Boy George was 'provocative' to spark debate with Matt Hancock

Boy George was deliberately "provocative" on 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here' to spark a reaction from Matt Hancock.

The 'Karma Chameleon' hitmaker admitted he repeatedly quizzed his campmate on a wide range of issues in the hope of generating an opinion from the MP and he can understand why people grew "frustrated" because the politician was always evasive.

He told The Sun on Sunday newspaper: "I’ve been in the business for a long time, and I’ve encountered so many different types of people, all with their own way of coping with being in the spotlight.

“And no one on the show was dislikeable, even Matt. He isn’t direct — there were lots of things he avoided — but I wasn’t surprised by that.

“I asked him about nuclear arms, he didn’t want to go there, trans, he didn’t want to go there — though he wasn’t anti-trans which was good.

“I was being provocative. I wanted to see if I could get through to him.

“I was like, ‘Come on tell me who you are’ and he managed to avoid a lot of those things, which frustrated people.

“It wasn’t our job to put right what Matt has done. With him, a lot of people were angry and upset, with every reason to be.”

George confronted Matt about the COVID-19 measures put in place while he was health secretary, which meant the Culture Club frontman couldn't be with his mum when she was in hospital, but he insisted he never "bullied" the politician and didn't want him to have a "horrible" time on the show.

He said: "It was very upsetting and traumatic. And I was talking about it in there, and then I saw him and I thought this is the perfect moment to say something.

“But I was amazed how calm he was, he did not flinch.

“I told him to his face that I thought he should have just apologised for what he did, and not given the ‘guidance’ technicality, because no one cares about that.

“But at that point I was like: ‘I’ve said what I’ve got to say, he’s a person with kids, with a partner and I was very conscious of that.’

“I didn’t bully him. In spite of everything, I didn’t want him to have a horrible time in the camp.”