Before Dame Arlene Phillips hit the big time as a West End dancer and choreographer, she was so poor she survived on cornflakes.
So the former Strictly Come Dancing judge thinks she’ll have absolutely no problem with the basic rice and beans diet of 700-calories-a-day on this year’s I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here!
"I’ve also done weekly fasts for a malaria charity I work with, so that wouldn’t bother me," says Arlene, who at 78 will be the show’s oldest ever contestant, and its first dame.
Joining her this Sunday in North Wales’ Gwrych Castle, where I’m A Celeb is taking place for the second year, are a bunch of other famous faces ready to take on the famous bushtucker trials.
They include TV presenter Richard Madeley, 65, ex-BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin, 53, and French footballer David Ginola, 54.
Arlene’s main concern is how she’s going to cope with the show’s notorious creepy-crawlies.
In the past, she has even admitted her worst absolute nightmare would be to be placed "in a box underground covered in worms and cockroaches, like they do on I’m A Celebrity!"
So now that experience is looking like a certainty, how does she feel?
"All I can say is that I am the biggest coward in the world, I’m not courageous!" she says.
"Every time I watch the show, I absolutely admire those people who fearlessly enter into it. I’m the type of person who holds back."
Despite that, Arlene was known as Strictly’s "Queen of Mean" during her four years on the BBC juggernaut but she stresses she’s not a real-life "Miss Fearless".
"I am when it comes to my professional life, I just go and do it, but not with this kind of challenge," she says.
"My family always laugh at me because they all camp and I’m definitely not a camper! My partner went camping when he was a kid and my girls have, and I’m like, 'No, I’m not lying on that and I’m not going to live in a tent!'
Arlene’s steely determination and drive are a huge element of her success as a world-leading choreographer on screen and stage.
As well as musicals, she has worked with A-list musicians, including Sir Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, the Bee Gees and Queen, as well as Freddie Mercury - which was also when she met set designer Angus Ion, her partner of 35 years.
Right now, with her 80th birthday just 18 months away, she has no plans to retire.
"I’ve got some wonderful things coming up but I also pick and choose what I do and make sure I spend time with my grandkids, who I adore," she says.
"I suppose it will be a gradual phasing out. I never think, 'I’ll retire at this age.'
As long as I wake up in the morning and think, 'I’m going to have a good day at work today,' I’ll keep going, as I love what I do."
And she’s not remotely bothered by being the most senior celebrity camper ever.
Arlene jokes that she’s "used to always being the oldest" in any TV scenario.
One of Strictly Come Dancing’s original judges from 2004, her sacking in 2009 led to accusations of BBC ageism after she was dropped from the show to make way for singer Alesha Dixon, 30.
She bats away rumours that she still might make a return.
"It’s not even on my radar," she says.
"I only think about things that are possible, not something that isn’t going to happen."
And she’s busier than ever.
Her most recent project was choreographing a new musical in Birmingham called What’s New Pussycat.
The gruelling six-days-a-week schedule meant she could only see Angus and daughters Abi, 30, and Alana, 42 for one day a week.
But if she prioritises work over fun, then it’s because she understands the wonderful opportunities dance can afford.
It’s why last month she presented a National Lottery Award 2021 in the Art, Film and Culture category to an "extraordinary woman" called Emily Jenkins who launched a therapeutic dance programme for women with cancer to boost their mental and physical health in 2016.
"Emily teaches dance in a way that’s extraordinarily uplifting and allows people to feel whatever they may be feeling in that moment and be able to express it through movement,” says Arlene.
“It’s become hugely popular and hopefully Emily will be able to do more classes in the spaces she’s currently in, or open new centres. The women I’ve spoken to have said it’s helped them in ways that they never thought they could be helped."
After a difficult childhood, even now Arlene takes nothing for granted. Not even the Damehood she was awarded in the 2021 Queen’s Birthday List for her services to dance and charity in June.
"It was such a surprise! I could never have imagined that this little girl from Manchester who dreamed of dancing would ever be made a Dame," she says.
Arlene revealed she broke down in tears as soon as she heard the news.
"It wasn’t for a moment something I was expecting," she says.
"Immediately, going through your mind is all this questioning of, 'Why me? What have I done to deserve this?'
"My mother and father would have been so proud. They’re up there looking down on what their daughter did."
She plans to celebrate the honour properly with all her loved ones when the threat of Covid infections has receded. But first, she has to deal with the challenges of I’m A Celebrity.
So will she insist that her fellow contestants call her Dame Arlene?
"No!" she laughs.
"Nobody calls me Dame!"
But if she does as well as her friends predict, it might soon be Queen Arlene… of the castle.
The new series of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Starts at 9pm on Sunday on ITV.
