Tory MP Johnny Mercer’s stint on Channel 4’s Banged Up was greeted with hilarity online as footage showed him smoking a cigarette smuggled in from his cellmate’s anus and smashing windows for fresh air.
The show, billed as a ‘unique experiment’ features a disused prison in Shrewsbury full of experienced jailbirds, who are joined by seven celebrities – including Mercer, EastEnders’ Sid Owen, ‘tractor porn’ MP Neil Parish and Strictly’s HRVY.
Sandhurst-trained Mercer, 41, a former minister for army veterans, appeared unfazed on this week’s episode as he underwent a full body search before he entered his cell.
But almost immediately, he was confronted with the spectacle of an inmate expelling tobacco from his rear end. Mercer smashed a window while choking for air before going on to smoke the contraband – leaving viewers tickled.
Jennifer Blanks wrote on X, formerly Twitter: ‘The Tory MP turning into a savage and smashing windows in his prison cell for fresh air was absolutely hilarious.’
Mais X added: ‘Watching a Tory MP smoke an elf bar in a cell with a murderer has been the highlight of my week.’
Tory MP Johnny Mercer looked on in horror as a cellmate expelled cigarettes from his anus on Channel 4’s Banged Up
Reform contract killer Kevin Lane, who spent 24 years in prison, explained that ‘chugg blocking’ as a common way to smuggle contraband’
A disgusted Mercer went on to smash window panes to get rid of the smell. I went on to smoke a cigarette
Jennifer Blanks wrote on X, formerly Twitter : ‘The Tory MP turning into a savage and smashing windows in his prison cell for fresh air was absolutely hilarious’
Mais X added: ‘Watching a Tory MP smoke an elf bar in a cell with a murderer has been the highlight of my week’
Angenevs wrote: ‘Nice to see my MP Johnny Mercer on yet another reality show! How does he find the time.’
Justice for Veterans wrote: ‘Instead of dealing with Veterans issues… Johnny Mercer chooses to smoke ciggies from another man’s butt on TV. Desperate times.’
Other were less amused. Angenevs wrote: ‘Nice to see my MP Johnny Mercer on yet another reality show! How does he find the time.’
Justice for Veterans wrote: ‘Instead of dealing with Veterans issues… Johnny Mercer chooses to smoke ciggies from another man’s butt on TV. Desperate times.’
Hogwart Bukkake wrote: ‘It’s bizarre that they’ve used Johnny Mercer for this when there’s at least 3 Tory MPs who are already in prison that they could have used without paying a fee.’
Ex-prison officer wrote: ‘Johnny Mercer is currently in debt to his celly for tobacco and a meal. If he has no problems as a result, it won’t be like real prison.’
The former veterans minister hit headlines this summer as his wife Felicity Cornelius-Mercer launched into a public spat with ex-Countdown presenter Carol Vorderman.
In Channel 4’s Banged Up, Mercer finds himself sharing a cell with former contract killer Kevin Lane, who spent 24 years behind bars.
As the pair begin talking, Lane asks Mercer if he smokes, to which he replies ‘yes’.
The mood turns ominous as Lane says: ‘Right would you like a cigarette?’
A narrator then tells viewers that smoking tobacco was banned in UK prisons in 2018 and is now a valuable contraband, costing £1,000 per ounce
Lane said: ‘Right, so what I will do now, and it won’t be a long process…’
Lane then explains to the camera that ‘chugg-blocking’ is a common tactic employed by prisoners to smuggle in contraband.
Mercer watches with horror as Lane bends over and with a few stifled grunts, retrieves the illicit pack of cigarettes from his rectum.
The mood turns ominous as Lane asks Mercer: ‘Right would you like a cigarette?’
Johnny Mercer’s horror as inmate on C4’s Banged Up retrieves cigarettes from his rectum
‘Don’t mate, I don’t think I can cope’ Mercer says.
Lane appears unmoved by the criticism as he wipes the packet and reveals the cigarettes.
Mercer then swears about the stench and smashes several window panes of the cell.
Reflecting on the incident afterwards, Mercer says to the camera: ‘What the f*** just happened?
‘If you turn up like me, your average Joe, and you don’t know much about prison and how it works, you begin to learn these tricks to survive.
‘Like smuggling in phones and tobacco. It just becomes a kind of university of crime.
‘You become like prisoners. I didn’t have to smash a window, I didn’t have to smoke. I could have told him to f*** off.
‘It’s kind of what you do to get by, and I think that’s what prison is. Just getting by.’
In another segment on the show, Mercer opened up about his own battles with obsessive compulsive disorder – telling the camera: ‘I had OCD from when I was a boy actually, it’s pretty much a coping mechanism for a pretty chaotic childhood and then as you get older it sort of really flares up in periods of stress.
‘If it gets really bad, it can lead to bouts of depression. I like fresh air and I spend a lot of time on the loo making sure my backside is clean.’