Matt Hancock reveals what he REALLY thinks of his I’m a Celeb co-stars: Ex-Health Secretary denies he was bullied by Mike Tindall, insists he and Boy George ARE firm friends and reveals his extraordinary bromance with Seann Walsh
- CLICK HERE TO READ MATT HANCOCK’S EXPLOSIVE INTERVIEW AND WATCH THE FULL VIDEO EXCLUSIVELY ON THE MAIL+
- Ex-health secretary admits fellow campmates ‘didn’t take to me straightaway’
- Mr Hancock said the bond with Seann Walsh was instant and ‘extraordinary’
- He was shocked to make the final of ITV show and said viewers: ‘Saw the real me’
Matt Hancock today revealed what he really thinks of his fellow I’m a Celeb contestants and denied Mike Tindall and other stars had bullied him in the jungle.
The former health secretary admitted that most campmates ‘didn’t take to me straightaway’ – apart from Seann Walsh – and insisted that he and Boy George are now firm friends, ‘whatever he says about me’.
Speaking exclusively to Mail+, Mr Hancock described his shock at the public voting him into the final, declaring: ‘They saw the real me. We Brits love an underdog’.
Some viewers complained that he was a victim of bullying, especially when Mike Tindall appeared to deliberately jump on him during the Celebrity Cyclone trial.
He said: ‘When he [Mike Tindall] landed on me on the Cyclone I took that as a badge of honour. He is a former England captain. He has won the world cup. That wasn’t him being tough on me. That was just larking about’.
Matt Hancock has denied he was bullied on I’m a Celeb. Owen Warner, Babatunde Aleshe, Chris Moyles, Seann Walsh, Matt Hancock, Boy George, Sue Cleaver, Charlene White, Jill Scott, Scarlette Douglas and Mike Tindall (pictured after the show)
Matt denied that Mike Tindall was ‘bullying’ him after he ‘flattened’ the MP (pictured) during the Celebrity Cyclone challenge on the show
And asked about the repeated grillings he got about his handling of the pandemic, he said: ‘I didn’t feel bullied in the jungle. I felt people asked the questions respectfully. They challenged me directly and I respect that. It was a lot more collegiate than it looked on TV’.
The group warmed to him, especially when he completed trial after gruesome trial to win food for the camp in the first week.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, which is serialising his new pandemic diaries, he said he regards Boy George as a good friend and that Charlene White had been unfairly criticised.
He said: ‘Whatever he says about me, I think Boy George is wonderful and I did not expect to say that about George because we have very different backgrounds, to say the least. It took us a few days but we had, what I would call, grown up, respectful discussions. I count him as a friend and I hope he does me too at the end’.
Charlene White had confronted him about the death of a relative during the pandemic and described the pain of being unable to comfort family at the funeral. She also refused to stay in the camp’s RV with Mr Hancock when he was camp leader and she was his deputy.
He said: ‘She was unfairly maligned. She asked difficult questions based on her experience’.
The MP for West Suffolk arrived in camp with comedian Seann Walsh.
He said: ‘I formed an extraordinary bond with Seann in a short period of time and then it took a few days to work through and develop relationships with the rest of the camp mates.
‘Some of them, I could tell, didn’t take to me straightaway but it softened over time. Being in the jungle also gives you lots of time to think about what really matters. I thought about how much I care for the people I really love’.
Mr Hancock insisted that he and Boy George are now firm friends, ‘whatever he says about me’.
He also said Charlene White had been ‘unfairly maligned’ for questioning him about the pandemic
He also admitted he still ‘can’t believe’ he made the final of the ITV show – and nor can many of his friends, family and fellow MPs.
He said: ‘I’m thrilled and grateful that so many people voted for me to stay. They saw the real me.
‘Maybe they saw me as a bit of an underdog and we Brits love an underdog. But whatever the reason I went in to show politicians are people too and show me as I really am and I’m glad I was able to do that’.
Matt said he went on I’m A Celebrity to ask the public to ‘look at me as a human’.
‘I was the face of the pandemic – the good bits and the ugly bits. Some people hate me because I was the number one cheerleader for the vaccine, others because of lockdown but I know, in my heart, that’s not me. I wanted to win people over by being myself.
‘Each day I was voted in I was really pleased to stay but I missed my children desperately. It’s the longest I’ve gone without seeing them in their lives, and I missed Gina. I felt guilty I was leaving her at the end of the bridge, day after day after day, on her own’.
The MP described his joy when he was greeted by girlfriend Gina Coladangelo when he left the camp
He also thanked people for being so kind since he returned to the UK.
‘I’ve had a lovely response since leaving the jungle. I’ve had people just saying: “You got to the final”. I don’t think anybody can quite believe it. And I certainly can’t. I’ve had a lot of supportive messages for constituents, from colleagues in parliament, from friends and obviously from loved one’.
He added: ‘I got a text from one MP who said that his teenage daughter thinks that people now like me. So if that’s the measure of things then I’ve made the connection I wanted to’.
CLICK HERE TO READ MATT HANCOCK’S EXPLOSIVE INTERVIEW AND WATCH THE FULL VIDEO EXCLUSIVELY ON THE MAIL+
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