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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Entertainment
Jessica Sansome & Kate Lally

GMB hit with Ofcom complaints over Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid interview

Good Morning Britain has been hit with more than 100 Ofcom complaints after viewers were left disappointed with an interview conducted by Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid.

Last Tuesday (January 31), the presenters were joined by Matt Hancock on the ITV morning show. The former health secretary appeared live in the studio and was quizzed by the hosts on his controversial I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here stint.

The questioning was mainly levelled at his fee for appearing on the ITV reality show, which was revealed to be £320,000, the MEN reports.

READ MORE: Good Morning Britain goes to ad break after Ed Balls 'makes things political'

Throughout the interview, Matt, 44, said he did not "primarily" go on I'm A Celebrity for the money as he described the 3% of the fee he donated to charity as a "decent sum". The former MP said the £10,000 donation was "more than my MPs’ salary" that he still received while appearing on the show in the Australian jungle.

Unsatisfied with Matt's responses, Susanna asked: "Couldn't they have benefitted from more of your fee rather than £10,000 out of a quarter of a million?" Later in the interview, Richard asked if Matt's future was in showbiz and despite claiming that his plan for 2023 is still in the works, he didn't directly decline when asked if he'd like to "sit in Richard's chair" as a host on GMB.

Susanna asked: "Would you like to sit in Richard's chair? Would you like to be in the Piers Morgan 'mincer' as you call it?"

Matt only laughed in response. "Well that wasn't a no," said Susanna, "Do you want to be a host of Good Morning Britain is that what this is about?"

Matt Hancock (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Susanna later quizzed Matt on whether he broke the covid guidelines during his role as health secretary. He said: "It doesn't feel like I got away with it Susanna, of course it wasn't breaking the law because the legal rules weren't in place. That's why I wasn't fined."

The host then jumped in: "But there was a ban on gathering indoors? Did you receive a fine?" Matt said what he did "wasn't against the law" but he resigned and "took accountability" because "I did break the guidelines".

At the time of the interview, GMB viewers were flocking to social media to complain about his appearance on the show. Taking to Twitter, @FieldSupportIT said: "What a car crash interview on #GMB with Hancock."

@tighabhinn said: "I don't want to hear from MATT HANCOCK - I think I'll switch over to Sky for 5 minutes #GMB", while @KieranMilward added: "Can we, as a nation, stop giving Matt Hancock air time? Everyone's mental health would be much better off if we never heard from him again. #GMB."

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6am on ITV and ITVX

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