Ed Balls has waded in with his thoughts on Matt Hancock's appearance on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here after it was revealed the former health secretary had arrived in Australia for the upcoming series.
While ITV have already confirmed the ten celebrities who will go into the jungle when the reality show returns this Sunday Mr Hancock, 44, is reportedly set to be one of two latecomers who'll go into the camp, a tradition which has come to be expected among fans of the reality series.
The MP's surprise appearance on the ITV reality show, hosted by Ant and Dec, was reported on Tuesday (November 1) but remains unconfirmed by ITV. However, it was swiftly announced that Mr Hancock had been suspended as a Tory MP and he has since defended his reasons for signing up for the show.
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Discussing I'm A Celeb's latest signing as their top story on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday (November 2), Ed said alongside Susanna Reid: "Personally, I think good luck to him. But I think he is totally crackers to do this.
"Because I think it’s the wrong place to do it from, the wrong time and the wrong programme. To do it as a sitting MP just brings all these questions. He’s lost the whip, Sunak the Prime Minister is clearly furious, his constituents are going to be up in arms. He’s been paid to do this while he’s also going to the jungle.
"I mean, look, to be fair, Boris Johnson was on a Caribbean beach two weeks ago and he’s a sitting MP. But you know, this is a different thing. Secondly, this is the guy who was the health secretary during the pandemic, we have not had the inquiry yet.
"And therefore, it just brings back for so many people so much pain and suffering and it’s not something that you can make light of, until we’ve gone through that inquiry process."
Ed, who took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2016, then compared the BBC dancing contest to the ITV reality TV show. "And then finally, Strictly, nice, warm, fun programme. I’m A Celebrity is tough. And you know, the other contestants will be, you know, I think supportive,” he said.
"And if he gets the tokens and brings in the food, then he’ll be popular. But, you know, I mean, to eat an ostrich anus, live on television, while still a sitting MP and then ask the public do you want to see me do it again?
"I think they might want to see him do it. … I just worry for him that, wrong programme, wrong timing, wrong place to do it from, shouldn’t be doing it, but, you know, it’s gonna be fun, isn’t it? We’re looking forward to it."
Susanna then added: "It's going to be fun to watch. A great booking by ITV." But their remarks did come under fire from GMB viewers. @Nayvee6 tweeted: "@edballs oh dear, defending Hancock as 'it will be fun to watch' on #IACGMOOH It WASN'T a fun watch seeing the death toll rise day after day during the covid pandemic." @Yxllop said: "Fun, yeah… fun."
But later, Susanna cut in during a heated debate about Mr Hancock's I'm A Celeb appearance and argued: "Because the programme is called I'm a Celebrity, he's not a celebrity, he's an MP!" to which former politician and I’m A Celebrity star Lembit Öpik said: " He's a celebrity now! He's been on every front page-"
"And that's the problem!" commentator Dominique Samuels hit back. "We don't want celebrities, I'm not interested in seeing Matt Hancock galavanting on TV, trying to reinstate his public image - because that's what this is about."
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