CHEPSTOW is fast becoming a magnet for attracting celebrity visitors - and television presenter David Dickinson is no exception.

The television presenter has confirmed an interest in coming to the town - but has made a stop-off in Australia on his way.

Dickinson is one of ten showbiz celebs set to battle to be crowned King or Queen of the jungle in the current series of I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here which kicked-off last Sunday and the Free Press has scooped an exclusive chat with Mrs Dickinson.

And Chepstow traders are keen to continue lifting the profile of the town by encouraging high profile visitors in to the area.

Jenny Gough of Tin Pan Alley says: "I would love to see David Dickinson in Chepstow. We have been successful in securing celebrity Brian Turner, to do cooking demonstrations in the Beaufort Hotel this month, so why not David Dickinson?"

However, thousands of miles away from Chepstow, spiders and wildlife will be the only company joining David and the other celebrities as they camp out in the Australian rainforest for the next few weeks.

Speaking to the Free Press, Mr Dickinson's wife Lorne, says she received a call from him last Wednesday to let her know he had landed safely.

"As soon as they arrived they were locked away from the journalists, only because it was meant to be a surprise for the views to find out was taking part in the programme, but most people knew who was there," she says.

Lorne says her husband was fine about taking part in the jungle challenge, but, that seemed to change on the day of his departure. "They had been trying to get David on the programme for a long time," she continued. "David seemed fine about it when he finally agreed to take part - he saw it as a sense of adventure.

"But on the Monday when he was leaving he did look a bit sick!"

Lorne says the dreaded jungle challenges, which include eating live bugs were a taboo subject in her household.

She added: "Every time I brought up the subject of him eating bugs and told him it was disgusting, he kept telling me not to talk about it."

Lorne is due to fly out to Australia tomorrow, where she will wait to see if Dickinson is the first to be voted out of the jungle.