Huggy Bear joins jungle VIPs

He was the ultimate in street cool, a jive-talking supergrass whose iconic - and outrageous - fashion sense helped to define an era.

Now Huggy Bear is back. Antonio Fargas, who played arguably the most entertaining character in Seventies cop show Starsky And Hutch, is the surprise last-minute addition to the line-up for the latest series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here.

Jungle contestants already include model Sophie Anderton, former royal butler Paul Burrell and broadcaster and ex-newspaper editor Janet Street Porter.

But the makers of the show had kept their main attraction a secret until the last minute - not revealing Huggy Bear's appearance until today.

With his extraordinary wardrobe - those pink safari suits are still remembered today - and street patter, Huggy Bear is likely to be the one member of the line-up who brings a really unpredictable element to the show. However, there is also a possibility that Fargas the actor - now 58 - will be a very different proposition from the streetwise character he played 30 years ago.

Despite being famous for sporting the ultimate in pimpwear, off screen he has a penchant for cravats and has even been known to carry a cane.

Although his acting career has not exactly prospered over the last couple of decades - after Starsky And Hutch and roles in Shaft and Car Wash, he has been reduced to trying his hand at playing the pantomime villain, starring in Jack and the Beanstalk in Weston-super-Mare three years ago.

He does, however, have a cult status among American rappers and has appeared in music videos for The Backstreet Boys and Snoop Dogg.

Although Fargas lives most of the year in Los Angeles with his girlfriend Sandy, he is said to regard south London as his second home - and he claims that his favourite snack is a plate of whelks (which should stand him in good stead for the bush tucker trials).

Whether he is any good at jungle survival is another matter. He once told a newspaper that the one thing he could not survive without was coconut soap, saying: "It smells fantastic and keeps my skin, which is prone to drying out, soft and supple."