Evicted I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! campmate Charlene White says she was put in an impossible position by ITV when they put Matt Hancock in the jungle.
The ITV newsreader, 42, feared she would lose her job if she was seen to be too sympathetic to the disgraced ex-Health Secretary.
Charlene, who lost an aunt to Covid, said she “walked a tightrope” as she tried to remain impartial.
But she admitted she couldn’t get the families still grieving after the pandemic out of her mind.
And, after being the first contestant voted out of the show on Friday night, she also tearfully revealed regrets at not fully explaining her reasons for refusing to sleep in the comfy RV bed.
The Loose Women presenter told The Mirror and other press: “Being there and having a laugh and having a joke – that kind of finished when Matt came.
“Because I have interviewed enough of the families who have lost loved ones during the pandemic.
“I am one of those. As soon as he walked in I thought ‘I’m going to be walking a tightrope here’.”
The mum-of-two said she felt she had to represent bereaved families. She added: “If I don’t think about them and ask the questions they want to know regarding his reasoning for going into the jungle when we are in the middle of the inquiry into the reaction after the pandemic... then I’m not doing my job.
“It went from me just having a laugh to constantly worrying... whether I would still be taken seriously when it comes to dealing with politicians.
“And whether viewers would think I was being too sympathetic to the Conservative party. I was constantly going through inner turmoil.”
Charlene started brilliantly on the opening show in the Ledge trial, bungeeing off a 32-storey building.
But one of the reasons she may have struggled to win votes was a row over the sleeping situation – dubbed “RV Gate” by fans and hosts Ant and Dec.
As deputy camp leader to Hancock, Charlene was supposed to sleep in a comfy bed next to him in the motorhome, but she refused.
In the show, Charlene blamed her refusal on a spider – but last night explained really she was terrified she would lose her journalistic intergrity by bedding down next to Matt.
Fighting back tears, she said: “I didn’t want to get out of the jungle to find that I had no job.
“I was completely wrong not to be more explicit about it. I understand that now. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.” Despite the pain and worry, Charlene, who had three showers within hours of leaving camp to feel properly clean, has fond memories of her jungle experience.
She said: “I loved being in there. And I really, genuinely, am gutted to be out because we got into a rhythm. And I felt like we were a camp who were very honest with each other.”
Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver was like a sister or best friend, she said – and offered handy advice for cooking camp meals.
“There were vegetables I had never heard of and meats I didn’t even know could be meats!”, Charlene says, from a plush Gold Coast hotel. “But Sue, her knowledge of food was absolutely unbelievable.”
One of the hardest parts for the mum was leaving her family in London – viewers saw her get emotional over a family snap.
She and TV exec partner Andy have son Alfie, five, and daughter Florence, three.
Charlene said she was looking forward to picking Alfie up from school. “I am desperate for hugs from both of them and from Andy.”
Hancock remains in camp this weekend despite criticism from his constituents and MPs after heading to the Australian jungle.
Early in the series viewers saw Charlene take Hancock to task over his mistakes, including the clinch with his aide, caught on CCTV, which broke Covid guidelines.
At the time Charlene said: “My aunt died from Covid in the first wave. We couldn’t go to the hospital to visit her. I had to sit by myself in the church at her funeral.
“We couldn’t hug each other because we were following guidance. And I get that you fell in love, I understand all of those things, but sorry, for a lot of families like mine [that] doesn’t really cut it.”
Matt, 44, replied: “Yeah... That’s one of the reasons that I regret it as much as I do.”
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at webcelebs@mirror.co.uk or call us direct 0207 29 33033.
