May 8, 2003: Toyah's Trial - Not your bog standard affair!

Toyah's long-awaited (well, a wee bit over a week anyway) chance to shine in her "Bush Tucker Trial" was shown on ITV1 in the UK last night, and what a bloomin' BTT it was.

Described as the "most disgusting Bush Tucker Trial of them all" it certainly wasn't for the faint hearted, and must have been hell for "hygiene-freak" Toyah. However she went for it with her usual gusto and once again proved herself to be the toughie we all already know she is.

Toyah was told, via the camp tannoy system, to put her hair up and change into her swimming costume, uh-oh - alarm bells should start to ring at this point, though Toyah didn't seem particularly perturbed by this.

Wayne Sleep and Antony Worrall Thompson accompanied TW to the bridge and both gave her a big hug and lots of good luck wishes. Toyah said she felt like she was being initiated and actually part of it now. Wayne chortled: "Give us a sexy walk over the bridge." Toyah replied: "Don't hold your breath," to which Wayne responded: "Okay, a macho one then"! And suddenly she was off across the scarily narrow and very, very high specially constructed bridge.

"I'm gonna make the most of this," Toyah said, "I am nervous because they come back with horror stories. I'm expecting some pretty gross things. I don't think I'm going to get off easy."

Toyah reached Ant and Dec, the show's main presenters, who were sitting at a table of tea and scones. "Welcome to our little tea-room," quipped Dec. "I've never known a tea-room smell of shit," replied Toyah!

"I don't like the look of this. Everything smells really bad." Ant and Dec went on to explain what was expected of Toyah, and the rules of the BTT. She had three minutes to search a man-made bog and find eight green stars, each gave the junglists a meal for that evening. Each star had to be attached to a branch beside the bog and all the while Toyah had to clutch a teaspoon!! If she lost the teaspoon she could trade a star for a replacement.

They then asked her if she wanted to go ahead, and Toyah uttered the sentence that will surely follow her everywhere for the enxt couple of years: "I'm doing it. I've been in showbiz for 25 years, I'm used to grovelling in shit!" Toyah was then told that the "swamp was not toxic, but if you swallow it, you will vomit on the spot."

And then, without hesitation, Toyah wearing special goggles was in the bog! It has to be said it did look absolutely disgusting, Ant and Dec even wore masks.

Toyah hollered: "It's like vegetation, death, rot, decay! It's Texas Chainsaw Massacre! It's hell!!"

She managed to find five of the stars before emerging from the hell hole. Dec said: "That was incredible," and Ant asked if she would like to trade a star for a scone, "Up yours!" replied Toyah. "I would like a colonic irrigation now, please!"

Before getting back onto the bridge to travel back to camp, Toyah said to the cameraman, "try to avoid my arse!" And of course, he didn't.

Back at camp Toyah told the others, "They put me in a pool of fermented shit," before sending them all scurrying due to the smelliness of her.

Well done to Toyah - more balls than the rest of 'em combined.

NB: It was revealed on This Morning that the bog consisted of; blood, bone, "ultra-slime", as used in the Alien movies, fly eggs, and was also pumped full of air, sulphur and garlic.

May 8, 2003: ITV2 Text Messages - Support for Toyah

Talented Toyah to take top.....Toyah to win, what a lovely lady.....I want toyah willcox to win, she is fab.....Well done to all the gang.....TOYAH TOYAH TOYAH to win.....TOYAH TO WIN, She is all that my old man said.....Toyah is such a sweetheart.....I'm glad Toyah has changed her hair.....Toyah in a mystery.....I love Toyah.....Phil or Toyah 2 win.....Toyah, Wayne or Linda t owin.....Ur all great, come on guys.....go toyah you can do it, you can be queen.....Toyah 2 win.....TOYAHS GREAT.....TOYAH TO WIN.....Go Tuffers and Toyah.....Toyah's starting to shine.....Tuffers and Toyah for final 2.....Toyah your a mystery to me.....Phil and Toyah King and Queen.....Toyah my fave.....Go toyah your the best.....love to linda and toyah.....Toyah is the goddess of the jungle, go girl go.....fash, phil and toyah are great....toy 2 win..........linda or toyah to
win.....TOYAH SHOULD WIN, SHE'S SO SEXY.....I want Toyah to win.....Toyah to win, she's great
GO GIRL!.....linda and toyah are laughs.....long live toyah.....I WOULD LIKE TOYAH TO WIN, WHY COS ITS A MYSTERY.....

May 8, 2003: Toyah's camp life - getting better every day!

Chris Bisson last night became the third person, and second evictee, to leave the I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! camp.

Toyah gave him a big hug and later said in the Bush Telegraph: "Chris is so cute, you just want to look after him."

Later yesterday Toyah was heard saying to Catalina: "I miss Chris. He was like my son, a sunshine boy!"

After a slow start Toyah has now blossomed in the camp. From the beginning of the series she has worked hard, seldom sitting down for more than a few minutes at a time. Even now, she is still a grafter but after completing two Treasure Hunts and her horrendous Bush Tucker Trial yesterday, she is more talkative, and at last ITV1 are actually focusing some of their edited highlights on her.

Yesterday the group took part in a Q&A session, responding to topics including 'Best thing to happen in your career', 'Worst thing that has happened to you' etc. Toyah said that one of the best things that has happened to her is being able to look after her parents, financially and physically, in their old-age, the worst, she didn't want to mention so jokingly said it was being onstage, sewn into her outfit and "having the squits"! She also said that not being able to speak to Robert "once or even five times a day, like we usually do" was unbearable.

Last night's "vote for me" plea, which all remaining campers must make, from TW went: "If you would choose to keep me in the camp I'm really up for these challenges. I kind of enjoy doing anything that's out of the normal, and I think I'm going to get louder and louder because I don't care if I go. I feel I've done what I had to do and now it's time to have fun."

Bravo, madam Toyah!

May 8, 2003: 'I'm A Celebrity' Toyah-related newsybits & pieces - Issue 12

• Sian Lloyd, in the 'North Wales Daily Post': "I've made great new friends and my social diary is amazing. Phil has offered to take us all to Lords. Anthony is taking us all to his restaurant. Toyah has offered us all seats at her first night for Calamity Jane and Wayne has a night in New York he wants us to go to."

• Sian Lloyd on Toyah: "She was very energetic and determined."

• Danniella Westbrook on Toyah: "I'm pleased I met Toyah. She is diddy and full of energy."

• Darren Day ('The Sun' - Wednesday 7th May): "I think Wayne will become closer to Toyah. They have a lot in common."

• 'The Guardian' (Thursday 8th May): Some partners are celebs in their own right. Toyah's partner Robert Fripp is said to have influenced Tony Blair's musical tastes. Fripp hugely impressed Sian by waiting in the foyer to applaud in moral support when she returned to the hotel after her eviction on Monday. 

• Weirdest rumour doing the rounds at the moment: Apparently Phil Tufnell used to be a big Toyah fan!! - If true, how funny is that?

• Chriss Bisson, after being evicted from the jungle camp last night: "Phil or Toyah will win."

• Toyah has rocketed back up This Morning's phone poll vote today. This Morning presenters on Toyah's BTT: Fern Britten: "When she was in that swimming costume she looked wonderful."; Phillip Schofield: "I thought her bum looked great."; Christine Hamilton: "She looked wonderful, great."; Tony Blackburn (current 'King Of The Jungle'): "I couldn't help noticing how good she looked."

May 8, 2003: 'Daily Record' - TOYAH STARTS TO BLOSSOM

TOYAH STARTS TO BLOSSOM AS THE JUNGLE MATES REVEAL ALL AT CONFESSION- TIME

Toyah changed her hairstyle - and her personality appeared.

With her tresses in pigtails, she looked like a runaway from La-La land. But with her locks bunched on her crown, she was suddenly able to relax.

What was instantly obvious was how much she missed her other half, musician Robert Fripp, and how proud she was of him. Chatting to Fash about her chum David Bowie, Toyah explained that he was the guitarist on Bowie's best albums, Heroes and Scary Monsters.

Fash was suitably impressed: "He's big time then, your old man?" "My husband," said Toyah firmly, "is very big."

The show's producers had a brainwave when they invited viewers to text comments to a premium rate number. Most texts, screened on ITV2, show their support for their favourite camper.

Phil Tufnell is in front, winning constant praise for his laid-back wit. Antony Worrall Thompson is close to Phil's phenomenal levels of support. As the rain eased, the atmosphere became cosier, as they revealed the best and worst moments of their lives.

Antony had no doubts about his highest point: "Meeting my current wife, my only wife, at the moment. I wouldn't call myself a nice person up to that time. She saved me from being Mr Angry." Linda went into raptures about meeting her husband too: "I opened the door and we both went woooh! I moved in with him the next week."

Phil spluttered: "Hasty!" Then he added: "Best thing about my life was actually being born and having a mum and dad who are top drawer." Catalina told her life story but the dates made her seem 26 years old. Even she looked red- faced and admitted, "I've got my numbers mixed up here."

Toyah's worst moment stunned them when she confessed to getting diarrhoea on stage.

Wayne was a little miffed to hear Antony declare Phil "a banker", a dead cert to win the game. The diminutive ballet star dropped back into his catty theatre ways: "You're right, he's desperate to win."

Wozza and Fash looked horrified. They weren't trying to knife Phil in the back - they genuinely believe he's a natural winner and they wish him luck. Phil is turning into Sid James, the Carry On star with the dirty laugh. When Catalina and Linda staged a sit-in, Tuffers accused them of being "naughty girls ... and you know what happens to naughty girls, doncha".

It was Chris, almost anonymous for nine days, who was evicted from camp. The shock on his face was probably enough to make millions regret they hadn't dialled for him.

May 8, 2003: Toyah in the Bog - various reports

CBBC - Retch!
Earlier, there had been drama in the camp when two of the five meals Toyah won in her stinking Bushtucker Trial were taken away from them. 

They were told they were being punished for Cat and Linda's protest for sweets on the walkway leading out of the camp. 

Toyah was cheesed off because she had had to wade around a ponging bog of stinking stuff which had been left to rot for a week! 

She was told by the safety man before the trial: "It's not toxic, but if you swallow it, you will vomit on the spot". 

Euurrgghhh! 

Ananova - Toyah completes Bushtucker Trial 

Toyah has faced her Bushtucker Trial in I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here - a bubbling bog of stinking mud.

Toyah had to forage around in the bog, the contents of which had been fermenting for a week, to find the eight stars, each representing a meal for the group.

The safety supervisor told the nervous star the swamp was not toxic, but added: "If you swallow it, you will vomit on the spot."

In the swamp, Toyah cried: "It's like vegetation, death, rot and decay. It's like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It's hell."

After fishing out five stars, she was offered the chance to swap one of them for some tea and scones but, thinking of the others hungry back in camp, managed to resist, replying simply: "Up yours."

Elsewhere in the camp, mosquitos were proving an irritation to Wayne Sleep and Phil Tufnell. Wayne got some relief when Toyah dabbed cream on a bite - on his bottom. There was also talk of Toyah's threats to streak naked through camp. Phil, Antony and former footballer John Fashanu all agreed it was not a sight they wanted to witness.

"I mean she's not exactly Britt Eckland is she?" commented Fash.

ITV Teletext
Earlier in the day 80s singing star Toyah had to perform the most disgusting bush tucker trial of them all.

Toyah, 44, had to jump in to a bog full of fermented waste to retrieve golden stars.

"I've been in showbiz for 25 years I'm used to grovelling in ****," joked Toyah before jumping in waist-deep. After the trial she said: "It was the grossest thing I have ever experienced."

Reuters
Every day, one of the group is chosen by the public to complete a "bush tucker trial" to win a proper meal for the contestants rather than meagre survival rations. 

In Wednesday's trial, singer and actress Toyah Willcox had to forage in a bog of stinking mud in search of little plastic stars, each representing a meal. The show's safety supervisor told the celeb the contents of the swamp were not toxic, but said: "If you swallow it, you will vomit on the spot." 

She held her nerve to collect five stars for the hungry celebs.

May 8, 2003: 'Ananova' - Hungry celebrities have even less to eat after sit-in 

Hungry contestants in I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here have been left with even less food after staging a sit-in.

TV designer Linda Barker and model Catalina marched out of camp and refused to move from a walkway, demanding edible treats for the group.

But rather than increasing their food stocks, the rebellious pair were punished by TV bosses who took away two of the meals earned by singer Toyah Willcox, who was forced to grovel through a stinking quagmire.

Back at base, the pair revealed their break-out attempt to a less than impressed camp. Chef Antony Worral-Thompson, who earlier in the week also confronted programme-makers in an attempt to get cigarettes, said: "You didn't stand your ground long enough. There was a little bit of rain and you thought 'We'll have to come back'."

He later revealed he was planning to use the walkway as his escape route, which the would-be fugitives had now ruined. Cat remained unremorseful, saying of the escape bid: "It's amazing how much attention two people can get.

"The whole world revolved around us for a moment. I felt cared about and special."

May 8, 2003: 'Worcester Evening News' - Toyah keeps her nose clean

Tidy Toyah Willcox continues to keep a low profile as we go into the ninth day of ITV1's I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! in the Australian jungle. 

The diminutive 80s pop singer seems intent on distracting herself from the shenanigans of the other celebrities by constantly tidying and organising around the makeshift camp that has been home to 10 very different celebrities for the past eight days. 

Toyah, aged 44, who owns a home in Pershore, even told viewers they should vote for her to stay on the show because without her the place would fall to pieces. 

But all the antics of the crazy crew were eclipsed last night by the dramatic departure of EastEnders star Danniella Westbrook, who stormed out in tears after struggling to survive what she called "a world of hurt". 

Cocaine 

Danni candidly admitted to her co-celebs and millions of ITV1 viewers that the endurance test was threatening to lure her back to her much-publicised cocaine addiction. 

In traditional fly-on-the-wall TV style, Danni dished the dirt on her fellow contestants as soon as she could, calling Catalina Guirado a "two-faced bitch" and Antony Worrall Thompson "bossy". 

But she did not have a bad word to say about Toyah, who seems to have found a niche for herself among her fellow contestants vying to be crowned King or Queen of the Jungle. 

She said she was very glad to have met the "energetic and determined" Calamity Jane star, who she called "diddy". 

So far, only weather girl Sian Lloyd has been kicked off the show, with viewers left hanging on to find out tonight if Catalina or John Fashanu will be next to go. 

May 8, 2003: 'Worcester Evening News' - Toyah stays in jungle

Viewers of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! saw Pershore pop princess Toyah Willcox escape eviction from the jungle last night. 

Instead, weathergirl Sian Lloyd was the first celebrity to be voted out of the show. 

The nation waited with bated breath when the words "It might be you" were directed at Sian and Catalina Guirado, leaving Toyah in the clear. 

But is was Sian who polled the most votes to leave, despite homesick Danniella Westbrook begging for the public to vote her out. Things will be hotting up in the Australian outback tonight when viewers will find out the next celebrity to be given the boot. 

Live reports early today showed that Danniella was no-where to be seen in the camp, prompting speculation that she may have walked out. 

The latest odds showed that Toyah was at 10-1 to win, with Linda Barker the favourite at 3-1. 

May 7, 2003: Toyah/I'm A Celebrity in 'Heat' magazine

Toyah is pictured twice in this week's 'Heat' magazine, in their coverage of the I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! first week goings on, and the final show listing for Monday 12th May.

'Heat' have cleverly added Toyah and Catalina to the original cast picture, surely something the producers of the show should have done when it was announced they would be joining the programme? Catalina, Danniella, and Phil are also the magazine's main cover stars.

Their mad first week! - Tears, bitching, flirting, painful decisions and near-death experiences - and they'd only been there a few days...

Today's picks: Eye of the tiger time: the grand final. Two modern-day gladiators warily circling the celebrity arena like hungry snow-leopards, waiting to fall on each oher in a snarling mass of tooth and bone at the first sign of weakness....

'Heat' also say in their Saturday: Pick of the day - Has Phil kept up that Tommy Cooperish charm long enough to stay in the contest? We hope so. But then for all we know he's been eaten by a bat. Is Toyah still in the running, or has she been throttled in her sleep by a mosquito-maddened Linda, high on funny coconut juice?

May 7, 2003: Toyah does her 'Treasure Chest' hunt

Toyah finally did her "Treasure Chest" hunt yesterday.

She and Catalina went in search of the box holding that afternoon's "treat". Unfortunately, as mentioned briefly yesterday, Catalina came over all giddy and subsequently left all the lifting to little Toyah!!

Toyah, being the absolute trooper she is, valiantly saved the day by carrying the chest back to camp while also ensuring the dizzy Catalina, who staggered behind her like a drunk puppy, was okay.

Back at camp the team gathered to answer the key question: Do British women fancy Sean Connery or George Clooney? 

They plumped for Sean Connery and won a box of eggs, which kept eight rumbling stomachs quiet for an hour or so!

May 7, 2003: Vote for Coxy!

With Sian and Danniella now gone, the camp seems slightly more spacious. The jungle mates now have to spell-out why they want to stay, with Toyah saying she thought the camp would miss her organisational skills. It would certainly be a far less tidier living space without, constantly on the go, La Willcox!

The last day or so has been spent getting to know each other and hours drifted away as the campers chatted about anything and everything.

Toyah has been kept especially busy fielding questions about her career and the music industry from John Fashanu, and she traded anecdotes about David Bowie, Bono and a host of others.

Toyah also has a new nickname, Chris Bisson, who seems like a really nice, genuine bloke, has christened her "Coxy"!! So, vote for Coxy! - 090 111 543 09. Or text TOYAH to 87654.

In the early hours of this morning Toyah ventured forth to take part in her first "Bush Trial Tucker". So as not to spoil it for viewers who want to watch it tonigh, I won't reveal any details here. It should be a make good viewing by all accounts.

May 7, 2003: Toyah in the papers

Toyah was, again, pictured in a number of UK tabloid newspapers yesterday.

The Sun, pictured Toyah and Phil playing the game from a day or two ago: Whatever necks ... Phil passes the ball under his chin to Toyah during game. They also quote Toyah: And when Toyah Willcox, 44, got the ball from Tuffers, she joked: "That was so good Phil. I lke this game!"

Daily Mail, ran a look at the first eight days of the series, with Toyah pictured, holding a bundle of toilet rolls, on day three: TEARS AND TAP DANCES: As Daniella tells of her cocaine hell, Wayne puts on a performace of Cabaret with Toyah Willcox that wins the group wine and chocolate. "This is called how to ruin ten careers in two minutes," he says.

Daily Star, also report on how Phil "Tuffers" Tufnell's popularity has resulted in him eclipsing all the other contestants at the bookmakers.