What is it?

The Australian version of the popular British reality franchise, in which a gaggle of moderately famous Australians and one American are pitched out of their comfortable existences into the South African jungle to use primitive toilets and have insects dropped on their face, thus learning valuable lessons about toilets and insects.

Our view
Ten should be commended for its casting. Any "celebrity" show is bound to attract "who are these people?" snark, but for the most part, I'm A Celebrity… has gathered proper celebs. If you've not heard of the likes of Merv Hughes, Chrissie Swan, or Leisel Jones, that's really just a demonstration of your overwhelming ignorance of the world you live in.

The exceptions are travel blogger Tyson Mayr and former bad-version-of-Hi-5 member Lauren Brandt, who are actually banned from saying the name of the show under truth in advertising laws.

A particular coup was signing up Maureen McCormick. The former Marcia Brady brings more than just the sheen of classic TV royalty – from the first episode she delivers a brand of brittle neurosis that should pay off in many hours of compelling car crash TV, as the stay in the jungle drags on and McCormick's grip on reality grows ever more tenuous in the face of the heat and the dirt and the bugs and Tyson's less-than-subtle seduction techniques.

The show involves the celebrities competing in challenges of a disgusting nature, involving various invertebrates and animal byproducts, to earn rewards, and viewer votes to decide which celebrity does what, but it's clear that the producers are banking on the show's main appeal being the friction between the junglemates. To this end, they better hope Merv keeps snoring and Maureen keeps cracking up, because there's not a hell of a lot going on, personality clash-wise. I don't know how long the attraction of comedian Joel Creasey's male bonding sessions with AFL champion Barry Hall will last, while Andrew Daddo, Leisel Jones and Laura Dundovic don't really seem to know what to do with themselves. But then it's early days, plenty of time for a bitter feud to develop between Daddo and McCormick over whether The Brady Bunch was better than Cluedo, or for Jones to start hunting Laura and Lauren for sport. Giving the contestants as much alcohol as they want is probably a good idea. It might at least bring a little scent of danger to proceedings, which currently is sadly lacking, despite the video editor's brave attempts to suggest that the regular shots of African wildlife were taken anywhere remotely near the celebrities.

If the contestants come off as lacking a little spark in the early stages, it's compensated to some extent by the hosts. Julia Morris and Dr Chris Brown – living the dream of every aspiring vet – have a tough job not coming across as typical over-enthusiastic reality host tossers, but they do it better than most, with good chemistry and a sense they're not taking it all too seriously. The show could do with getting them down in the jungle a bit more.

In a sentence …
Famous folk get dirty in the jungle, Marcia Brady loses her mind.

Best bit
A dead heat between cricket legend Hughes's phenomenal steam-powered snoring – an unnerving night-time sound in a country known to contain lions – and the bit where the sound guy wandered into the shot, a fun little reminder that in reality TV, "isolated" isn't really a concept that exists.

Worst bit
Andrew Daddo going to the toilet. Never in Australian history has there been a public thirst for more detailed knowledge of a Daddo's excretory habits, and believe me that lack of appetite continues to this day.

Worth watching again?
If you're into the televised degradation of the prominent and pretty, then sure. It'll need to develop a bit more spice to be a long-term proposition, but at this early stage the prospect of Marcia Brady going native is enough to at least prompt a second look.

Grade
B-

Next episode
Joel Creasey, suffering from his popularity on social media, has been put up for the next "Tucker Trial", which is titled "The Circle of Strife", so may involve Elton John songs and animated lions, but is more likely to entail eating a live spider.