TV's interior designers duo, Justin Ryan and Colin McAllister, are among the contestants in ITV's I'm a Celebrity..Get me Out of Here!, the latest series of which began last night.

And soon to join them - as part of their designated family and friends support team - will be Scots tabloid hack-turned-PR person, Peter Samson.

He leaves for Australia at the weekend, where the competition is taking place, and will be appearing on spin-off shows.

He has worked for both the Daily Record and the Sunday Mail, where, latterly, he was the title's chief reporter and then deputy news editor. 

He told allmediascotland.com: "I've been friends with Colin and Justin for about ten years and I've watched their TV careers develop both here and overseas - especially in Canada where they're mega and are recognised instantly in the street.

"When they were signed up for the jungle japes they invited me to come along as one of their support team - all courtesy of ITV. It was an offer that was hard to turn down.

"It's going to be a huge adventure and something very different for me - as usually, I'm pushing clients in front of the lenses for stuff.

"I have had some unusual assignments, including training, undercover, to become a timeshare salesman, exposing a Government minister's extramarital affair conducted in a flat paid for by taxpayers, tracking down a priest at the centre of a 'love-nest' mystery and covering Princess Di's funeral from inside Westminster Abbey then filing copy from the Archbishop of Canterbury's private washroom.

"I know how hard [Colin and Justin] work professionally and especially in their newspaper columns [including for the Sunday Mail]. They're focused and not shy about taking on tough tasks but this will be a huge challenge because so much of it is unknown."