Angry voters have complained to Parliament's standards watchdog about Matt Hancock feasting on a "buffet of animal genitalia" when he should be working, MPs heard today.
Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone said her office had received "dozens" of complaints about the former Health Secretary.
She said that the public had gone from "anger to despair" about the conduct of MPs.
Ms Stone said one complainant had contrasted the dignity of veterans on Remembrance Sunday with Mr Hancock's exploits on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! on Friday - which is Armistice Day.
She told a cross-party committee that Mr Hancock's actions raise "really important questions" about proper activities by MPs - but said it wasn't something she could investigate.
Ms Stone told the Committee on Standards: "It raises really important questions about members' proper activities while they're supposed to be fulfilling their parliamentary duties and representing their constituents.
"One member of the public contrasted the dignity of veterans on Remembrance Sunday with a former secretary of state and they said this individual was waiting for a buffet of animal genitalia and they wondered what had happened to the dignity of public office."
Asked if it was something she could investigate, Ms Stone said: "No, because it doesn't breach a rule per se, unless we are thinking about the conflict between personal and public interest, and settling that conflict in the interests of the public."
In a depressing indictment on how the public views MPs, she said: "From the correspondence that I receive, I think the public have gone from anger to despair, if I'm honest. People write to me absolutely despairing of what they see."
She said that the majority of MPs work "incredibly hard" on behalf of constituents, but said there was plenty of "anger, frustration and despair at the conduct of a very small member of parliament".
The commissioner told committee members that the "partygate" fines received by Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak had resulted in almost 1,500 complaints.
But a Tory MP said he wished MPs had a forum to complain about the "anger, desperation and despair I have about the conduct of a minority of my constituents".
Sir Charles Walker said: "I can say this because I'm leaving, but I wish I had someone to write to about the anger, desperation and despair I have about the conduct of a minority of my constituents.
"We have to recognise that not all of our constituents are saints. Most are, but some aren't. Members of Parliament are subjected to enormous levels of abuse, enormous levels of physical threat, and I'm afraid when you're under that sort of pressure, it can result in negative behaviours. That is not to excuse the negative behaviours, but there are very few jobs as pressurised as this."
Sir Charles spoke of numerous colleagues "who have constituents either going through the criminal justice system or already in prison for threatening both their lives and those of their families".
Ms Stone responded: "I have been subject to death threats, I have been subject to very serious security threats, received incredibly abusive correspondence. I think those of us who work in public life understand very well what those pressures are.
"You are absolutely right that that does not excuse some of the conduct that we see and where members of the public behave badly, there are systems and processes outside of this place that deal with that. I'm afraid it is not my job to police members of the public."
The commissioner added that a large number of complaints had also been received about "a newly-appointed education minister making an offensive gesture".
This was an apparent reference to Tory Andrea Jenkyns raising her middle finger at crowds outside Downing Street before Mr Johnson's resignation statement.
"That caused a high volume of complaints from members of the public," Ms Stone told MPs.
But "as those complaints were about ministers, they fell outside of the code of conduct".
Mr Hancock said his appearance on the reality show would give an opportunity to “deliver important messages to the masses”.
He wrote: "It’s our job as politicians to go to where the people are — not to sit in ivory towers in Westminster.”
