Viewers fume over I’m A Celeb double elimination

Two more celebs were kicked out of I’m A Celeb to deliver this season’s final three – but fans of the show aren’t happy.

I’m A Celeb viewers were left stunned during Sunday’s penultimate episode of the season, when two of the season’s most popular campmates were sent packing in a surprise double elimination.

Comedian Geraldine Hickey and UK social media star Max Balegde were both eliminated last night, leaving two-time Big Brother winner Reggie Bird, former NRL player Sam Thaiday and former Bachelor Matty J to battle it out during this Sunday’s grand finale.

And there was an overwhelming sentiment on social media, as fans of the show questioned how two of the season’s most entertaining contestants had been booted out – and how Matty J had made it all the way to the final.

“Who the f**k is voting for Matt J. Seriously. Lovely guy, but not more entertaining than Geraldine or Max!” one fan tweeted.

“Now who the hell was voting for matty over max?” another asked.

Max Balegde (left) and Geraldine Hickey are out of the jungle.

“Geraldine going home before matty j is my villain origin story,” another fumed.

Others demanded a recount: “Need to check those votes. Cannot understand how Matty. J is still there,” one person tweeted, while another fan accused the show of being “rigged. There’s no way this many people are actually voting for matty j!”

Reggie Bird is certainly the sentimental favourite heading into Sunday’s finale, an enormously popular two-time Big Brother winner who nevertheless has had a long run of bad luck outside of her occasional winning TV appearances.

Speaking to news.com.au before she entered the jungle, Bird – who has lived with a worsening degenerative eye condition for many years – confessed the quarter-million in prize money she won from her second Big Brother stint in 2022 had only served to keep her head above water.

Poor Matty J might be crying again if he checks social media after the show.

Can Reggie score a history-making third reality show win? Picture: Supplied.

“I feel like I’m a mouse in one of those spinning wheels … I just can’t get off this vicious circle,” she said with a sigh.

She revealed her initial hopes that the money would get her on the property ladder had proven unrealistic.

“I went to the bank to get a loan and couldn’t, because you need to borrow well over half a million dollars to buy a house on the Gold Coast, and I don’t have a job. No-one wants to employ me because of my vision. I’ve been trying to get a job, but I just can’t get any work, so I can’t get a loan,” she said.

“I’ve been living off the winnings, paying the rent to keep a roof over our heads. That’s where the money’s been going – on rent.

Along with the once in a lifetime challenge and the potential windfall for her chosen charity, Guide Dogs Australia, Reggie wasn’t shy about the other reason she’d signed up for I’m A Celeb: She hopes it will lead to more TV work. Paid work, to help keep her afloat.

“It’s just a matter of someone giving me that chance. It’s a really weird situation to be in: A lot of people go, ‘Everyone loves Reggie,’ but no one wants me,” she said in December.

“I’m hoping something may come of this after being in the jungle. I’m hoping.”

I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! Grand Finale Sunday At 7pm On 10 And 10 Play.

Originally published as Viewers fume over I’m A Celeb double elimination