I Am a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. Part One.

Personally, I would not do medical experiments, but I completely agree with those that do, what they do is a good thing, for they pave the way for others. I would not say they are brave, for they all get paid to take the various potions, lotions, and tablets. The money is attractive enough, and there will always be individuals who will volunteer to do the programme. I would not think a rich person would do it, but someone short of cash, whether that be £50 £100 or £1000. Now £1000 is a lot of money.

Before I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, became famous, I was actually in the experimental pilot scheme. It was held in Australia.

There were ten of us contestants, all from the UK, from different cultures and walks of life. In the questionnaire and form we had to list our strengths, weakness, and fears. I have many fears, including the fear of spiders. My husband Paul laughed when I told him, “I’m applying for it.”

When I told him, “We will all be paid £10,000 each,” His smiled soon disappeared. It would be for three months, and the winner would get, an extra £10,000. Did I think I had a chance of winning? Oh yes, did I think I could handle and eat a spider, heck NO!

It was a case of do or die, for we were in dire need, our debts had spiralled out of control, we had borrowed money from loan sharks, and their rates were high. They had got us out of a mess quickly, but we had gotten ourselves into something far worse. We could not see a way out; we were at the bottom. A close friend had said, “Declaire yourself bankrupt,” As tempting as that was, I did not want to.

Many people applied; I was overjoyed to be one of the candidates, for to be on the show, automatically meant I would have money. The airfare there and back was free. The longer I stayed in, the higher the money would be. I had as one of my secret mottos, “What doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger,” But I had added, “Nothing can kill me, this is MY Quest.” I knew it would not be easy, but I know in general, nothing is impossible! It would be a case of mind over matter.

No social media was allowed. My luxury items were, my diary and pen, Listerine mouthwash my favourite perfume on earth, Anais Anais. All our items on the day, in front of everyone, had to be approved by the organisers. Some had not read he strict rules and so some of their luxury items were not allowed.

We had to introduce ourselves, and give our names, age and where we are from in the UK. I naturally feel uncomfortable, around people who do not know me. I always, say to myself, when I meet new people, I am going to be quiet and keep myself to myself, but that never happens, once I get to know someone, I chat and laugh and chat and laugh! I love telling stories for my life, for I have had a long and varied life, and I love knowing about individuals and what makes them tick. People are fascinating. I love people watching.

We chose lots, to see where we would be sleeping the first night. I chose the longest straw and got the hammock, Lydia chose the shortest straw and got just ground. It was hot and I was already sweaty. The shower was outside, it looked like a makeshift thing, but it was better than nothing and the loo was private enough, a bucket behind handwoven bamboo. After we used it, we had to swill it out. Mercy!

Make no mistake, I knew I would struggle with the lack of hand washing, for I have OCD when it comes to that. Eating without washing my hands first, touching things and not washing my hands, it is always in the front, middle and the back of my mind, and I watch all those who do not bother to wash their hands too. I suppose the lack of washing my hands two hundred times a day, THAT was going to be my Biggest Challenge. But I am here solely for the money. What sort of chronic disease would I leave Australia with? I wondered. Would I be cured? I think not! Nor do I want to be. Sadly, hand sanitisers were not allowed, or I would have bought just that as my luxury item, to hell with the diary and perfume!

I did not want to give much away about me, so I told them, “I am friendly and easy to get on with, married with two children, and that one day I would like to publish my own book and see it as a number one bestseller.” At that point Lydia laughed. She suddenly stood out to me, as one to watch.

As I was hoping to be there the best part of three months, I had decided to only write seven lines a day in my diary, where at home I could easily write thirty. Right, there was going to be my second hardest challenge, for my motto for many years at work is, “If it is not written down, it does not exist.” I like attention to detail, but hopefully I would have enough written down, so that years later when I wrote my book, it would be enough in those seven meagre lines, to jog my memory of the day’s events. History is very important to me, and to go one single day without writing about a precious day, is utterly unthinkable to me. How people wonder through their lives, and not give an account of it? I just do not know how they can do that. It would deeply stress me out, if pen and paper was removed from me, or a means of typing it out, would border on torture, for me. It is one of the things about me, that I am glad is one of the characterises of me. It is one of the many idiosyncrasies of Maxine Jasmin-Green, and those who work with me, would definitely agree.

Even though it was extremely hot, that first night I slept like a log, excuse the pun.