FOOTBALL hardman Neil Ruddock played the hero in the first episode of I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

The former Swindon Town star, whose nickname is Razor, braved jungle nasties crawling over his face to earn extra food for his fellow campers.

He and a host of other minor celebrities, including pop star Peter Andre, disgraced aristocrat Lord Brockett, former BBC Royal correspondent Jennie Bond, and ex-athlete Diane Modahl, trekked through the Australian rain forest in the new series of the ITV reality show last evening.

The celebrities voted for Ruddock to undertake the first Bushtucker Trial and he chose model Jordan to accompany him on the challenge.

They both wore clear helmets, which were then slowly filled with creepy crawlies. After the test, Ruddock, 35, said: "That's the hardest thing I've done in my life."

He and Jordan held hands throughout the challenge, which saw them each get up close to five different varieties of insect.

Ruddock chose the glamour model because he thought that she was up to the trauma.

"She's got a bit bottle," he said.

The footballer was at Swindon Town from August 2001 to December 2002 but didn't play a single match under Andy King, who was reinstated as manager in December 2001.

The club ended up paying him a six-figure sum just before a tribunal in 2002 over unpaid wages.

But his cheeky personality, which helped him become an instant cult figure in Swindon also won him friends in the jungle.

He struck up banter with former Sex Pistol John Lydon, who is better known as Johnny Rotten, praising him by saying: "He's a clever man. There's a method to his madness."

I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here is broadcast on ITV at 9pm tonight and runs for a further 13 days.

Bhavani Vadde