ITV I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! viewers flooded Ofcom with complaints last night after a disgraced Matt Hancock opened up to campmates about his downfall during the Covid crisis.
Hancock, 44, fought back tears as campmates quizzed him over his controversial stint as Health Secretary in the pandemic.
DJ Chris Moyles said he was a “b***end“ for breaking his own Covid guidelines and Charlene White fumed that her auntie died of the coronavirus at the time.
The ITV newsreader said his words “didn’t cut it” when he said he fell in love with aide Gina Coladangelo as an excuse.
Things got heated and he told the group: “We all make mistakes. I made a pretty big one.”
But viewers weren't impressed with one writing on Twitter : “Ofcom I am calling for the removal of @MattHancock from the show please stop making him look like a victim the victims are families like mine and others who lost a loved one in lockdown the ones who followed the rules.“
And another added: “Dear @Ofcom I wish to complain about the current I’m a Celebrity show. Watching people eat vaginas & camel penis sickened me to my stomach But not as much as listening to Matt Hancock begging for forgiveness whilst earning 400k & promoting his book #NoMoreFakeTears.“
Meanwhile, a third wrote: “ @Ofcom please accept my complaint re Matt Hancock on I'm a celeb - for the public who are still affected by covid to see him seeking publicity for himself and his book is a disgrace - he should not be on the programme and we should not the subjected to this.“
Hancock had earlier chewed and retched through a menu including camel penis and sheep vagina to win 11 meals for camp.
The grilling began as Chris asked Hancock: “What’s the plan, come out of here, write a book?”
He replied: “I’ve just finished a book. Tells the story straight. Also, there’s going to be an inquiry. That will tell the story straight as well.”
Footie star Jill Scott said: “Tucker trials practice for your big trial?” Chris laughed, adding: “Jill Scott – grilled by a Lioness.”
Chris then asked Hancock: “You got a lockdown fine, didn’t you?”
The MP replied: “No, of course I didn’t. I didn’t break any...”
Charlene told him: “You were socialising with someone outside of your household.”
Hancock, who was married when a CCTV clip surfaced of him embracing Ms Coladangelo during lockdown, said: “I didn’t break any laws. Guidance is different.”
Actress Scarlette Douglas said: “So there’s a rule and there’s a law.” Hancock said: “Guidance is guidance. But it was my guidance.”
Scarlette asked: “Why did you break your own guidance?”
The MP said: “It was a mistake, I fell in love with somebody. That’s why I apologised for it. I feel very...”
Scarlette added: “It’s that kind of, you just do it and then afterwards it’s like, ‘Oh I’m sorry, I’m sorry.’”
Hancock, who was forced to resign after the affair was exposed, said: “No, it’s bigger than that.”
Charlene added: “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 families like mine doesn’t really cut it.”
Hancock said: “Yeah. Well, there you go. That’s one of the reasons that I regret it as much as I do.”
Charlene asked: “Do you have regret regarding the way that as Health Minister you dealt with the pandemic as a whole?”
Hancock said: “So the pandemic as a whole no, I’m much, much more robust in my defence of it.”
Charlene asked: “Even when PPE, with carers and with old people’s homes..?” Hancock said: “We suddenly needed masses more PPE and so did everybody else in the world. And care homes – those problems were caused by the virus, not the people who were trying to solve the problem.”
Chris said: “We were liking you on the telly on the daily briefings. You were articulate and human. And I think that’s why a lot of people felt let down a bit. I’m like, 'ahh.. you b***end.'
As Hancock’s eyes filled with tears, Labour supporter Sue Cleaver surprisingly saved him, saying: “I think we’ve covered everything, we should stop.
“What I do appreciate is that you did eat a sheep’s vagina for us. We are all fallible and we all f*** up.”
Hancock then said: “Do you know what it is actually, what I’m really looking for is a bit of forgiveness.”
Hancock triumphed in his third Bushtucker Trial, winning 11 stars with vegetarian musician Boy George.
The MP also ate a fish eye taco, blended meal worms, cow’s anus and cockroaches. Boy George, real name George O’Dowd, ate sticky beans, vomit fruit and fermented duck egg, plums and seaweed. He told the camp: “Everything I ate tasted like vomit.”
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