Cricket legend Shane Warne has denied reports he scored a high-paying contract with a “no-spider clause” to appear on Channel Ten’s reality series, I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!.

Before he was confirmed as a participant on the South Africa-set show, the Daily Mail reported Warne had scored substantially more money for the show than his fellow contestants.

Other news outlets placed the value of his contract at as much as $2 million.

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Speaking on the show, Warne quashed the reports, saying: “I wish. I thought I’d be getting a lot more than I’m getting but anyway, that’s that.”

The 46-year-old also denied he had requested a specific “no spider clause” in his contract. Warne is a known arachnophobe.

“No, from what I saw last year, if you don’t go in with an open mind prepared to do anything then you shouldn’t probably do the show,” he added.

“Some of the things were horrific. I’ll give it a go, whatever comes my way. I’m scared of everything. I hate heights, I hate everything. But you don’t know how you are going to react because they obviously try and break you in the first few weeks.”

The cricketer was a late entrant to the show, which premiered to 1.324 million viewers on Sunday night, arriving in the African jungle on Monday.

He was immediately thrown in the deep end alongside AFL footballer Brendan Fevola as they competed in a challenge called ‘Up To Your Neck In It’.

The challenge saw Fevola and Warne placed in perspex containers filled with maggots, worms, cockroaches and snakes for 12 minutes.

Fevola said it was good to have Warne in the jungle with him.

“It is always good to have someone you know really well – we catch up so it was good to see that it was him and I think everyone was pretty excited that it was him. Everyone loves Warney,” he said.

Comedian Akmal Saleh shared similar sentiments.

“It was surreal; Shane Warne is someone I’ve watched since I was a child. I’ve looked up to him and watched him for two decades and there he is,” he said.