After two weeks of living on raw fruit and veg, Dave Glew couldn't wait to tuck into his favourite food - chips!

Dave was one of nine volunteers who camped at Paignton Zoo, in Devon, as part of a BBC experiment to see if trying early man's diet could cut cholesterol.

The results will be shown during the six-part series the Truth About Food, which starts at 9pm tonight. on BBC2.

Dave, 42, of Sixth Avenue, Canvey, is a keen camper and saw the advert for volunteers on a website for people who like the outdoors.

The BBC was looking for people with high cholesterol to try the same diet as the zoo's apes and Dave fitted the bill.

The dad-of-seven admits commuting to London, where he works as an insurance broker, often means getting home late and tucking into takeaways with partner, Debbie Johnson, instead of cooking a healthy meal.

He knew he needed to eat better so he agreed to try the apes' diet of water and raw fruit and veg.

"I lost a lot of weight, just over 12lbs in two weeks," he said.

"My cholesterol went from 6.2 millimols per litre to 4.5 millimols per litre in the first week."

Cholesterol is measured in millimols per litre of blood and anything above 5.0 is considered too high.

The volunteers had to resist the temptations of cafes, sweet shops and pubs if they went into Paignton, but they did learn to fend for themselves by making flint arrowheads, fishing and foraging for food.

Each day they were given a large cool box full of food for the day and Dave tried lots of food he hadn't eaten before.

Dates and figs were a hit with his tastebuds, but he was not as keen on the salty seaweed he ate after foraging on the beach.

One of the culinary highlights was being allowed to grill and eat the mackerel they had caught during the second week, as recognition of early man's ability to light a fire and start cooking his food.

But despite the health benefits of the regime, Dave found he didn't always enjoy the food.

He said: "A raw cabbage leaf is not a lot of fun and raw broccoli is just disgusting. We were also quite tired because we're used to having lots of sugar hits."

Dave hopes to eat more healthily, but he dosen't plan to be sticking to the caveman diet full-time. "I missed chips," he admitted.