Merv Hughes is in more muck than a sewerage farm duck.

His I'm a Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here camp mates have had enough and reckon they're not going to take it anymore.

Big Merv's like that annoying kid in the back of the bus who flicks elastic bands at the heads of unsuspecting victims. Amusing for him but he can't understand why others don't share his passion for the shenanigans.

Up until now Merv's created some discord with his brand of political incorrectness, but who knew the opposition to him would suddenly become so fierce. There's plenty of moaning going on about his bean-cooking technique, but the time to stand up to Merv is when he turns to a chattering Lauren Brant and says: "Get out of bed and talk to me, woman".

Merv is so on everyone's nerves he must be taken down in a verbal gang tackle.

Joel Creasey, usually the joker in the pack, is upset Merv doesn't respect the women in the camp and refers to Joel as "Princess".

The comedian has clearly decided diplomacy is futile when he says, "Merv, I speak for all of the camp with confidence when I say, shut the f--- up".

Cut to Merv: "You've got all the camp in on that?" Camera pans around the campsite. Silence.

Chrissie Swan is rapt Joel has taken on the big, boofy bowler. "You took him down," Swan says in admiration.

Extraordinary as it seems, Merv's later able to stare down the barrel with a straight face and say, in a Logie-worthy performance, "There is no conflict I'm aware of. I don't think I've upset anyone yet".

Contrast this with Lauren, who tells Merv to put his jelly belly away and claims he's incapable of a "proper adult conversation".

It's a good thing there's a Tucker Trial looming to keep us "entertained".

If you're a punter you'll be putting your hard-earned on Lauren. She's like a Tonka truck in a bikini and has a will to eat weird bits of animal that is impossible to fathom.

Keep your wallet in your pocket when it comes to Anna Heinrich, who has been surgically removed from her partner Tim Robards and seems a certainty to clip the first Tucker Trial hurdle.

Lauren has been up once before and collected 11 stars. It's new territory for Anna, though, who surprises by volunteering to eat first at the delightfully decorated table for two.

How hard can it be, given the food on offer includes burgers, pizza, cake and chips.

Anna chows down on a maggot-covered pizza, then there's a lump of springbok stomach in two sesame seed buns. If that's not enough, there are buffalo lips, pasta with rats' feet and satay spewers featuring pig testicles.

To finish there's a mud cake made of cockroaches and a sick shake that features fish guts and goat's milk. At one point Lauren's convulsing like a cat trying to move a fur ball, but somehow neither girl fails a challenge and they return to camp with 11 stars.

"Anna is the most beautiful eater of disgusting food," Lauren announces to camp. Anna thrusts out her chest in an appropriate show of pride.

There are subplots as Merv and Freddie Flintoff go on a treasure chest hunt and Andrew Daddo is busted with contraband. His wife has secretly packed a block of chocolate in his air mattress - a clear breach of the rules.

The last word, though, belongs to the master of conflict resolution, Cyclone Mervyn, who is intent on continuing his path of destruction and caring little for who is blown sideways in the wind.

Merv, nominated for the next Tucker Trial, insists, "No one has told me to pull my head in so I will keep pressing those buttons," he says.

Yep, like an attention-seeking child, Merv is determined to keep bobbing up.