The Yorkshire Vet, Julian Norton faces some long standing fears and finds Eric the milk snake "quite appealing"

And, of course, they change colour (although disappointingly not necessarily to blend in with the background – Rodney refused to take on the stripes of the towel on the table). But they are not scary, poisonous nor dangerous.

Next came Eric curled up in a benign ball with what seemed like a smile on his face. Eric was a banana-coloured (and banana-textured) milk snake and named after Eric Twinge, who turned into Bananaman in the 1980s children’s cartoon, after eating the said fruit. I am very frightened of snakes.

It’s an irrational fear based on lack of proper experience, probably unjustified preconceptions and watching Indiana Jones films when I was small. But Eric was not menacing at all and despite his obvious reptile credentials my heart rate remained reasonably steady. I found him quite appealing.

The same could not be said for contestant number three, (“What’s your name and where do you come from?”) Another snake this time draped around Natalie’s neck like a thin scarf. Her name was Candy and she came from North America.

Nat assured everyone that she was non-venomous and quite friendly, but milk snakes bear a striking resemblance to the deadly dangerous coral snake. This was enough to keep me at a safe distance, but Mark declared himself “not at all frightened of snakes”.

Candy wrapped herself around his neck and, within minutes, started to head down his shirt, tongue flickering all the time and obviously enjoying his aftershave. The worried expression on his face at this point told a very different story and Candy was quickly extricated. Despite this minor trauma for an ophidiophobe like me, the experience so far had been very positive.

Next on the scary list was Rosie, whose name didn’t sound scary at all. It was essential the snakes were rehoused, because Rosie was frightened of them and them of her. At last an animal with hair! At last one with legs!

Surely, I was back on familiar territory? Sadly, this was not the case, because Rosie had eight legs (and two arms). She had extremely tiny eyes but a HUGE bottom. She was a Chilean Rose-hair Tarantula and Nat gave us some more details.

One was that “we shouldn’t handle her if we were worried”, because she could give a painful and venomous bite (similar to a bee sting) and could fire irritant hairs at enemies. A quick search of Google informed us all that tarantulas should be observed, not picked up or handled.

But Nat was encouraging and nurse Sarah was keen to overcome her own concerns. “If not now, then when?” she reasoned and held out both hands. Before long, they stopped shaking and the beginnings of a smile appeared.

Yet another phobia had been expunged, although head nurse Lucy’s face wore no trace of a smile when she turned, and my hands were enveloped in latex gloves.

In conclusion, we all agreed a turn on I’m a Celebrity was definitely feasible.