Gogglebox star Mary Killen is facing backlash from viewers over comments she made about Boris Johnson during his interview with Good Morning Britain.
Friday night's episode of Gogglebox saw the families settle in to watch the prime minister appear on the ITV talk show on Tuesday (3 May), marking his first appearance on the show in five years.
Host Susanna Reid met Johnson at 10 Downing Street and quizzed him over whether he was an 'honest' prime minister as well as on the current cost of living crisis.
She drew the PM's attention to the case of one particular member of public; a 77-year-old woman named Elsie who has been forced to cut down to one meal a day and ride the bus all day in order to stay warm and save on her energy bills.
Gogglebox cut to partners Giles and Mary as Reid described Elsie's story, at which point Mary commented: "I am very sorry for Elsie but Susanna is making out it is Boris' fault and like he doesn't care.”
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When Giles asked Mary whose fault it was, Mary responded: "Well it is the global situation.”
The comment quickly sparked backlash from Channel 4 viewers who took to social media to criticise Mary over her opinion of Johnson, with some calling for the show to 'get rid' of the participant.
One Twitter user responded: "Can someone remind Mary that Boris Johnson runs this country and it absolutely IS his problem and his fault that an elderly women is riding a bus to keep warm bcos her heating bill has risen more than 4x!”
Another commented: "love Gogglebox but if mary doesn’t stop defending boris i’ll be writing a strongly worded email."
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A third critic suggested Mary was 'out of touch' with her comment, questioning: "If you can’t hold to account the Prime Minister of the country, what are we supposed to do? They’re the leaders of the country. They are supposed to support the average human in times of need."
In response to Reid's story about Elsie, Johnson 'reminded' the Good Morning Britain presenter that he introduced the 24-hour freedom bus pass the elderly woman was using to ride the bus. Following his comment, fact checkers determined he did change the Freedom Pass so it applied 24 hours a day on most services, but did not introduce it originally.
The PM conceded there was 'more that [the government] can do' to provide members of the public with the help they need.
Topics: Boris Johnson, Gogglebox, TV and Film, Politics, UK News
Emily Brown