A young Tory from Croydon is joining a former drug addict and a lap dancer in a BBC reality show.

Clare Hilley will be joining 12 other contestants on the show Castaway where they will be cut-off from the rest of the world on an island near the Great Barrier Island, New Zealand, for three months.

The 22-year-old, who is training to be a pilot, says her lifelong ambition is to become an MP. She was the youngest candidate to stand in a local election in the UK in 2006.

She said: "I think this experience would enable me to reflect on my life and help me decide what path to take. It will teach me what matters most to me and what I want the next chapter of my life to be."

Clare, who describes herself as confident to the point of arrogance, believes she will find it most difficult to live without alcohol, her work and books.

Her motto is believe in yourself as no one else will, and remember that you are greater than any obstacle'.

Clare will be joined by ex-drug addict Jason Ross, 37, from Kent, who wants his time on the island to help him "discover who I really am", and 22-year-old Bolton lap dancer Erica Hurst.

All contestants will be forced to live in makeshift shacks, eat rations and cope with one another.

BBC One controller Peter Fincham said: "The show is about seeing how people react once they are taken away from all that they take for granted. There is a real mix of characters. We expect fireworks and if there is a bit of romance, so be it."

The first series of Castaway, show seven years ago, made a star of Ben Fogle.

The series, hosted by comic Danny Wallace, starts on Friday.

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