Out of sight, out of mind - how I’m A Celebrity redefines reality

In an ‘exclusive’ story about I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, The Sun reports:

Celebrities who smoke are being supplied with packs of cigarettes in their Grade I-listed I'm A Celebrity castle home.

In order to light up however contestants including former professional footballer David Ginola have to leave the castle so their smoking breaks are not caught on camera.

It’s a far cry from the early years of the programme when celebrities smoked openly in camp and the producers thought nothing of filming them.

Significantly it clearly didn’t bother the viewers because, far from being voted out early, it wasn’t unusual for contestants who smoked to get to the latter stages and one or two even made it to the final.

Shaun Ryder (2010) is the one who comes immediately to mind but there have been others including the cricketer Phil Tufnell.

In 2003 TV chef (and Forest patron) Antony Worrall Thompson provided one of the better known moments in the programme’s 19-year history when the nicotine-starved restaurateur attempted to escape camp in search of cigarettes.

According to the Daily Mail:

TV chef Antony Worrall Thompson held a drunken sit-down protest and threatened to break out of I'm a Celebrity last night if his demands for cigarettes were not met …

It’s a few years since I saw a contestant smoking (Ferne McCann in 2015 was possibly the last) but I’m not a regular viewer so there may have been others more recently.

What is clear is that the producers have decided that smoking on camera is no longer acceptable - even after nine o’clock - and viewers must be ‘protected’ from the sight of someone lighting up.

This is in contrast to just about every drama series broadcast at the same time on other channels.

As a result we have the bizarre situation whereby a ‘reality’ TV programme seeks to distort reality by pretending that no-one smokes, while programmes based largely on fiction are the ones that better reflect reality.

Either way it’s another example of how smokers are slowly being exorcised.

I suspect though that it reflects what will happen if and when the Government meets its ‘smoke-free’ target.

While politicians will congratulate themselves on having eradicated smoking, in reality millions of people will still be smoking, but less visibly.

Like I’m A Celebrity today there will be a significant difference between perceived reality (no smoking) and the actualité.

What’s sad is that the I’m A Celebrity producers should feel the need to employ this sleight of hand and create a fake reality.