‘Get out of here’: 35-metre banner flown over I’m a Celebrity camp in Matt Hancock protest

Protest was organised by 38 Degrees and Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice

Campaign groups have flown a plane protesting Matt Hancock’s appearance on I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! over the show’s camp.

On Tuesday (15 November) between 11am and 1pm Australian time, a plane was flown over the camp where the contestants are based in the jungle.

Attached to the vehicle was a bearing a 35-metre-long banner, which reads: “COVID BEREAVED SAY GET OUT OF HERE!”

The protest came from campaign groups 38 Degrees and Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, after more than 44,000 people signed a petition calling for ITV to reverse their decision to make Hancock a campmate.

The former health secretary, who resigned as health secretary last year after violating his own Covid regulations when he was caught kissing his aide, was stripped of the Tory whip for appearing on the show.

Hancock entered the jungle as a “bombshell” contestant alongside Seann Walsh four episodes into the series.

He was originally treated with hostility by his fellow campmates, but after being voted by the public to take part in the first six Bushtucker Trials and winning food for the camp, has become accepted by his campmates.

Lobby Akinnola, who lost his father to Covid-19 said: “Matt Hancock isn’t a ‘celebrity’, he’s the former health secretary who oversaw the UK having one of the highest death tolls in the world from Covid-19 whilst breaking his own lockdown rules.

The protest banner stretched 35 metres (38 Degrees)

“He’s claimed the inquiry will set the record straight, but it can only get to the truth if it has the evidence it needs. He should be at home sending in those emails rather than being rewarded with £400,000 for not doing his job. His transparent attempt to sell more books and cleanse his public profile has failed.”

38 Degrees CEO Matthew McGregor said: “No one has forgotten how Matt Hancock conducted himself during the Covid-19 pandemic: not the general public, not his campmates, and certainly not those who lost loved ones.

“Our message emblazoned across the skies makes crystal clear to Matt Hancock: you should be representing the people of West Suffolk and giving Covid Bereaved Families the answers they deserve, rather than playing games for dingo dollars, plastic stars and a £400,000 paycheck.”

I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! airs Sunday to Friday at 9pm on ITV. Follow the latest updates here.