When it was announced in May that ITV was cutting 220 jobs, Loose Women’s Nadia Sawalha broke down in tears saying it was 'absolutely brutal' towards backstage staff, while Lorraine Kelly called it 'heartbreaking'.

But 16,000 miles away in the Australian jungle for their show, I’m A Celebrity, hosts Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly joked that they’d lost their helicopter as part of 'cutbacks'.

When asked on their unscripted after show why they didn’t arrive by helicopter for Sunday’s launch show, as they usually do, Ant, 49, interjected: ‘Cutbacks!’

Laughing, Dec, 50, told viewers: 'No, it wasn't cutbacks, we had a chopper on the ground ready to take us out, and basically the weather, it started raining, so we couldn't take the chopper, we had to go by car instead.

He added: 'First thing to go was our chopper! Cutbacks gone mad!'

Meanwhile, more than 10 helicopters were hired out by ITV for more than four hours on Thursday and Friday to accommodate the celebrities' entries on to the show.

The Geordie duo’s shows have remained unscathed by ITV’s cost-cutting agenda as it has so far affected only the daytime TV department, such as This Morning, Loose Women, and Lorraine.

Presenters such as Kaye Adams spoke out about the ongoing situation and said she was having ‘sleepless nights’ about the changes and Kate Garraway said ‘it’s not fun’ to see such sweeping change.

Former Loose Women presenter, Sherrie Hewson, called the decision ‘cruel’ to target the panel's daily talk show as she said it was a ‘lifeline’ for many lonely people.

Lorraine’s broadcast has been reduced from one hour to 30 minutes each episode and will only broadcast 30 weeks a year; the same is said for Loose Women, instead of their full year schedule. 

But like the other daytime shows, This Morning’s production team will merge with those on Lorraine and Loose Women to share resources.

Top TV talent including Lorraine Kelly, 65, were believed to be 'furious' and 'insulted' over the shakeup while the Loose Women are already fearing inevitable job losses. 

Changes are framed by ITV as a way to save money but reinvest in other genres, while keeping their most important shows.

ITV Studios, which makes shows like I’m A Celeb, generated £1,350million in revenue over the nine months to September this year and so the reality show Down Under is a big money maker for the company.

A cool 7.3 million viewers tuned in on Sunday night to see the latest batch of brave celebrities take on jungle life.

But while the opening episode's average viewership of 6.6 million people throughout its 90 minutes was impressive, a whopping 11 million people tuned in to see Alan Carr's unexpected win on the Celebrity Traitors earlier this month.

Nonetheless, I'm A Celeb appears to be a real hit with younger viewers, with an 83% share of 16 to 34 year old viewers tuning in, despite TV viewership numbers in this demographic falling in recent years due to the popularity of streaming services and short-form video content.

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! continues tonight at 9pm on ITV1 and is available to stream on ITVX.