Strictly Star Seann Walsh Wanted To Tell Matt Hancock 'I Know How You Feel' After Kiss Picture Leak
Former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Seann Walsh has said he wanted to tell Matt Hancock he sympathised with him after pictures of the former health secretary kissing an aide were leaked last year.
The former health secretary was forced to resign in the summer of 2021 after footage from inside his department, leaked to The Sun, showed him embracing aide Gina Coladangelo, in breach of the social distancing guidelines in place at the time.
Seann faced a similar scandal during his stint on Strictly in 2018, when he was photographed kissing his professional dance partner Katya Jones during a night out, at a time they were both in relationships.
The comedian later ended up sharing a lift at a Tube station with Hancock, with Seann revealing to The i: “He probably had no idea who I was, but I just wanted to pull down my mask and say: ‘I know how you feel’.
“I was probably the only person in the country who could sympathise,” he claimed.
Seann also branded the leak of pictures of Hancock and Coladangelo “despicable”, but added: “If you’re the health secretary or you’re on a really big reality television show, then you are signing up for your personal life being intruded upon. That’s the deal, isn’t it?”
Seann’s kiss with Katya led to the breakdown of his relationship with then-girlfriend Rebecca Humphries.
Rebecca put out a statement at the time, criticising his “unacceptable” behaviour and stating that Seann had branded her a “psycho” when she questioned if anything had happened between him and Katya.
Last year, Seann said that the scandal was still taking a toll on his mental health, having previously undergone therapy sessions after his stint on Strictly Come Dancing ended.
Meanwhile, Hancock recently insisted the extra-marital affair that ended his ministerial career was not about “casual sex”.
The former health secretary insisted that he fell in love with Coladangelo while they worked together during the pandemic.
He also told Steven Bartlett’s Diary Of A CEO podcast that “going through that is undoubtedly the hardest thing I’ve ever done by a long, long way”.