Tara 'will win because she's posh'

Former It Girl Tara Palmer-Tomkinson has a natural advantage in the celebrity survivor show, her friend said today.

Vanity Fair journalist Kate Reardon told GMTV: "Tara has very few boundaries.

"She’s been uniquely prepared for the challenge amongst the group because she’s a posh girl.

"She went to boarding school and so knows exactly what it’s like to be dumped in a totally strange place with a bunch of strangers, all very different group of people.

"It’s nothing particularly weird for her."

And she said Tara would keep her dinner date with Rhona when she returned home.

"I think Tara will love Rhona. These sort of girls grow up surrounded by all sorts of people from all walks of life, nannies and housekeepers, all sorts, so Rhona is going to tickle Tara pink back in London."

And she said that Nell McAndrew was playing a part.

She said: "She’s much cleverer than she looks. It’s all part of a cunning plan.

"She’s only just put the bikini on now she knows the votes are really hotting up.

"She hasn’t said a word. Suddenly the bikini goes on now."

A friend of Nell’s, Francine Lewis, said she did not think Nell had any plan but was just being herself.

She said: "If it is a plan, it’s not the best plan because we all know the people who are the loudest, the most argumentative, are the most entertaining to watch.

"I don’t think it’s a cunning plan at all.

"Nell is a really natural, loving human who won’t get involved in a row or gossip about anybody.

"She’s not a show-off and doesn’t crave attention. She purely did it for the experience."

But the friend also said she did not think Nell would be Jungle Queen.

"I don’t think she’s going to win it. I put my money on Tara. She’s great, so entertaining," she said.

Britain’s bookmakers have braced themselves for the worst after a flurry of bets made former radio DJ Tony Blackburn joint favourite to win ITV1’s celebrity survivor show.

Blackburn, an outsider at the start of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!, was made 2-1 favourite alongside model Nell to claim the title tomorrow - raising pots of cash for charity in the process.

As the celebrity contestants on the jungle challenge waited to see who would be next to go after comedian Rhona Cameron became the fourth to be voted off by viewers, bookies across the country fear they may be "scalped" by the rush of bets.

Tara is 5-2 to win and Christine Hamilton, wife of disgraced former Conservative MP Neil Hamilton, 4-1.