Name: Esther Rantzen CBE
Age: 68
Occupation: TV Presenter and charity campaigner
Celebrity supporters: Anton du Beke, Vanessa Feltz, Simon Cowell, Bonnie Langford, Tom Conti, Lynsey de Paul, Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Phobias: Heights, snakes, spiders, cold water, fairground rides and the loo.
Special Skills: Getting on with people.
TV presenter Esther Rantzen says she’s excited about entering the jungle for a new challenge - but is worried it might end her career.
Esther has revealed that her family were ‘astonished and horrified’ when she told them she was going into the jungle - but she has decided to go anyway to push herself and live life to the full.
She has also revealed that she would love to meet George Clooney in the jungle but is worried about what she will look like with no make-up and in flat shoes.
She says: "Wouldn’t it be lovely if George Clooney was there? But very dangerous for him. Gosh, I think he’d be torn limb from limb by all the ladies present."
Among her fears are heights, water, snakes and spiders - but the thing she’s worried about most of all is the state of the communal loo.
She says: "My children, who are used to me being barmy, now think I’m barmier than ever. At first they were appalled, astonished and they thought I was kidding- but they are wonderfully supportive, as they always are.
"I have to face the worst, the result might be abject humiliation, the end of a career - I might be provoking a terrible response from those near and dear to me, who will never again be able to look me in the eyes because they’ll so want to say I told you so.
Esther says that the physical things she will miss most are her luxuries. She is worried about what she will look like without make-up and said she has had to practise wearing flat shoes.
She said: "I’m trying to get used to walking in flat shoes. I bought a pair and I’m practising walking in them a little further every day - ten metres, twenty metres."