Made In Chelsea star Hugo Taylor has rolled up his sleeves and taken on his first task in I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! with a bushtucker initiation ominously dubbed 'savage sewer'.
Before he even got to grips with his challenge, the nervous reality TV star admitted he was already "shaken up" after he found a spider on him. So when he had to crawl on his belly through muddy pipes filled with pythons, toads, mud crabs, rats – and spiders – it was a test of his nerves. Luckily, he held firm and managed to secure nine dinners out of a possible eleven for his hungry fellow campers. His triumphant trial had a lot to do with his positive attitude. When he was nominated, Hugo vowed to embrace the dirt and told former Coronation Street actress Helen Flanagan, who has faced seven trials, that he was "quite looking forward" to having a go. "I can tell it's going to be absolutely downright dirty filthy," he told her before getting harnessed up. "You've got to embrace the disgusting. That's going to be the way to go. I'm not a clean freak. I do like to be clean. What I said to myself is the filth washes off. It's not going to last forever."
His plucky approach impressed the contestants and presenters alike. Host Declan Donnelly told This Morning: "He did all right. He did quite well but he was having a bad morning in camp and he was honestly really very nervous. "It was a hideous trial he had to do - it was smelly and dirty and a lot of critters and rats and stuff involved so he did pretty well considering. They (the celebrities) will be happy, they'll have a bit of food." While Declan commended Hugo's effort, co-host Ant McPartlin couldn't help but slip in a joke, saying: "There were a few girlie screams."
The 'savage sewer' trial may well be the making of Hugo, who has endured some criticism from his fellow campers since the show began. The group were less than impressed with the reality TV star's boasts about his lavish lifestyle, and darts veteran Eric Bristow branded him a "daddy's boy". But with his luxury life far from his current surroundings, Hugo has to rely on camaraderie and team spirit to endear himself. He certainly scored points with Helen Flanagan who was given a short reprieve from having to perform the bushtucker trials. The curvy actress has had to do the lion's share of the work, and when Hugo heard he would be the one assuming the responsibility this time he said: "I'm happy for Helen because she gets a day off."