Shaun Ryder and Gillian McKeith first to leave I'm A Celebrity ...

By Mike Bedigan, PA Los Angeles Correspondent

Former nemeses Shaun Ryder and Gillian McKeith have become the first two contestants to be eliminated from I’m A Celebrity… South Africa.

Friday’s episode of the ITV reality show saw six celebrities chained together in pairs to take part in the first survival challenge of the series – Savage Safari.

Andy Whyment and Jordan Banjo, Phil Tufnell and Georgia Toffolo, and Ryder and McKeith, all competed to free themselves from one another and hit a buzzer first.

Campmates were surprised after Ryder announced he had selected the TV nutritionist as his partner, with McKeith exclaiming: “Oh for God’s sake no!”

The challenge involved removing spanners from boxes filled with various creatures to loosen the chains.

Whyment and Banjo stormed the challenge and were first to free themselves, while McKeith was paralysed by touching snakes in the first box.

During the trial, when asked if he regretted his decision to choose McKeith as his partner, Ryder replied: “A little bit… but she’s my mate now and I can’t slag my mate off.”

The pair said that they had come “full circle” following their fiery clashes during their previous appearances on I’m A Celebrity… in 2010.

“Now we’re off to get married,” Ryder joked.

Following her exit, McKeith said participating in the series had been “a very positive experience”.

“It was just a different feeling when I went into camp this time,” she said.

“People just seemed to be really open and wanting to get on with each other. There was no negativity, it felt positive from the minute I got there.

“Everybody wanted to gel. I could feel that it was a very different experience from 2010.”

Ryder said that he had “loved” the experience.

“I’m a bit of a slow learner to say the least, so it takes me a while to adapt, but I loved it,” he said.

“Whilst you’re at it and doing it, you don’t realise and I was thinking once I left, god yeah there were some great moments in there. I was over the moon.”

Earlier in the episode, tensions flared briefly in camp after several celebrities were busted over bringing contraband into camp.

Former royal butler Paul Burrell, Myleene Klass and McKeith were all found guilty of smuggling items into camp.

Tufnell noted that the “drama” had made the camp atmosphere “flat”.

Toffolo told the Bush Telegraph: “There’s been a bit of a bizarre turn of atmosphere in the camp. I’m hoping everyone’s going to get a belting night’s sleep.”

Klass had brought in various spices, while Burrell had brought “a little bit of coffee”.

However, campmates were shocked, and even slightly impressed, after McKeith revealed she had smuggled in “a whole tuck shop” in her underpants.

The TV nutritionist produced a range of products from her “spicy knickers”, including thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil, stock cubes and 30 tea bags.

“She had a whole tuck shop in her underpants,” former boxer Amir Khan told the Bush Telegraph.

I’m A Celebrity… South Africa airs weeknights at 9pm on ITV and ITVX.