If you’re still celebrating Jacob Rees-Mogg losing his seat in the election last week while stood next to a man in a baked bean balaclava, then I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news - but that wasn’t the last we’ll see of him.
The former Brexit minister and Conservative MP could be back on our screens sooner than we hoped as a Jacob Rees-Mogg reality TV show is reportedly in the works. Keeping Up With The Rees-Moggs? We’re still recovering from keeping up with five different Tory prime ministers.
What is the Jacob Rees-Mogg reality show about?
Meet the Rees-Moggs is rumoured to be released on Discovery+ this year and threatens to ‘lift the lid on the man behind the public image’, which feels unnecessary seeing as we’re desperate for his lid to be gaffer-taped shut whenever he spouts his bigoted views. Filming has started on the fly-on-the-wall series starring him, his wife, Helena de Chair, their six children and the nanny.
Over five hour-long episodes viewers will get a ‘never-before-seen look’ into his life. If it gets the go ahead (final contracts still need to be agreed) it will follow him through the run-up to the general election and its aftermath.
So what might we see on the show? Him reclining on a chaise lounge for a nap, like he did on the front benches of the House of Commons, while staff flap about him preparing his lunch? The nanny douching behind his ears in the bath? A snoop inside a creaking wardrobe full of clothes fit for Victorian ghouls? Maybe we’ll see the nanny teach him how to change a nappy for the first time. No, that’s ridiculous.
‘Animals, children, an election and a film crew. What could possibly go wrong?’ he guffawed about his upcoming show. A lot, actually, when we consider his archaic views being aired to millions. He’s militantly anti-abortion (even after sexual abuse), he’s anti same-sex marriage, he voted to repeal the human rights act and voted repeatedly to reduce benefits spending. He’s supported Donald Trump in both elections that he’s run in and evoked Trump recently by saying he wants to build a wall in the English Channel.
In 2013 he was a guest of honour at the Traditional Britain Group’s annual dinner – an alt-right organisation who later called for Doreen Lawrence, mother of murdered Black teenager Stephen Lawrence, and other Black people to ‘return to their natural homelands’. (Rees-Mogg distanced himself from the group after these comments). He also defended Boris Johnson after the former Prime Minister compared Muslim women to ‘bank-robbers’ and ‘letterboxes.’ He’s called state school pupils ‘potted plants.’ He’s a member of the ‘pro-life’ brigade but weirdly doesn’t actually seem to like children once they’re born, especially if they’re poor. Need I go on?
And yet, once again, TV commissioners chasing controversy and ratings have decided to platform a far-right winger with regressive views. Sure, it will likely get a lot of eyeballs, but where is the ethical line? There's disagreeing agreeably and letting viewers make up their own minds, and then there’s actively amplifying prejudice.
Look where Nigel Farage appearing on I’m a Celebrity last year got us. Farage, now leader of Reform UK - a party that has been accused of racism - was paid £1.5m to be given the opportunity to rebrand himself as palatable on the show. It was on ITV that he began his bid to appeal to a new and younger audience. Fast forward seven months and he's won his first seat in the Commons after seven failed attempts to become an MP.
Who knows if I’m a Celeb gave him a boost, but it’s not inconceivable that Reform’s success with a younger audience on TikTok in the run up to the election can be traced back to his 23-day stint on primetime TV less than a year ago. Matt Hancock also enjoyed a stint on I’m a Celeb, but luckily not even that could help successfully revive his political career.
The format of this one could be exposing, but what’s left to expose about Rees-Mogg? Politicians only do this for the fame or money, and he doesn’t need the money, so it begs the terrifying question: what is he planning that he’s trying to raise his profile for?
If the producers want tears and screaming matches – reality TV gold - they’ve got the wrong guy: he’s said he’s never cried as an adult, which isn’t surprising for a man so lacking in empathy he described food banks as ‘rather uplifting.'
The fact his party is no longer in power doesn’t offer any comfort. Farage and misogynist influencer Andrew Tate aren’t in government but look at the damage that can be done with a platform and a megaphone. So don’t be fooled by Meet the Rees-Moggs; he’s not a funny/quirky ghoul-like creature, he’s a very real threat to women’s rights and he’s still haunting us.