MANY of us are hooked on this year's I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here, which is currently occupying us on these dark, cold November nights.

This year's celebrity line-up is certainly full of proper showbiz pedigree and signs of friction are already occurring in the camp with the addition of Noel Edmonds, 69, appointed 'Emperor' and leader of the jungle camp.

So it seems appropriate to take a look back at when some of these celebrities visited our neck of the woods. Little did we know that years later they would be completing bushtucker trials on national television for our entertainment!

Noel Edmonds, camp leader and former host of the popular Noel's House Party, visited Weymouth in his time as a Radio 1 DJ.

He hosted discos and roller discos in Weymouth Pavilion's Ocean Room at the end of the 70s and early 80s.

In the 1990s Noel and his sidekick Mr Blobby were among the most recognised faces on TV with Noel's House Party attracting 15 million viewers at its peak.

A popular segment on the show was Noel's Gotcha, where celebrities were subject to practical jokes.

In 1997 squeaky-voiced comedian Joe Pasquale, a former King of the Jungle himself, was 'Gotcha'd' on Weymouth beach. He arrived on the beach dressed as Lawrence of Arabia for what he thought were promotional shoots for a DVD he was launching.

Joe was expecting to take a ride on a camel for the shoot, but was greeted by two people in a pantomime camel outfit in the first dose of a string of practical jokes. He was then persuaded to pose with an alleged environmental health officer holding a giant poop scoop to promote 'Weymouth Whoopsie Watch'.

A star-struck fan then emerged from the sea claiming his undying love for him and revealed an 'I Love Joe Pasquale' tattoo on her inner thigh to the dislike of her husband.

When the real camel Joe was expecting finally arrived, it pulled down a beach kiosk, resulting in a raging proprietor.

Joe said he offered the businessman free tickets to one of his shows as an apology - something he went on to regret.

He said: "A few weeks later I spotted the same bloke in the front row at one of my shows. He was booing and throwing things at me, saying I had wrecked his career and his life. I had to deal with this in front of thousands of people when Noel Edmunds suddenly appeared on stage with the Gotcha award in his hand.

"I couldn't believe it."

Jackie Gisborne from Weymouth and Portland Borough Council helped organise the prank.

She said to the Echo at the time: "The whole thing was brilliantly done.

"There were hidden cameras everywhere and the poor guy just didn't know what was happening to him."

Former EastEnders star Rita Simons has been in the jungle since the start of I'm a Celebrity.

Rita, 41, is the niece of Sir Alan Sugar and played Roxy Mitchell in EastEnders alongside Samantha Janus as her on screen sister Ronnie.

In April 2008, Rita and Samantha filmed scenes for EastEnders in Weymouth. They were joined by Barbara Windsor as Peggy Mitchell and Robert Kazinsky as Sean Slater.

Filming took place at Weymouth Harbour and on the beach, where a carousel and rifle range were erected at the request of the BBC. Plenty of crowds gathered to watch the filming.

Of course, the jungle's favourite storyteller football manager Harry Redknapp has many associations with the south coast as manager of AFC Bournemouth, Southampton and Portsmouth and calls Sandbanks home.

We have this picture to share of Harry in his AFC Bournemouth days with loan player Tony Sealy.

As events in the jungle unfold over the next couple of weeks we'll be glued to our screens wondering if any of these Dorset-spotted celebrities will be crowned King or Queen of the Jungle in Australia.