Matt Hancock’s arrival on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here has given viewing figures a major boost — as a minister revealed how MPs and lords are voting for him to undergo the show’s stomach-churning bushtucker trials.
The former health secretary, who was reportedly paid £400,000 to appear on the show, entered the Australian jungle on Wednesday night.
An ITV spokeswoman said the episode pulled in a peak audience of 9.1 million with the average audience of 7.9m up by more than 2m on this time last year.
Shortly after arriving the MP was forced to take part in the Beastly Burrows bushtucker trial, alongside comedian Seann Walsh, in a bid to win food for the camp.
It saw the pair pelted with slime as they crawled through pitch black tunnels packed with maggots, spiders, scorpions and rats to collect plastic stars to swap for meals.
The West Suffolk MP was then selected again by the public to face a second challenge called Tentacles of Terror, which is due to be aired on ITV on Thursday night.
A teaser from the show sees the ex-cabinet minister floundering in a large octopus-shaped tank of water while attempting to salvage stars from a variety of submerged, sea critter-filled cages.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris said he had not been watching the programme, but he knew colleagues were keen on seeing Mr Hancock participate in the nauseating challenges.
He told Times Radio on Thursday: “There are hundreds of MPs and peers who have managed to, probably for the first time in some peers’ lives, download an app to vote for somebody. I’m assuming that does not mean great things for Matt.”
Pressed on whether he minded that Mr Hancock was in the jungle, he added: “If he wants to provide entertainment for the great British public, he is more than welcome.”
This is a more relaxed tone than that taken by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chief Whip Simon Hart who suspended Mr Hancock as a Tory MP for travelling to Australia rather than representing his constituents in Westminster.
The 44-year-old joined the cast of the reality show on Wednesday, after facing much criticism over his decision to take part from the public and fellow politicians.
His arrival was met by shock, laughter and incredulity by his camp mates.
Boy George revealed that his mother was in hospital in Greenwich at the start of the pandemic when Mr Hancock was health secretary.
He told a camp mate: “I feel like, I don’t want to be sitting here like I’m having fun with him. It’s difficult for me because, you know, had something happened, if my mum had gone, I wouldn’t be here now. I would have gone when he walked in.”
