I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! hosts Ant and Dec have admitted they’re keen for producers to stop casting politicians on the long-running reality show.
For the past two seasons, the conversation surrounding I’m A Celebrity has largely been dominated by two political figures entering the jungle, with former health secretary Matt Hancock and ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage both signing up in recent years.
While Hancock made it to the final last year, Farage has so far managed to avoid the first two eliminations of the current series.
During a fan Q&A on Instagram, the show’s hosts were asked about the idea of Rishi Sunak competing on I’m A Celebrity on a future series, but it seems neither were keen on the idea.
“I think we do a year without any politicians,” BBC News quoted Declan Donnelly as saying, while Ant McPartlin apparently then repeated the word “agreed”.
Earlier this year, Ant and Dec told HuffPost UK they’d found it “very difficult” when MP Matt Hancock joined the 2022 series of I’m A Celebrity.
“We were all affected by decisions that he made and situations he created, so it was very, very difficult,” Dec said.
“But we tried incredibly hard to be impartial and to put that to one side. And I hope we did it.”
“Everybody comes to Australia with baggage,” Ant added. “It doesn’t matter who you are. Boy George did. Matt Hancock did. Probably all of the campmates [last] year came with a history.
“But once they’re in there, they’re campmates, so we have to treat them like campmates, and let them tell their stories [...] we tried to be as fair, and as even, as possible to all of them.”
In the past, a number of serving MPs have also competed on I’m A Celebrity, including Nadine Dorries and Kezia Dugdale, while Lembit Öpik signed up shortly after losing his seat in 2020.
I’m A Celebrity continues on Tuesday night at 9pm on ITV1.