MATT Hancock’s arrival on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here has gone down as well as you would expect it to in camp, with Charlene White quick to jump in and grill him on why exactly he was there while parliament was in session.
The former health secretary’s arrival proved to be divisive on the ITV series, with many of the faces unhappy to see him there and Boy George even revealing he was tempted to quit after his mum was left alone in hospital during the coronavirus pandemic.
But it was Loose Women star Charlene who managed to pull him aside for a chat, getting the big questions immediately out of the way – in particular the fact Matt was even there considering his role as an MP required him to be in parliament at the moment.
As they spoke in the lookout, Matt commented: “Everybody’s really nice. Nobody’s trying to be spikey are they?”
“Were you nervous about that?” Charlene asked, prompting him to say that it was “on the worry list” before he entered camp.
When asking him why he would do it, Matt responded: “Because there’s, honest truth, is because there’s so few ways in which politicians can show that we’re human beings, so I just thought it would be good to do that. I’ve got a sense of adventure.”
He agreed that he hoped people would ‘see him for him’.
Charlene wasn’t about to back down though, and later declared in the telegraph: “Matt has a tough hill to climb, but he’s put himself on that hill and for me as a journalist, I have to ask him why.”
During their chat, Charlene grilled him about leaving while parliament was still in session, and therefore he had a job to do, saying: “I can imagine it would not have gone down well at all at home? You have to expect that. Because Parliament is still sitting, we’re not in recess, you know…”
“I genuinely think that because we’ve now got sort of stability that is…”
But Charlene wasn’t having it, and told him: “We’ve had stability for all of five minutes Matt.”
Matt dismissed her worries though, and replied: “Rishi’s great, he’ll be fine.”
“But you can understand if people aren’t very happy at home about it?” she pressed.
“I understand that. But I also.. of course I get that, right. But I also just think that sometimes you’ve got to do things differently,” Matt told her.
“I’m not sure going on I’m A Celebrity is the way to do it but you’re doing you and it’s a decision you’ve made and honestly it will be fascinating just to see,” Charlene flatly responded.
She didn’t buy it though, and later told the Bush Telegraph: “Politicians do tend to use that line, ‘I feel as though the public need to know the real me’. I’m not necessarily sure a reality TV show is the way to do that.”
She later relayed her chat to Chris Moyles and Boy George, who also seemed similarly unimpressed.
Looks like Hancock is in for a rough trial… and we’re not even talking the bushtucker kind.
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here airs weekdays at 9pm on ITV.
