Wiltshire Times reporter David Giles is enjoying being back in the newsroom after surviving an outdoor adventure which saw him eating bugs, pigeons, rabbits and deer.

The journalist spent five days in the Devon wilderness with eight strangers and a team of instructors, getting ‘back-to-basics’ and building his own shelters and toilets.

The challenge was part of a fundraising survival event called I’m not a Celebrity and I Have to Stay There in aid of leukaemia charity the Anthony Nolan Trust, and David says he had “lots of fun”.

But, like many of the contestants in the similarly-titled TV show I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, David admits the lack of food was a problem, and he became a “bit of a grouch”.

He said: “As soon as we were given some food I perked up a bit.

“It is good to look back on, but at the time it was a bit rough!”

After being split into three groups, David and his team mates had to build their own shelter, using trees, logs and rhodedendrons to keep them all warm and dry.

Unfortunately for them, it did neither.

During the week they were also set a number of tasks, including eating a collection of crickets, locusts and mealworms.

David said: “The mealworms were still moving around – it was foul.”

They were also faced with mud-filled assault courses and orienteering and search and rescue challenges in the middle of the night.

David said: “When you haven’t eaten it isn’t much fun and I was never far from having a tantrum!

“But our spirits were lifted as soon as we had something to eat. I’ve had rabbit before and I thought it was disgusting, but this time because I was so hungry it tasted really nice!”

And his efforts were not in vain, as between them the nine volunteers raised £10,000 for the leukaemia charity.

David said: “It was good to do something like that for charity and I’d recommend it. But I couldn’t do it again!”