In comparison to previous year, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! final lost millions of viewers.
On Sunday night, Made in Chelsea actor Sam Thompson was crowned King of the Jungle, with boxing icon Tony Bellew finishing second and ex-UKIP leader Nigel Farage finishing third.
According to overnight figures, an average of 6.6 million people watched the grand final, with a peak of 7.5 million.
Viewing statistics will climb as more people watch catch-up or on other platforms, but there will still be a significant reduction from 2022.
Friday year’s overnights drew 10.1 million viewers, thus Friday night’s final witnessed a decline of over four million.
ITV has also published the exact results of the public vote in the final, with Sam (43.35%) and Tony (30.87%) making it through while Nigel dropped out with 25.78%.
Sam was then crowned King of the Jungle with 56.64% of the vote.
While there are other explanations for the drop in viewership, many fans had promised to boycott the season due to Nigel’s participation in camp.
Even before the lineup was officially published, rumours circulated that the former political figure would be heading into the jungle.
‘I love I’m a Celeb, but I genuinely don’t think I can watch it with Nigel Farage. I mean, Matt was bad enough,’ X (formerly Twitter) user @LizoSpoons said at the time.
Viewer @simonrch1 added: ‘I’m a celeb is my tv guilty pleasure. If you are on it I will turn off.’
And yet another fan (@BDR6778) wrote: ‘It’s a no from me re I’m a Celeb Nigel.’
Nigel spoke on Good Morning Britain earlier today and downplayed similarities to Matt Hancock, despite the fact that both are controversial right-wing MPs who came third on the show.
‘The idea that I could be compared to Matt Hancock on any level I find difficult to deal with,’ the newly-minted reality TV personality laughed.
He added: ‘He was part of a government that locked us down three times and did our country enormous damage – and so no, I do not bear comparison with Matt Hancock, other than third place.’