Matt Hancock must be a glutton for punishment – after surviving I’m A Celebrity, he’s now facing down Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
The disgraced former Health Secretary, 44, resigned from his position in Boris Johnson’s cabinet after breaching Covid social distancing rules by kissing a colleague in government offices.
He then received a mixed reaction after he entered the jungle but eventually reached the final and finished in third place behind winner Jill Scott.
Now he’s taking on the challenge of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, which starts on September 26 and sees the celeb hopefuls tackle the jungles of north Vietnam.
And it appears Hancock has been having a tough time of it, revealing that he was punched by an ex-Premier League footballer and given an unfortunate nickname.
Branded ‘Matt Handj*b,’ Hancock was put through trials that, as he puts it, ‘p****d [him] off’.
‘They were pretty rude. Calling me names, taking the p**s out of my surname, and god, it p****d me off,’ he told The Sun.
He continued: ‘With all my flaws on the show, when you’re under massive physical strain and you’ve been woken up in the middle of the night, you can’t hide.
‘To make something like this work, you’ve just got to go all in. I went in as a politician and I came out as a human being.’
Hancock also revealed that ex-Liverpool and Arsenal footballer Jermaine Pennant punched him in the face during an exercise.
‘Jermaine is no softy – [but] it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I expected, being smacked in the face’, he said, thanking adrenaline for lessening the pain.
Despite only appearing on Celebrity SAS now, he recorded his stint in the autumn of 2022, almost a year ago and before he entered the jungle.
Last week, Hancock was seen on video, dancing topless with fellow Celebrity SAS contestant Gareth Gates, alongside Michelle Heaton and Siva Kaneswaran.
