INSPIRED by the bush tucker challenges on TV's I'm A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here, a Teesside man thought of just the thing to raise the profile of his friend's charity motorbike ride.

Ron Gordon and Derek Bales have pledged to spend 24 hours in a concoction of maggots, fish heads, oils and sawdust if Mr Bales fails to ride 3,000 miles around Britain's coast in six days.

Yesterday they proved how revolting the gunk is by submerging themselves in it, turning the stomachs of the 50 or so people who cheered them on.

"It really stank, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be and it was quite warm because of the oil," said Mr Bales, who works at Automagic, at Tees Court, Middlesbrough, where the stunt took place.

"But Ron thought it would be great fun to pour a tray of maggots over my head as a joke."

The garage had been decked out to resemble the jungle in the TV show, which Mr Gordon, of Middlesbrough, thought would boost fundraising for Marie Curie Cancer Care in July.

He said: "It has got to be something a bit off-the-wall otherwise no one takes any notice. I was watching the TV show and I thought I would do any of the challenges if someone was going to give money to charity - so we did our own."

Mr Gordon, well-known for his madcap stunts which have included eating maggots, lugworms and sheep eyes as well as being covered from head to foot in plaster and having his beard plucked out with tweezers.

He has thrown down the gauntlet to businesses in the area and says he will meet any challenge if at least £200 is donated to a charity for sick children.