Freddie Starr swears off hamsters during I'm A Celeb

Hamster-eater Freddie Starr will be putting his life on the line when he leaps into the Queensland jungle for this year's I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!

Freddie Starr: I'm out Oz shape

Tubby Freddie Starr jets into Oz yesterday to take part in I'm A Celeb with excess baggage.

Freddie Starr signs for I'm A Celeb

Comedy legend Freddie Starr has signed a mega­bucks deal to appear in the new series of I'm A ­Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!

He's an acquired taste, but there's something so dangerously odd about alleged hamster-diner Freddie Starr that makes him irresistible. He's outrageous, out of control and downright weird. The fact that he's impossible to like somehow makes him more appealing, or appalling, as this 1996 show demonstrates. There's nothing warm and fuzzy about Starr; he radiates barely suppressed anger. Yet he can be inspired and hilarious, even if you really don't want to laugh. There's plenty of madness here, though none of it is quite as hilarious as the celeb-studded audience seems to think it is, judging by the shots of shrieking Windsor Davies, Gareth Hunt and Carol Smillie. As a comedy museum piece, though, it's worth a look.

Freddie Starr heart attack

Freddie Starr was in hospital last night after a major heart attack - and he declared: "It was down to stress."