Giant banner flown over I'm A Celebrity camp calling…

Giant banner flown over I'm A Celebrity camp calling for Matt Hancock axe

A huge banner has been flown over the I'm A Celebrity camp calling for Matt Hancock to be removed from the jungle after protests from thousands of viewers.

This year's campmates are likely to have spotted the 35-metre-long banner, which read: "Covid Bereaved Say Get Out Of Here!" The message was targeted at the MP and former Health Secretary, who caused an uproar when he signed up to join the ITV show with North East families who were rocked by the pandemic branding him "morally bankrupt and distasteful".

The plane flying the banner was hired and sent out by activism organisation 38 Degrees, after a petition on the platform launched by Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice calling to stop Hancock appearing on I'm A Celeb surpassed 44,000 signatures. The CEO of 38 Degrees, Matthew McGregor, told the Daily Star that their banner makes the campaign's message "crystal clear" to Mr Hancock.

It comes after Hancock infuriated viewers as he addressed the events that led to his resignation as Health Secretary. Speaking to campmate Babatúndé Aleshe, he said of his affair with aide Gina Coladangelo that was caught on CCTV: " I messed up and I fessed up, right? I resigned. And there's no excuse, but I fell in love, right?"

The banner was sent over the I'm A Celeb camp by campaign groups 38 Degrees and Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice (38 Degrees)

The MP has so far been made to navigate underground tunnels, be trapped inside an underwater cage, and eat camel and sheep genitals after being voted by the public to take part in a string of Bushtucker Trials. But he has had an unexpected reprieve from the trials, after Monday's episode revealed that he has not been selected for the next trial after viewers complained that it was turning into 'The Matt Hancock Show'.

Several of Hancock's campmates have been equally unhappy with his appearance in the jungle, with the likes of Chris Moyles, Scarlette Douglas and Charlene White grilling the MP over his actions during lockdown. After Scarlette questioned why Hancock had broken his own lockdown guidance with his affair, he repeated the excuse that he "fell in love".

Charlene quickly shot back: "It’s massively bigger than that. My aunt died from Covid in the first wave. So, we couldn’t go to the hospital to go and 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 doesn’t really cut it."

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