Matt Hancock is now more likely to win I’m A Celebrity than rivals Boy George and Chris Moyles, according to the latest bookies’ odds. But England Lioness Jill Scott remains the clear favourite to be crowned Queen of the Jungle at the end of the ITV1 show.
Tory MP Matt has seen his chances of victory improve steadily since his controversial arrival in the celebrity camp. Punters were being offered odds of 40/1 for a Matt Hancock victory when the show first started on November 6. He was ranked 10th in the list of 12 celebrities taking part in the programme.
But after completing a series of Bushtucker trials he has risen to third favourite behind Jill Scott and Mike Tindall, according to the bookmakers’ aggregator site Oddschecker. In contrast, the odds of Boy George winning the show have fallen away from 10/1 at the start to now being a 33/1 outsider.
Mike Tindall was briefly the bookies’ favourite after the first night in camp when he entertained fellow celebrities with his rapping skills. However, since then Jill Scott has powered into the lead and at the end of last week she was briefly odds-on to be crowned Queen of the Jungle.
Her chances of victory have fallen slightly in the last couple of days as Matt Hancock grabbed the limelight by taking part in a series of Bushtucker trials. The former Health minister was last night voted by the public to take part in his sixth successive trial - Deserted Down Under - when he will be buried underground in a box of critters.
He will also be even more prominent on screen after being selected as camp leader, which he won by beating ex-England rugby player Mike Tindall in a challenge on Sunday night. The arrival of the Tory politician, who resigned after breaching his own Covid social distancing rules by having an affair with an aide, has divided the celebrities.
Boy George and Chris Moyles have appeared the most uncomfortable with the decision to admit him into the camp and both laughed when the Tory MP was bitten by a scorpion. But he has now leapfrogged both of them in the race to win, according to bookmakers.
In last night’s show, Boy George was asked who he would like to see as camp leader, and replied: ‘Well, not a Tory’. He also added: “If Matt was to become camp leader and I feel he’s doing something I don’t agree with, I won’t do it.”
Fans of the show have criticised Chris Moyles for celebrating when the Tory MP was selected for another Bushtucker trial. TV journalist Charlene White challenged the politician over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic when he was Health Secretary. Bookmakers are now placing her as the outsider of the remaining campmates with odds of winning at 150/1.
