Katherine Ryan has joined the thousands of people boycotting I'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! 2023 because of Nigel Farage's participation.

The comedian, 40, criticised ITV for reducing controversial politicians to "light entertainment fodder" as she labelled the former UKIP leader as "very dangerous."

Sharing that she won't be watching this year's series, Katherine added that she didn't watch last year's either due to the participation of former Health Secretary Matt Hancock.

The hashtag #BoycottImACeleb has been used by nearly 10,000 people since Farage's addition to the lineup was announced, with a subsequent drop in ratings being dubbed the 'Farage Effect.'

Discussing I'm A Celeb, Katherine also revealed that ITV had asked her to join the jungle before, but she couldn't because of her kids.

"They've checked my availability in the past maybe, but I've always had small children and I wouldn't be away from them in Australia for 30 days, I just wouldn't," she told Metro.

Along with boycotts, this series of I'm A Celeb has also been hit by over 100 Ofcom complaints, many of which referenced Nigel's stint on the show.

It was confirmed on Wednesday, 22 November, that 42 of the complaints were about Nigel Farage appearing on the show, while 31 complaints were about comments critical of right-wing politics.

An additional 24 complaints were about a joke made by Ant and Dec about the city of Sunderland.

Ahead of the show's launch, ITV was forced to release a statement in response to the uproar over the politician's inclusion in this year's line-up.

In their statement, ITV said: "I'm A Celebrity has always featured a diverse cast from all areas of public life and has a history of featuring political figures throughout its 20 years on screen.

"As with any camp mate, viewers are invited to form their own opinions when the show begins on Sunday."

Nigel, however, was already prepared for the backlash as he explained that he joined the show to "test" himself.

Before heading into the jungle, he shared: "I want to test myself. Business, politics, media, I've done so many different jobs and generally I have been reasonably successful. But I have never been tested in quite this way."

He added: "It's such a mental test and maybe I will discover who I really am. I understood why Matt Hancock did it. He went in there with his reputation on the floor. The truth is after the banking issue I raised a few months ago, I was standing up for a million people who had lost their bank accounts, then winning at the TRIC awards, I am going in at a different stage of my career."

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