grimacing as they take up the bushtucker trials, but I was finding the whole experience rather pleasant.

With the first of my three challenges over, I was beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about.

But I knew I’d spoken too soon when faced with the meanest of them all the caterpillar. The crawler had a taste that reminded me of fish glue, and the texture of brittle wood.

As I gagged, I realised tiny bits of the creature were stuck in my teeth, increasing my misery.

I took one look at the green Thai curry cricket, with legs and everything, and knew the bushtucker had beaten me. Off I trudged, despondent in the knowledge that my reputation lay in tatters.

Perhaps jungle life isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.