Lorraine Kelly has criticised the ‘daft’ reason that Matt Hancock could be disqualified from water-based Bushtucker Trials on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!
The reports have suggested the former Health Secretary is battling a secret health condition and as a result may be exempt, as stars in previous years have been.
Yet the Lorraine host blasted the news on her ITV show on Thursday morning, as she spoke with ITV entertainment reporter Rishi Davda from Australia.
She said: “It has been suggested he might not be doing some of the trials. That’s just daft, isn’t it? Because that’s what we all want to vote him to do.”
Bookmakers are already predicting Mr Hancock will make history as the campmate nominated for the most trials, with Ladbrokes tipping him at 1/2 to break I’m A Celebrity records.
However, it has now been reported that viewers may be unable to vote for Mr Hancock to do the resilience tests which involve water as he is said to have developed trench foot while filming Celebrity SAS Who Dares Wins.
The condition is caused by prolonged exposure to the wet and can take up to six months to clear symptoms.
Lorraine went on to say: “There’s no point in being there, let's be honest, if he’s not going to do them.”
She also labelled the news he had been involved in the celebrity SAS spin-off ‘bizarre’, saying: “I didn’t know he had done that SAS thing. So this is not the first reality show he’s done. How extraordinary.”
Mr Hancock – who arrived in Brisbane ahead of the show's launch on Sunday – has faced criticism over the decision to join the 2022 line-up for the show.
The West Suffolk MP defended his decision to appear on the ITV reality show in Australia, saying it is a ‘powerful tool’ to reach young people after he was suspended as a Conservative MP.
The MP's claim that he would chat to constituents while on I'm A Celebrity has since been labelled ‘delusional’ by an insider.
I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! bosses have confirmed the contestant will only be allowed contact with the outside world if there is an emergency.
The former Health Secretary insisted in an article yesterday that he had agreed with the ITV show's producers that he can be contacted at any point for ‘urgent constituency matters’.
But the I'm A Celeb camp in Australia is isolated from the real world and Hancock will even have his phone taken away.
An ITV spokesman added: "Celebs cannot speak to the outside world at all unless there are exceptional circumstances ie. an emergency."
