This wasn’t the story I had intended to post this week. I have another I’ve been working on, but that can wait. Because this issue of the week is crucial. It crucial! It crucial! Right. Let’s talk jungle. As in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! jungle. It’s not a show you could even pay me to watch, much less. Because of all dem creepy crawlie and wriggly boa constrictor things they have in deh. But I found myself watching the start of this new season because there were a couple of women I admired and would like to see how they get on. They were Scarlett Douglas (property show presenter) and Charlene White (newsreader and Loose Women panellist and other things).
But my interest came to a screeching end when the all-round Good Egg of the camp, Charlene was first to be booted out, as voted for by the GBP (Great British Public). Shock-a-doodle do! Why, oh why was Charlene, an intelligent and stabilizing influence, given the boot so soon? Well, some people in social media land said she is ‘smothering’ or ‘bossy’. One or ‘thother. Or both. Basically, they didn’t like her. And guess what, Charlene White is a Black woman. Hey now!
Following fast on Charlene’s heels were, wait for it… Scarlette. And guess what. Scarlette is also Black. What did sweet Scarlette do to upset anyone? Nothing, really. And she didn’t have to. Like Charlene before her and countless others – Black women, that is – they don’t have to do anything wrong. Back in the day, there used to be a saying ‘your face don’t fit’. Well, what the GBP is saying in their way of voting off the Black women first is that their faces don’t fit. So, we are getting shot of you: quick, fast and in a hurry. Some people would call that racism. And they have.
I’m A Celebrity… has been on our telly screens for the best part of 20 years. Black women have always been on the show but scratch your head for a minute and think which Black woman ever won the show. Come to think of it, has any Black person ever been crowned king (or queen) of the jungle? Comedian Babatunde Aleshe himself just narrowly escaped eviction. Pretty sure that by the time you read this, he’ll be doggone.
Word on the street is that Black people who enter that jungle show stand no chance of winning. So, I ask myself, what are they doing signing up for it? Yes, the remuneration to enter therein is not too shabby and some see the experience as helping them to overcome certain fears they may have so I am sure they go into this with a big heart and a bagful of hope. But at the same time, it would be a nice welcome change to see a person of colour kick the usual narrative to the curb and cross over that there winner’s bridge, triumphantly clutching that wooden sceptre as king or queen of the jungle.
