Jenny Bathurst: "a desperate attempt to make our politicians seem more relatable"

And of course, once again, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! returns to our screens. When you get to the nitty gritty of it, it sounds like such unwatchable content. Celebrities (most of whom you have never heard of) sit on camp beds in the middle of a jungle and sometimes they have to eat or crawl around in bugs and guts in order to win slightly better things to eat. However year after year, millions (including myself) huddle around their televisions to watch, laugh and groan at what the contestants are put through. And of course the controversy this year surrounds a certain MP who has accepted the challenge to lace up his hiking boots and most likely be subjected to every trial the public can vote for.

It begs the question of who those in power really are. We all know the controversy surrounding the pandemic and various Hancock-related-headlines that arose from it, but seeing our former Health Secretary desperately retrieving plastic stars from mud crab filled water tanks feels like a desperate attempt to make our politicians seem more relatable…because I so often find myself battling sea animals in the Australian jungle.

I feel so detached from our government. Perhaps it’s partly because I don’t entirely understand the structure and what I can’t make much sense of I can sometimes shy away from, but I don’t feel a connection with our politicians. You would think watching Hancock sing Ed Sheeran and be vulnerable on live TV may make him more approachable, but it simply felt alien and entirely out of character. Surely the key aim of the government and those in power is to be able to see and understand the needs of the public, but that must be a mighty challenge when they all seem so out of touch with you and me? I don’t feel an emotional connection with any of them and yet so many important decisions are in their hands. But will I still be watching the Suffolk MP every night out of pure fascination?