Hunted branded ‘unwatchable’ as fuming viewers claim show is ‘fixed’ after hunters discover CCTV footage of contestant boarding a plane from remote field in Suffolk

Hunted has been branded ‘unwatchable’ by fuming viewers who claim the show is ‘fixed’ after the team were able to find CCTV footage of a contestant boarding a private plane in Suffolk.

On last night’s episode of the hit Channel 4 series, Jack, 27, from London, turned to friends and family for help getting him out of Newmarket.

Earlier in the series, the product developer accidentally split from his teammate Alex when the hunters discovered they had been staying at a friend’s house in the countryside.

After being made aware that the hunters were on his trail again, Alex’s friend Thady organised for an acquaintance to fly him across the country from a small racecourse near his house.

Sitting on board the private plane, Alex told the cameras: ‘They don’t have a Scooby Doo where I am or where I’m doing. Let’s get the f*** out of here!’ 

The show then jumps to the hunters discovering CCTV footage from July Newmarket Racecourse of Alex boarding the plane while the ‘fugitive’ is still in the air.

Thanks to this breakthrough, the hunters learned that the two friends had split up and were able to track Jack’s plane, which is heading North.

Speaking to camera, one of the Hunted team said: ‘At the end of the day, you can’t get out of a plane. We will know where it’s going to land.

‘If it lands in a place where we’ve got a crew, that could be the biggest mistake he’s made.’ 

However, fans of the show weren’t impressed with this development – and questioned how the hunters knew to check the racecourse’s CCTV camera, which was pointing directly at the plane.

One wrote: ‘It’s far too easy for the hunters. How would they know to look at that racecourse?’ 

Branding the show ‘unwatchable’, another critic joked: ‘We’ve got CCTV footage from 1 random f***ing camera in the middle of nowhere that just so happens to be pointing at the f***ing plane our fugitives are getting on.’

Meanwhile, a third raged: ‘Lisa goes on about how stupid the contestants are yet thinks the viewers believe they had access to some random CCTV that just so happens to have been in a random field pointing straight at the plane! What a load of BS!!’

‘I used to love Hunted but it’s so fixed these days the contestants have no chance,’ a fourth moaned.

A fifth chimed in with: ‘You always know it’s staged, but this series seems even more so than ever.’

However, others jumped to the show’s defence and argued that the hunters knew to check the racecourse footage as Thady, from Newmarket, was a known associate.

‘They traced Thady so there was a link,’ one supporter said.

Another added: ‘The disclaimer at the start says the powers of the state are replicated. 

‘They got the information because Newmarket was on their radar due to Thady.’

At the beginning of every episode, viewers are informed: ‘For the purpose of this series, some of the powers of the state have been replicated, such as CCTV and ANPR.’ 

What’s more, this isn’t the first time the show has been branded ‘fake’. In May 2022, viewers were left baffled after a contestant was seen reuniting with her children in the evening before meeting a friend in broad daylight in back-to-back scenes.