I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! viewers have been left seething after finally hearing Charlene Whit e's excuse as to why she would not share an RV with MP Matt Hancock.
The Loose Women presenter finally explained her controversial decision after becoming the first star to get the boot on Friday night’s show.
A big bone of contention among Charlene's campmates and viewers was her decision to not sleep in a 'proper bed' in the RV with former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, meaning there wasn’t a spare camp bed for one of her co-stars who had to make do with a hammock instead.
The ITV News anchor is now facing backlash after she explained her reasoning for choosing not to sleep in the RV in her exit interview with Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly last night.
Charlene explained that, as a journalist, she wanted to remain as “impartial” as possible while in the jungle.
The journalist had originally claimed she didn't want to sleep inside the shelter because of the spiders.
Following her exit on Friday, Charlene opened up about her thoughts on Matt to hosts Ant and Dec: "I think my money was on him or Liz Truss in terms of which one you would convince to come on. So I was surprised but also not surprised.
"Look I may be in the jungle but journalism is still my first job. I wanted to ask questions I thought people would want me to ask. I have to remain impartial because journalism is my first job. That was hard."
She continued: "I think everyone had their feelings about Matt when he first walked in. But we also have to live alongside him.
"So we all have to adapt to that. And he's made some real connections in there, which has been wonderful and so many people didn't think that would happen. So it was difficult."
"I just think it would be really difficult to do the job I will continue doing once I have spent the night with a politician. Not in that way!
Charlene added: "I said I was completely fine to sleep on the hammock and I have to think about the job I have when I come out of here.
"I can't say I don't want anyone to think my impartiality goes because I have slept alongside a high profile Tory MP. So I made that decision.
"I slept in the hammock and I was fine doing that."
After Charlene was elected as Hancock's deputy for the camp, she and the MP were made exempt from chores and had proper beds inside the RV.
But when Charlene went to inspect the vehicle she spotted several huge spiders lurking and said that she was unable to sleep there because of the creepy crawlies.
Seann Walsh complained about having back pain after sleeping in the hammock since arriving in camp - resulting in Mike Tindall putting the pressure on for Charlene to give up the bed around the camp fire .
There was also confusion around why the spiders bothered her so much, especially when sleeping outside in the jungle posed more of a risk when it came to critters.
Speaking about Hancock's reaction to her avoiding the RV, Charlene said: “He gets it. He understands it. He understands my job. It’s just a bizarre situation, but that’s how I live my life on a daily basis. On Loose (Women) I have to do it.
"That’s why I can only ever be host, I can’t be ‘panel’. If you are on the panel you are giving your personal opinion on stories.
"I am helping conduct and facilitating that debate while posing questions of the panel whilst providing impartiality.
"If they are going too far in one direction I can pull them back because I have the facts and figures in my head because of my day job.
" Then all you get is a load of tweets from viewers saying, ‘I knew she was a Boris lover. I knew it!’”
But fans were not happy with Charlene's excuse and some asked how she was being impartial when “Matt’s been sleeping in the camp near her”.
Taking to Twitter, one fan fumed: “I couldn’t believe she said impartiality. One can sleep in the same room and be impartial. I think that’s a bad excuse. I get the spider excuse!"
Another raged: "Is #Charlene having a laugh? She’s done nothing but have an opinion the whole time. The pure hypocrisy from her. #ImACeleb."
But others understood where she was coming from, with one saying: “When Charlene was talking about having to have impartiality being a newsreader it made total sense to me why it wouldn’t be great for her to be in an RV with Matt. Awkward.”
Viewers also saw the presenter open up about her stubbornness over the sleeping arrangements while speaking to Sue Cleaver on last night’s update from the jungle.
Charlene admitted to the Coronation Street legend: “I’m an impartial journalist, I can’t be sharing a room with a sitting MP because that just doesn’t sit well with me impartiality wise.
"And I just think, if he were ever to become minister again how can I sit and question him about anything when I’ve shared a room with him?”
Sue said: “It’s very, very tricky.”
The actress told the Bush Telegraph: “I absolutely see her point. When Charlene was talking about having to have impartiality being a newsreader it made total sense to me why it wouldn’t be great for her to be in an RV with Matt. Awkward.”
Charlene continued: “I would say that every conversation we’ve had that Matt’s been here constantly involves me doing calculations in my head about impartiality and making sure it doesn’t go too much in one direction.
"Constantly thinking about those guidelines and the broadcasting rules. It’s a constant thing that’s in my head on a daily basis.”
*I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! watch the next live episode tomorrow at 9.10pm (Saturday) on ITV1 and ITV Hub
