Name: Brian Paddick

Age: 50

Occupation: Former London Mayoral Candidate and

Ex-Deputy Assistant Commissioner for London’s Metropolitan Police Service

Phobias: None

Special skills: Cooking

“If there’s somebody there who’s having a really hard time… then I’m going to be the guy who puts their arm round them. And if they start crying then I’m likely to join in.”

Brian Paddick says he is heading into the jungle stop people from taking him so seriously – and he thinks he’ll probably burst into tears while he’s in there.

Brian says he wants people to realise he is fun, and hopes that by appearing on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here…! the requests for him to comment on serious issues will dry up.

He says: “I get asked to do very serious programmes. I go on and debate policing issues. I talk about terrorism. I talk about racism in the police. And really it’s all very heavy and very serious.

He continues jokingly: “And I’m thinking once I’ve done this I probably won’t get asked to do any of those things any more and that’ll be great. Hopefully I might get asked to do different things. But at least the really heavy, serious stuff will dry up.

“I did 30 years in the police and now whenever there is a crisis at Scotland Yard whether it’s something to do with drugs or racism or all the serious stuff then the phone doesn’t stop ringing and I want to do something trivial. I want to start enjoying myself. This is about doing something for fun and showing people that I’m not just a serious politician and a serious former police officer.

“I think the public when they see me in the jungle are going to see that I’m not some camp, that I’m not some sort of liberal guy who’s got really crazy ideas about everything on the planet including drugs. I think they’re going to see somebody who actually is fairly normal, whatever normal is.”

And he also says he empathises with people so much that if he is talking to someone who starts to cry, he will cry with them.

He says: “I empathise with people a lot. I’ve been in a situation where one of my officers in the police, his father was killed in a car accident, and I had to tell him and he started crying and I started crying, even though we were both in full uniform.

“So when people get upset I tend to join in. I don’t know what it is about me, whether I was dropped on my head as a baby or something, but I’ve got this thing about caring for other people.

“I really want to look after other people. And if there’s somebody there who’s having a really hard time, either from somebody else who’s in the jungle or just because they’re finding it difficult to cope with being without their loved one or whatever, then I’m going to be the guy who puts their arm round them. And if they start crying then I’m likely to join in. I have a lot of empathy for other people, particularly people who are vulnerable.”

He also revealed that he will be getting married to his Norwegian partner in January 2009.

He says: “I’ve fallen in love with this gorgeous Norwegian guy and we’re going to get married in January. So if it all goes t*ts up I can just go off to Norway where nobody will have seen the programme and everything will be fine.”

He said his partner and his electric razor are the two things he will miss the most.

He says: “I’ll miss my partner and being able to talk to my partner, because quite a lot of the time we live apart anyway because he lives in Oslo but at least, if he’s in the office we’re MSNing each other. Or we’re using Skype in the evening. So I see him and talk to him whether we are together or not so that’s going to be something I really miss.

“Also, I’ve tried to start using a wet razor rather than an electric one because there aren’t any electric razors in the jungle and the bleeding has now stopped so I’m feeling quite pleased with myself.”

His biggest fears about the jungle are being filmed and eating insects.

He says: “Eating the bugs I think is the thing I’m most concerned about. The thing that I’m really dreading is the Jungle Sushi. Eating the live bugs and stuff. That’s the thing that’s really worrying me.

“As far as the rats and snakes and whatever else it is, I don’t really know how I’m going to react because I’ve never really come to face to face with one before.

“The whole thing really. Being filmed 24 hours a day seven days a week is bad enough, and then being put in a confined space with nine other people that you don’t know, and living in the sort of conditions that we’re going to be living in. It’s going to be pretty intense.”

And he reveals that the things which would annoy him the most about fellow contestants are racism and sexism.

He says: “I’ve worked with lots of people, who I have never chosen to be with, not quite 24 hours a day. But although it is for a relatively short time it can feel like eternity if someone is very, very irritating.

“What I try and do is that I try and work out why people are the way they are. Whether they were dropped on their head as a baby or whatever it is, to try and understand it. But if somebody has racist or sexist opinionated views and won’t change their minds then I’m likely to get angry.

“I think some people might be very, very selfish, not prepared to do anything at all, used to being waited on hand and foot and expect us to do it for them.

“There will be people who have very opinionated views about things. You know I’m very liberal minded and I can usually take people’s arguments no matter what they are. But there will be some people there who are absolutely fixed on some pretty controversial views, maybe about religion, maybe about sexuality, who I’m going to have maybe a bit of a ding dong with.”