Highland News
9 February, 2010
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By Helen Bushnell
Published:  19 November, 2009

Justin Ryan

A CELEB who hails from the Highlands has swapped swanky home interiors for the creepy-crawly infested jungle after becoming one of this year's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! contestants.

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And Fort William's Justin Ryan, one half of Colin and Justin, the TV duo famous for designing stunning interiors, is already proving a high profile contender in the Australian jungle after twice escaping the show's terrifying bushtucker trials.

Viewers vote on who they most want to see take part in challenges involving everything from eating bugs to doing death-defying stunts. Monday night's instalment saw him go up against glamour girl Jordan for one entitled Deathly Burrows.

However, it was Jordan, otherwise known as Katie Price, who gained the most votes. And following Sunday's opening show presented by Ant and Dec, he and TV cleaning queen Kim Woodburn landed in the bottom two for the first challenge, but again he escaped a trial called Dreaded Descent that involved climbing into a glass cockroach-filled coffin submerged in water.

Justin entered the jungle along with long-term partner Colin McAllister, whom he married last year in a civil partnership ceremony in London, after 22 years together.

The pair have presented a host of property shows, including Million Pound Property Experiment, How Not To Decorate and Trading Up.

Ahead of his trip Down Under, Justin told ITV he and Colin were looking forward to their jungle adventure.

Others taking part in the hit series include former Eastenders actress Lucy Benjamin, and singer and model Sam Fox.

He said: "We're going to do everything in our power to make ourselves and our jungle campmates as comfortable as possible.

"We are going to split the designer atom to make sure that this is a fun experience for everybody."

And he said he would find it strange if Colin was voted out of the camp before him.

He added: "I firmly believe we will cope. It will be unusual because we haven't spent time apart before. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, perhaps?"

Justin, who was born in Fort William and lived there until he was 18, has featured in the Highland News Group newspapers in recent months. In May, he gave his home town a high profile slagging after a tourist guide branded it as having an "ugly bypass" and "depressing shops".

He told the Lochaber News he loved Fort William and hoped eventually to buy a house there. But while he said it should be the "jewel in the crown of God's own landscape, it had instead been "killed" because it's heart - the High Street - had been ripped out by a "herd of town planning lions".

h.bushnell@highland-news.co.uk



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