I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here - TV review

But ITV is pinning its hopes on this quartet and more to turn around a disappointing autumn which has seen its one time ratings juggernaut The X-Factor suffer a high-speed blowout and pulled onto the hard-shoulder while BBC reality rival Strictly Come Dancing sped past to take pole position.

So the pressure is on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here (or IACGMOOH to its fans) to deliver the goods – and if the producers have selected their jungle buddies wisely, it has a real chance of stealing a march on Simon Cowell's songfest.

Usually a bit of an also-ran in ratings terms, IACGMOOH is still capable of gripping 10 million or so punters a night, and on the basis of yesterday's opening instalment, there's a good chance that this year's series will prove a hit.

Of course the pre-arrival furore over the inclusion of serving Tory MP Nadine Dorries - who signed up without telling her party bosses and has since been suspended – will help and probably entice a few people who "don't watch this sort of thing" to tune in to see how she does.

And given that she normally spends her time in the House of Commons, the three weeks surrounded by slimy, poisonous creatures will probably seem like business as usual. She'll find out for certain when she takes place in the Bug Burial bushtucker trial today.

She is joined in her travails by Sixth Doctor Colin Baker, comedian and TV presenter Brian Conley, Birds of a Feather star Linda Robson, heavyweight boxer David Haye, Eastender Charlie Brooks, darts legend Eric Bristow, former Pussycat Doll Ashley Roberts, Made in Chelsea "star" Hugo Taylor (who? I hear you cry), and ex-Corrie temptress Helen Flanagan (the bookies' favourite – probably because she will look best in a bikini when she takes to the jungle shower).

In truth, their skill set suggests they wouldn't be the sort of people you'd want to be stuck with if your plane had gone down in the rainforest, but fortunately the tasks the 10 will be asked to carry out are not the difference between life and death.

Instead, following the tried and tested formula, their first task saw the celebs – split into two teams – track down a helicopter that would whisk one of the groups to one final night of luxury.

The other faced an additional night as a guest of nature on the jungle floor – and it turned out that Colin Baker's excess weight (well he did come on the show to lose a few pounds) proved the difference, slowing down his team and leaving them up Croc Creek without a paddle.

Later, the Hayemaker – a former WBA heavyweight champion – faced off against featherweight Taylor in a horrendously mismatched Bushtucker Trial. Meanwhile Ant and Dec, back on safer ground after the disaster area that was Red and Black, crowed gleefully from their studio high in the jungle canopy.

Credit to ITV, the celebs in the jungle may not be the biggest names in showbusiness, but they are 100 times more famous than many who end up in the Celebrity Big Brother house (though I challenge anyone to argue successfully that someone who appeared on another reality show can seriously be considered a celebrity) – and depending on how they bond over the next few days, it could be ratings gold.

The early signs are promising. Unlike many other reality shows, IACGMOOH is likeable, good natured and always entertaining – witness the refrains of Titanic playing as Baker and Bristow's canoe submerged gracelessly below the waves.

And with Haye declaring that he normally deals "with confrontation with a right hook to the chin" and the prospect of a darts legend trying to make smalltalk with a Pussycat Doll, 2012's series is shaping up to be a classic.

Helen Brown