Ex-footballer Marsh evicted from celebrity jungle

Former England footballer Rodney Marsh became the latest contestant to be kicked off I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here.

Marsh was up against ex-Hollyoaks actress Gemma Atkinson in the final two after Ant and Dec announced who could be going home, but it was the one-time Fulham player who was given the boot.

The footballer-turned-pundit did not, however, appear too distraught to be the fifth person to be thrown off the ITV reality show.

After his eviction, presenters Ant and Dec asked him if he would have preferred to stay until the end, to which he replied: “I would rather chew on a broken lightbulb.”

Marsh also did not shy away from laying into former fellow contestant, PR guru Lynne Franks, saying: “I despise everything she stands for.”

He added: “I think it is fair to say that she irritated me.”

On the budding romance between former EastEnders actor Marc Bannerman and the Catatonia singer Cerys Matthews, the 63-year-old said they had made an instant connection.

“From the first second that they met, you could tell there was something between them,” he said. “Even at the greeting party they were outside having coffee together.

“They just seemed to get on fantastically, they just connected.”

Earlier in the camp, the romance was also still a hot topic of conversation following the letter from the ex-EastEnders actor to the singer, which was read out yesterday.

Matthews expressed concern that her parents would be “squirming” because of their flirting, but was reassured by Anna Ryder Richardson that she had done nothing wrong.

As Matthews shushed her, Ryder Richardson said: “This could be the biggest love story since Romeo and Juliet. He can come and rescue you like a knight.”

In a later tete-a-tete, the former Catatonia singer told her: “When I did this, I did not expect it to turn out the way it has.

“I did not think you could get so intense in such a short space of time, with anybody...”

She then added: “And he likes children.”

Even model Janice Dickinson’s heart seemed to have melted slightly.

She told the Bush Telegraph: “It happened right here before us – the start of something that could be really beautiful.”

Meanwhile, despite his phobia of creepie-crawlies, Christopher Biggins volunteered to do the Bushtucker Trial, which involved braving a lot of spiders in a confined space.

He squawked his way through the “Web Sight” challenge but still came away with the maximum number of seven stars, gaining him a rapturous reception back in camp.

The camp also had one temporary new addition in the form of Kahli the goat, who the celebrities had to milk in order to make a special “Bush Latte”, much to their amusement.

But they failed to win toast and butter from inside the Treasure Chest after wrongly estimating the amount of weight they had lost since they entered the jungle.

And that was not the last trial to endure – because Biggins and Ryder Richardson later had to spend the night in a rat-infested pit while the rest of the contestants tucked into a slap-up dinner to win a cooked breakfast for the whole camp.

After a lot of initial screaming, they both managed to fall asleep only for one particularly audacious rat to climb onto Biggin’s stomach without him noticing.

He eventually opened his eyes and fidgeted several times, but still appeared oblivious until he finally spotted the rodent on his belly and leapt around to shake it off.

The actor and director is now even more of a firm favourite to win the show, with odds shortened from 5/4 down to 11/10 odds on, according to bookmakers Ladbrokes.

Janice Dickinson and Jason Brown are both 4/1 to become “Queen of the Jungle” and Gemma Atkinson is 5/1 to take the crown.