Take Me Dancing - AJ Pritchard - I'm A Celeb 2020

Entering the Castle

Demi P.O.V

"Oh my god," I whisper to myself as the castle entrance swings open.

The castle is like something out of a twisted, mediocre fairy-tale. There's no moat or drawbridge or throne, but an open area with a firepit thrown into the middle. The centrepiece of the living space is the iconic red phone box, but the glass panes are smashed and the paint is beginning to chip. There's also a rectangular slot in a wall, which I'm guessing is a dumbwaiter.

"This is huge." Victoria gasps. "Look at how much space we have!"

Around the campfire are some stone benches and cylindrical rocks for us all to sit on and have our late night chats. It smells of damp and ashes, just as you would expect a 200-year-old castle to smell.

"What's through here?"

Stepping through a triangular archway leads us into the sleeping quarters - the only room in the castle with a roof to protect us from the elements. There are a few beds scattered around, each with a silver frame that looks as if it could fall apart from a feathers touch. There are also a few hammocks that look considerably more comfortable - not like it is much competition.

I throw myself onto one of the beds. "Jesus wept!"

"Is it comfy?"

"No!" I answer. "You may as well sleep on the floor."

All of our campmates gather around in our new bedroom, picking out beds and hammocks.

"I call hammock!" Shane dibs. He pulls open the hammock in the corner of the room and dives in, but loses his balance and comes tumbling out onto the stone floor.

I let out a snort of laughter. Only Shane would manage to chuck himself out of his hammock in the first few seconds. "Look's like we're doubling up Mo, because I ain't sleeping in there!"

There are three hammocks that Mo, Jordan and Victoria decide to sleep in. The rest of us take a bed each.

I walk through the sleeping quarters and two more stone archways into the courtyard. There is a well for collecting water, and another fire pit to keep us warm. Tucked away in the corner of the courtyard are some stairs leading up to a wooden shack.

"Is that the toilet?" I ask Jordan.

"I think so."

Jordan climbs up the stairs and swings open the door. He steps inside, does a quick scan, and walks back out again with a face of disgust.

"It's definitely . . . basic. That's the nice way of saying it."

I walk up the stairs and join Jordan in the privy. Our toilet is a wooden box with a hole cut out the top. "At least it smells clean," I try to be positive. "But if you piss on the toilet seat, we're gonna have an argument."

Exploring the castle a little more, I realise that this camp may not be as bad as we thought. We have to collect logs from an area at the bottom of some steps and bring them back to the castle. We then split the logs with a wood-splitter and put them into a burner that's located in a boiler room. That then heats the water and lets us have lukewarm showers.

I walk back into the sleeping quarters and towards the shower room. At the top of a set of stairs is a large black door which takes all my strength to push open.

Inside is a grimy bathtub with a rotting shower curtain, and a watering can that substitutes for a showerhead.

"This is our shower?" Beverly whines. "How are we meant to wash our hair in that?"