I’m a Celeb’s grimmest Bushtucker Trials – from crawling in fish guts to spider ordeal that sparked 1,500 complaints

I'M a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here has served up some truly stomach-turning Bushtucker Trials over the years – from horrific bug-based food challenges to being confined in coffins with creepy-crawlies.

And with the new series kicking off in less than two weeks, countless campmates from years past will be delighted to see Ant and Dec finally subjected to some of the grim tasks the Geordie duo usually stand and snigger at.

As a special celebration for the programme's twentieth year, viewers will get to watch Ant and Dec take on a Bushtucker Trial of their own.

The hilarious scenes were filmed in Australia last year ahead of the revamped series, which will take place in a Welsh castle because of Covid restrictions.

But the presenters' three-part challenge will finally air this Sunday – featuring snakes, spiders and cockroaches.

Ahead of their first ever Bushtucker Trial, here's a look back on some of the grimmest ever to take place in the jungle – including one deemed so cruel that thousands of viewers complained.

Buried alive in rat-infested coffin

Being buried alive is usually pretty high on most people's lists of worst fears.

But for ex-BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond, the nightmare was taken to a whole new level in 2004.

Bond, 70, lay in a pitch-black coffin which slowly filled with water – and rats.

Like her superspy namesake, she showed incredible mettle to get through the challenge without losing her cool.

And her grit proved a hit with the British public, who voted for her to finish second only to Kerry Ketona in the series.

'Chewing bum' nightmare

Bond appeared alongside Katie Price in the jungle – but it was during Price's second stint on the show in 2009 that her unbearably grim trial took place.

The model, along with cleaning guru Kim Woodburn, had to choke down kangeroo anus in a task called "Vile Vending".

"What did I do to deserve eating a***?" Price complained.

The gross food was even termed "chewing bum" in the horrendous challenge.

Protein levels in a kangeroo anus are supposedly equivalent to the amount found in a chicken breast – but that probably doesn't make the gruesome dish any more appetising.

Cockroaches flushed out of nose

Arguably even worse than having disgusting food in your mouth is having a living cockroach crawl up your nose.

But that's exactly what happened to Olympian Fatima Whitbread when she braved the Fill Your Face trial in 2011.

Competing against radio DJ Pat Sharp, Whitbread put on a perspex helmet which was filled with around 7,500 cockroaches.

One of the critters crawled up her nose before the trial stopped, with the show's medic, Bob, rushing in with a syringe of water to flush it out.

Whitbread went on to win the trial – and even kept the cockroach in a bottle to show her campmates.

Eating a spider... while it's still alive

One trial was so disgusting that it triggered a wave of outraged public complaints.

In 2015, Towie star Ferne McCann was made to eat a live water spider, with its legs visibly sticking out her mouth as she munched on the massive arachnid.

“It smelled of cockroach, tasted dirty, the body was mushy and gunky and the legs were spiky and crunchy,” Ferne said of the sickening experience.

Over 1,500 complaints were made to Ofcom about the appalling task, which some viewers called animal cruelty.

But the telly watchdog cleared ITV of any wrongdoing in the stunt.

Glugging down a glass of deer blood

Superbike champ Carl Fogarty was also left with an unpleasant taste in his mouth when he necked a goblet of deer blood on the show.

Foggy, who went on to win the 2014 series, said the gory drink "tastes like quavers".

But despite having to guzzle the grim brew, Foggy described his time on the programme as a dream.

"It’s not real, someone’s playing a joke on me," he told Ant and Dec after he was crowned King of the Jungle.

“It’s not sinking in at all. Back on top after 15 years, it feels great.

“This is the best thing that ever happened to me."

Absolutely offal

Emmerdale star Lucy Pargeter had to show some serious guts when she took part in the Rotting Limo Scream trial.

Pargeter was showered with cockroaches as she scoured a stretch limousine for stars before being made to crawl through fish guts.

"Automatically you think, 'Oh shoot, what have I done wrong? Are people trying to punish me for something?'," Pargeter said of her nomination to take part in the grisly trial.

"You don't think they're voting for any other reason so your brain starts going a bit and you think, 'What have I done? Who have I offended?'"

Faint of heart

No one has grasped the horror of Bushtucker Trials more acutely than Gillian McKeith in 2010.

The Scottish TV nutritionist firstly refused to attempt a challenge, declining to operate the Dreaded Digger while having ants and cockroaches dropped on her head.

Then in an even more dramatic twist, she famously fainted live on television when she was told she'd been selected to do the Unfairground trial.

Medics rushed to her aid as producers cut to an ad break – but not everyone was convinced her collapse was real.

“If that was real, so are my teeth," Happy Mondays campmate Shaun Ryder joked. "We get 12 meals and Gillian gets an Academy Award.”

TV presenter Alison Hammond, who was also in the jungle for the tenth series, also saw the funny side.

"I’m not an uncaring person, but it was hard not to giggle when Gillian fainted,"; she said.

Olympic sprinter Linford Christie ended up doing the trial in McKeith's place.