Fugitive Sheffield lord mayor blasts Hunted producers over 'manipulation'

Councillor Magid Magid was finally caught by a team of specialist hunters after weeks on the run in the latest episode of the show broadcast last night.

He was one of several contestants taking part in which they were tasked with remaining undetected for 25 days with a chance of winning a £100, 000 prize fund.

All the while they are being tracked down by an elite team of 30 hunters, drawn from some of the world’s best investigators and led by former Scotland Yard detective chief Peter Bleksley.

After they finally caught up with him in the Peak District last night, coun Magid took to Twitter to voice his frustration with producers of the hit show.

He said: "Being on the run wasn’t as clear as ‘Me vs The Hunters’ as I thought and got told it would be. It was more like ‘Me vs The Hunters + Executive Producers’. It’s the executive producers that know everything on both sides and can manipulate things.

"Right from the beginning I realised the executive producers' priority was to 'make good TV' as they kept reminding me.

"I wanted to walk out on so many occasions. And when I did express that to the exec producers as it was no longer fun nor fair. two days later, when I next moved, the hunters happen to suspect someone who was apparently 'heavily linked' to me. And then I was caught."

He added that contestants have to follow certain rules and it is not just as simple as 'hiding in a mate's basement wearing a balaclava' or you would get penalised for breaking the rules.

Coun Magid added that although he wound not do it again, he has no regrets.

He said: "Sadly, I didn’t get the amazing adventure I was hoping for. But I did learn a lot about myself.

"My thanks to all the love and support the people of Sheffield have shown me throughout the past couple of weeks."

The programme showed that while the other contestants immediately scattered to locations across the UK after being dropped off in Manchester, coun Magid employed a different tactic by remaining on the down low in the city. It was revealed that he stayed with a friend for the first couple of weeks.

But life got tricky for him after he decided to move locations back to his home city of Sheffield.

The hunters attached a tracking device to the car of a member of the Sheffield Green Party who was giving him a lift.

They followed the car coun Magid was travelling in down Baslow Road heading out towards the Peak District. After the car rolled to a stop, coun Magid jumped out and ran through a field before being caught.

Coun Magid, a member of the Green Party, has represented the Broomhill and Sharrow Vale ward since May 2016. He became deputy lord mayor of Sheffield in May last year around the time that filming began for the programme.

Channel 4 has been contacted for comment and we are awaiting a reply.