Yahoo News Celebrity SAS cast claim Matt Hancock took extra portions of food
Danielle Lloyd said she was "fuming" over the uneven portioning
The cast of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins were left "fuming" over fellow co-star Matt Hancock having bigger portions of food than them during their time on the show, they tell Yahoo UK.
Channel 4's reality series is one of the toughest out there — with the celebrities taking part in the same gruelling training that is used for SAS recruits — and conditions were so difficult that for the cast the one thing they had to look forward to was the food even if it was just boiled chicken and rice.
Danielle Lloyd reflects on her experience on the show and when asked about any tension between the cast during the process admits: "Not gonna lie, it's to do with Matt Hancock.
"There were times when it came to the food and he would get big, massive portions"Danielle Lloyd
The former Health Secretary was never called up on his uneven portioning by his co-stars, Lloyd says, adding: "I was fuming, you know when it comes to food it was hard because sometimes you'd get a banana or something that I wouldn't really eat, but there were some mornings where I would [need it]."
Olympic athlete Perri Shakes-Drayton felt similarly to Lloyd, saying of their meals: "Even though the food was disgusting you would look forward to it because that's what you're going to be given, so even if it's without flavour you're looking forward to it."
Comedian Zoe Lyons adds that "dinnertime was always a little bit tense" for the cast, namely because of the portioning issue.
"You knew it'll be s**t no matter what you're getting so there was already that anticipation of disappointment," Lyons says.
"And maybe there were a few issues in the case of portioning up. It was a case of first up, best dressed. There were times where I did look at [Hancock's] dish."
"It's weird because we're all different sizes, if you look at someone like Gareth Thomas, who is 10-foot tall, fair enough, I don't mind him having more."Zoe Lyons
Regardless, the cast said that they were keen to see Hancock as a person like anyone else, rather than focus on any opinion they had of him following his time as Health Secretary and his handling of the Covid pandemic.
Shakes-Drayton says, "I see him as a human being... this man's a human being and he treated me very nicely and kindly, he looked after me on the course, to me Matt is cool as a person."
Lloyd adds: "I didn't have an opinion on Matt when I went there, I don't even bother looking into politics I'm too busy with my own life. I knew he was Health Secretary but I think you have to take people as they come in there."
Amber Turner concurs with her co-stars, saying: "He was nice, aside from the food."
The cast also spoke about their experience with Hancock during a press conference for the series, with singer Michelle Heaton saying the cast "didn't have any time" to think about their opinions of each other, let alone Hancock, when they joined the show.
That being said, the Directing Staff (DS) felt Hancock was "hard work", with Rudy Reyes saying: "We did notice quite quickly that he can't take criticism, and we don't like that. There's no time to bark orders back at the DS's."
The show's first episode will see Hancock be paired with ex-footballer Jermaine Pennant in a fight, and when asked how he felt about being allowed to punch Hancock, Pennant said: "When they said number 5 I was like 'yes!' then my second thought was 'do not lose'.
"If it's rubbish, it doesn't matter about the fight but just do not get put on the losing side because I would not be allowed to walk the streets again. So I was just very grateful that I won."
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins premieres on Tuesday, 26, September at 9.30pm.
Read more:
Gareth Gates 'couldn't stop crying' on Celebrity SAS after facing past abuse over stammer
Matt Hancock gets slammed to the floor in first look at Celebrity SAS
Watch: Trailer for Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins 2023
