I’m A Celebrity: New arrivals Russell Watson and Ruthie Henshall win 11 stars

They arrived at Gwrych Castle as latecomers during Wednesday’s episode much to the surprise of the original campmates.

And Russell Watson and Ruthie Henshall, both 53, will no doubt prove a hit among their fellow celebs as they managed to bag 11 out of 12 stars during their first trial.

The duo took part in the three part challenge, who were originally told they would all be taking part in the trial, but later discovered they were merely spectators.

Russell and Ruthie arrived on a horse and cart and were given jester’s costumers to entertain the celebrities who had arrived to watch the trial. 

Hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, both 45, explained that Ruthie and Russell would be vying for up to 12 stars to feed the camp their evening meal.  

The first part of the Trial was called Laughing Stocks and was worth 5 stars. 

Ruthie was in a stock and had to read the first part of a joke and Russell had to find the punchline hidden in a barrel using only his mouth – the barrel sadly also contained incorrect punchlines.

The klaxon sounded and Ruthie was immediately covered in rotten tomatoes as she read the first part of the joke – Russell ducked his head into a barrel of slime and found the punchline straight away. Everyone cheered as they got the first star. 

Over the next few rounds Ruthie was covered in over 225kg of rotten tomatoes and Russell had to find the joke punchlines in barrels of slime, maggots, rotten vegetables and fish guts.

Russell claimed he had chipped a tooth while diving into a barrel to receive the punchlines, while also getting a maggot stuck in his teeth at one point.

They got 4 out of 5 stars as they ran out of time on the 4th joke.

The Interval was called Eye Scream and worth 2 stars. Russell and Ruthie had to use their mouths to transfer 3 fish eyes from a large bowl into an ice cream tub and then crush a fish eye over the tub for the juice topping.

They did it successfully and everyone cheered.

The final act was called Critters in Ya Knickers and worth 5 stars.

Ruthie and Russell had to wear clear large trousers over their outfit which would be filled with crickets and cockroaches. Wearing head-phones they had to dance to iconic songs and their fellow campmates had to guess what the song was.

The songs were, Macarena, Single Ladies, Gangham Style, The Birdie Song and Proud Mary. All the celebrities guessed correctly winning 5 stars and having a dance along the way.

Ruthie was delighted at her and Russell’s inaugural performance at their Trial. 

Following their triumph, she said: ‘I’m absolutely thrilled we got 11 stars. That was a super duper throoper of a . . .’

Russell added: ‘I was just expecting one nasty thing but they kept coming and coming.’

Ruthie added: ‘I’m so excited to get into the castle and really look forward to saying hello to everyone and getting to know them.’

Meanwhile, in the Living Quarters, some of the original campmates were talking about the impending new arrivals. 

‘I’ve got mixed emotions at the moment. It moves the dimensions. It moves the dynamics about slightly. Vernon added: ‘I would be genuinely upset if this dynamic changes.’

Later Shane added: ‘There’s 10 of us now, we’ve been together four days. We know each other really well. We’re eating, sleeping, laughing, crying together and for another two people to come in you’re always frightened. It’s going to change the dynamics and we were kind of concerned about that.’

However, all was forgotten as Ruthie and Russell entered the camp. 

‘As soon as Russell and I walked in, the welcome was just. it was wonderful, it was fantastic’, said Ruthie.

The two new campmates received a hero’s welcome as Russell laughed ‘chipped tooth and a bang on the head’ referring to his over-zealous efforts in the Trial. 

‘I was banging my head in the pot and I clipped it on the side’ he said laughing as he hugged Vernon.’

Ruthie commented: ‘There are so many different people from different walks of life that it’s like a smorgasbord of fabulous people.’

The new campmates were provided with two hammocks to sleep in but Giovanna gave Ruthie her bed.

‘We didn’t want to give you a hammock on the first night. They’re not easy’ explained Jordan.

Victoria gave up her bed for Russell. ‘I honestly can’t believe how welcoming everyone was. It was really nice’ he said.

‘It’s like going back to school. I’ve been camping once. I lasted a day, then I skiddadled out of there ‘said Ruthie. 

The dumb waiter soon delivered the camp dinner and Ruthie and Russell both went over to collect it for everyone, Russell read a scroll out that revealed they’d be having Oxtail. Giovanna, Vernon and Victoria cooked it for camp.

The celebrities were all pleasantly surprised they enjoyed the Oxtail.

Shane decided to scare Jordan as he went to the toilet by throwing stones on the toilet roof as he was inside, he then jumped out at him. 

During the episode viewers couldn’t resist poking fun at this year’s crop of stars when they fawned over a prize of bread and butter, saying they were ‘acting like they’ve been starved for months’.

AJ Pritchard and Jessica Plummer emerged victorious in the Castle Coin Challenge and won fresh bread and butter from Kiosk Cledwyn.

When they returned to camp, the celebrities cheered and gathered around the bread to take turns sniffing it, with Beverley Callard proclaiming: ‘That was the best bread I’ve ever tasted.’ 

They had a choice of bread and butter or sweet popcorn and chose bread and butter as it would be more filling.

However, viewers quickly took to social media and said the celebrities were ‘losing their heads’ over bread, despite having only been away from the real world for a few days.

One fan wrote: ‘They’ve only been in there four days and they’re acting like they’ve forgotten what bread tastes like.’ 

Another said: ‘Have I missed something? 3 days in and they’re losing their heads over bread.’

One viewer added: ‘They’ve only been in there 3 days and they’re acting like they’ve been starved for months. Grow up.’

Another wrote: ‘Do you reckon that’s what Jesus was like at the Last Supper?’

During the challenge, AJ and Jessica entered a room which had a maze of wooden boxes blocking locked safes which contained castle coins. 

They had to move the boxes around to find the correct path to unlock the safes and get the castle coins.

AJ had a strategic plan to move the boxes around but it didn’t work so they had to start all over again.

The pair had difficulty opening the locks in the beginning with AJ saying: ‘It didn’t work and now we have to manouver all these boxes.

‘For us, not getting those coins was not an option,’ Jessica said, before the pair finally managed to get their hands on them. 

They successfully completed the challenge and went to visit Kiosk Cledwyn. 

Kiosk Cledwyn called the camp and Vernon Kay answered the phone, the question was what are the colours of the Welsh flag. 

They got the answer correct and Kiosk Cledwyn gave AJ and Jessica the bread and butter.  

Following Tuesday’s Trial stomach-churning ‘eating trial’, fans claimed she had an unfair advantage after being exempt from certain dishes due to her vegan diet.

And Beverley baffled viewers as the star tucked into bread and BUTTER – despite the latter being a dairy product.

The Corrie star cheered along with her campmates as AJ and Jessica revealed the snack which they had won, before she enjoyed a slice of the loaf.

Beverley enthused: ‘That is the best bread I’ve ever tasted’ after eating it as slowly as possible. 

Taking to Twitter, viewers asked how Beverley was able to eat any bread and butter, given that she claims to be vegan. 

‘A vegan who can’t eat animal parts during a challenge but can eat butter?’ asked one fan of the show, with another asking: ‘Why is Beverley Callard eating butter thought she was a vegan’.

‘How did Beverly eat butter and bread if she’s vegan like I need verification it was vegan! Can’t even do a proper eating challenge,’ wrote one viewer.  

‘Was bev the vegan callard just eating butter?’ asked someone else, while another quizzed: ‘Why is Beverley Callard eating butter thought she was a vegan?’ 

The social media platform was also awash with funny GIFs as fans of the show questioned the truth over the actresses vegan claim. 

‘Beverley when she’s caught eating bread & butter,’ tweeted one viewer’ while another joked: ‘Me investigating what Bev is eating to see if she’s REALLY vegan.’

‘The producers trying to figure out why bev is eating bread and butter when she’s meant to be vegan,’ wrote someone else.  

Elsewhere in the episode, Vernon Kay, 44, suffered another name drop after he revealed his favourite was Tom Hanks, 64, as he spoke to Giovanna Fletcher. 

Vernon reminisced about meeting the movie star twice, gushing that Tom signed a Forrest Gump DVD for him and even remembered him at their second encounter years later, calling him a ‘good guy’.

Chatting about his presenting career, Vernon explained the first meeting was when he worked on T4 and Tom was promoting 2004 film The Polar Express.

Vernon said: ‘He was amazing. He was just the nicest fella.

‘I interviewed him for The Polar Express but he was so nice and at the end I said I know this is really unprofessional, is there any chance you can sign this DVD cover of Forrest Gump for me. 

‘And he’s like “no problem”. So he signed it to Vernon, good luck with the new gig, Tom Hanks.’

Vernon then went on to explain that he met the Hollywood star again on a press trip on Eurostar for The Da Vinci Code, which was released in 2006

The I’m A Celeb contestant said: ‘I’ll never forget it, I can see it now, Tom Hanks saw me and he just turned to Ron Howard [the film’s director] and he went “oh this is Vern, he’s alright he is”. 

‘I’m like, he remembered my name. And he just turned around and said “Vern, oh he’s a good guy!”‘