Charlene White has become the first contestant to be voted off this year's I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! show. The 42-year-old Loose Women star was announced as the celebrity with the fewest votes on Friday’s show by hosts Ant and Dec, sparking a mainly hostile reaction on social media.
Upon leaving the Australian jungle, she told presenters Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly: “This is really, really weird.” When asked by about being the maternal figure in the camp, White said: “Once you are a parent, you take on this role wherever you go. ”
But it wasn't her parenting instincts that drew the focus of Twitter users. Having told the Geordie duo that she had tempered every every conversation in camp with calculations about her sense of impartiality, the journalist and newsreader said she was always aware of making sure debates didn't go "too much in one direction".
Read more: I’m A Celebrity viewers divided over Boy George's apology to Matt Hancock
That drew a stinging rebuke from @Beninvestor1, who said: "I had to be impartial — yet didn’t decide to interrogate any of the other celebrities. Mike - prince Andrew, Sue - drink driving and George - court case. Either question them ALL or do none of them."
@alidawn said: "I assume Charlene will heading straight home to her kids and not staying on in the luxury hotel?" And @Roadrunner19860 said: "Can you imagine being a TV presenter and being told you’re less popular than Matt Hancock and the public would rather watch him on telly than watch you? That’s gotta hurt."
@GrumpyOldBast10 weighed in with: "Imagine Charlene when it sinks in being voted out first when Matt Hancock was a national embarrassment and Boy George kidnapped someone, yet the public liked them more."
And in a swipe at both Charlene and the daytime show she co-presents, @Mysteron_Voice stated: "Kaye Adams first out of #Strictly, Charlene White first out of #ImACeleb, let's face it, those #LooseWomen are nowhere near as popular as they like to think they are..."
However, Coronation Street actress and Loose Women panellist Denise Welch staunchly defended her colleague on Twitter, saying: "Charlene missed her babies. She stuck to her principles. People have very short memories regarding Hancock. I’m very proud of my friends Charlene and Sue."
Responding, @elinf88 said: "How were they up for the Vote when Hancock should’ve been out? I mean there is no question for me. He’s loving this, he’s been given exactly what he wants."
Just before leaving the show and heading back to civilisation, White said she would like Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver or former rugby player Mike Tindall to win I’m A Celebrity.
Also during Friday’s show, White and Boy George took on the latest Bushtucker trial called Watery Grave where they had to go in two separate tombs and pass over stars to each other with magnets.
Water spiders, eels and mud crabs were added to their tombs and White said: “I don’t think I can do this. I’ve just come out of the water as I can’t get in with the eels.” When another eel was dropped on to her she then shouted out: “I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!" She added: "I was trying. I can’t.”
When she returned to camp, everyone gave White a hug and Cleaver later hugged her as White cried. White said earlier on the show that as she is an “impartial journalist” and that she could not share the RV with Matt Hancock, who is a “sitting MP” and may be a minister again.
She and Hancock had been gifted the more comfortable sleeping quarters after the MP was made leader in a previous episode of the show — and he chose her as his deputy — but she continued to sleep on the camp beds outside, initially using the presence of spiders in the RV as the excuse not to share the sleeping quarters with him.
White said: “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." She added: “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.”
Elsewhere, Boy George told Hancock that he had been “hating on” the former health secretary during their time in the jungle. The 61-year-old Culture Club singer apologised to the MP for his behaviour to him and said he found it difficult to “separate” the politician from the person.
On Friday, Boy George told comedian Seann Walsh: “(I) can’t stand Matt. I have tried to like him and I’ve failed. I find him slimy, I find him slippery. I find him just … I made a joke about chocolate. He just looked at me like… I wanted to say, ‘What are you looking at? Don’t you look at me like that’.”
Hancock then joined the conversation and Boy George told him: “I was making a joke about the chocolate. For god’s sake I was like … let’s have a bit of fun. I didn’t like the way you looked at me. I made a joke and you were like…”
Hancock said it was not his “intention” and he was sorry for making him feel “uncomfortable”. Boy George then told the Bush Telegraph: “He’s probably going to be quite upset and I was kicking off a bit and I just thought, ‘you know what, just tell him to his face what you feel’.”
The singer then told Hancock: “I just feel everyone’s trying to be too nice. It’s getting on my tits. I don’t want arguments… I’m just like come on guys, have a laugh. I’ll be honest with you, I think your presence has made everyone very compliant.”
Hancock replied: “Compliant, it’s a funny word.” Boy George said: “I have been hating on you, I have to be honest. I sometimes feel like you don’t say what you mean and you’re not particularly direct.”
He added: “I’m trying to separate you as a human being and you as a politician, and I’m struggling with it. We don’t share the same politics. I am struggling a little bit with you. That’s not your problem, that’s my problem. I apologise because I was really slagging you off a minute ago.”
Hancock said he would prefer the truth and has “enjoyed spending time with” Boy George. The musician told the Bush Telegraph: “It feels like a relief to me. I thought, I don’t want to come out of here and feel like I’ve been dishonest. I had to be truthful.”
Owen Warner also told presenter Scarlette Douglas that the health secretary was “very cheeky” to ask if there was any food around. The 23-year-old Hollyoaks actor said Hancock had been “bragging about how much food there was” when given a beachside barbecue during Thursday’s episode.
Warner also spoke about Hancock wiping bird poo off of his leader’s chair. He told the Bush Telegraph: “That is our former health secretary… ‘happy birthday twice’ he told me (when washing your hands) and he’s just given a little (flick of a rinse under water) after touching poo with his bare hands!”
The camp also elected a new leader and voted for Tindall, who made Cleaver his deputy.
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! returns tonight (Saturday) at 9.10pm on ITV1 and ITV Hub.
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