MEETING and interviewing “celebrities” over the years I have often tried to discover and reveal some aspect of the famed person that hasn’t been seen before.

Far too often – especially in TV interviews – it has seemed the whole purpose of the interview is purely to promote the said person’s latest album, tour, book etc, etc.

So in the Echo we have sometimes run features in which a celebrity talks entirely about the subject of food, health or hobbies – areas which can sometimes speak volumes about the real person behind the public image.

For example, before squeaky -voiced comedian Joe Pasquale was crowned King of the Jungle in ITV’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in 2004, I joined him in the gym for a work-out, where his friendly, unaffected down-to-earth personality shone through.

On another occasion I conducted an interview with Peter Andre (pre- Jordan days) on a Sun Seeker where, after a short delay, he appeared from below deck with a giggly, glamorous blonde.

Another time I caught the ferry to Brownsea Island with David Essex, where he went on to reveal his hatred of water and revealed he had Vaseline in every orifice when he filmed his TV series The River.

Take the celebrity out of the standard interview situation and you will get underneath that showbiz veneer.

I therefore salute whoever dreamed up the format for ITV’s I’m A Celebrity Get me Out of Here, which not only strips celebs of all their creature comforts but strips away the image behind which they hide. I just love it!

The latest series has had me and my family jumping up and down, shouting, laughing and just enjoying every moment of this priceless piece of television.

Everyone I know is debating on a daily basis who will win and who will be evicted; who is the villain of the piece and who is the hero.

It’s astonishing what people will do for the average fee of £25,000 and the chance to ignite a flagging career.

One thing is for sure – you wouldn’t get me enduring kangaroo testicles and fish eyes, rats, cockroaches, maggots, claustrophobic caves and coffins, ice-cold gunge baths – and more than one day in the company of the self-centred, heartless WAG and surgically-enhanced glamour girl Nicola Mclean.

As for our kind, sympathetic and diplomatic Child Line campaigner and That’s Life presenter Esther Rantzen and the equally fair and friendly Joe Swash of EastEnders fame, they have every right to be crowned King or Queen of the Jungle. Watch this space!