And so it begins...Nadine Dorries to be buried with beasties

Well, there's a surprise. Errant Conservative MP Nadine Dorries was voted by the great British public - including what seemed to be fairly sizable proportion of political types on Twitter. Tonight, for our entertainment, she will be buried for 10 minutes with a not very delightful abundance of antipodean beasties - you know, rats, maggots, cockroaches, spiders. Occasionally they put water in as well which must be really terrifying.

I wrote yesterday that these programmes can bring out some fairly unpleasant impulses in us. Taking pleasure in someone being very distressed isn't an attractive character trait. We're not there yet with Nadine, who seems to be coping quite well.

At the moment, the contestants have been split into two teams, so Nadine will be competing for food rations with Helen Flanagan, who played Rosie Webster on Coronation Street. She has been voted for presumably because she cried and screamed her way through negotiating her way across a very dodgy, high stepping stone bridge across a ravine. I couldn't have done it, and the fact is that she got there in the end. I suspect she may be learning that she's made of stronger stuff than she thinks. We have learned that her portrayal of the self obsessed Rosie involved no acting whatsoever.

Viewers may need to get smarter on strategy, though. Surely if you want Nadine to do the trials, you also need to make sure she gets beaten. If I had to make a prediction about tonight's trial, it would be that Helen will lose. She got through yesterday with some fantastic support from her team-mates. She won't have them with her today. When people are voting tonight, they may want to think about who from the other team can beat Nadine. Charlie Brooks looks pretty feisty and competitive, and they have a boxing champ there in David Haye. 

I actually want Nadine to win tonight. Not for glory for her, but so that Colin Baker can eat. I want him to stay well. He's a bit portly and not very fit, and seemed to be feeling it on last night's show. I've seen Colin at Doctor Who conventions in the past and he's witty and very entertaining. I could listen to him all day so I want him to stay healthy and sparkle. Nadine's team haven't had anything other than rice and beans to eat in 2 days. The other lot had a night in luxury in a beach house and then got all the food last night. Fair's fair. 

But tonight, if you are going to waste your money on voting on this, think about the bigger picture, that's all I'm saying.

Elsewhere on the programme, I am amazed at how much I liked Hugo. I did not have high expectations of a man I expected to be a posh git waste of space. He also criticised Nadine for being away from her constituents. I'm not discounting the possibility that that was inspired by a producer with a wooden spoon, though. 

Ashley Foster showed some good leadership skills and positive attitude in the first task which they lost, really, because the other lot were quicker on their feet than Colin. 

Brian Conley also showed himself to be funny and useful. Both he and Linda Robson were really good at keeping Helen safe as she crossed the ravine.

This series has potential. As long as we can avoid actual damaging cruelty, and it stays the right side of the line, it could be an enjoyable three weeks with some interesting characters. I want to see Nadine try to promote her pro-life views and get told off by one of the others. Or for someone to take her to task for abandoning her constituents in true Rhona Cameron style.