Yahoo News Celebrity SAS: Matt Hancock admits he regrets breaking COVID rules
The former health secretary told the ex-military instructors, "I thought I'd done a pretty good job. And then I fell in love with somebody."
What did you miss?
Matt Hancock confessed he regretted breaking COVID rules after being interrogated on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
The MP – who served as health secretary during the COVID-19 pandemic – was forced to resign from his position as a government minister in the Conservative cabinet after his affair with advisor Gina Colangelo was exposed.
Hancock is among the recruits in the latest series of the Channel 4 military training reality show and was grilled by directing staff about his behaviour during the pandemic.
What, how, and why?
SAS soldiers Jason 'Foxy' Fox and Mark 'Billy' Billingham chose to call Hancock in for interrogation first saying, "He's got an attitude and he thinks he's above everyone."
Hancock and government advisor Gina Colangelo's affair was exposed when CCTV footage of them in a passionate clinch at No 10 Downing Street was leaked.
Hancock told them: "I was managing a very difficult situation in a professional sense, I thought I'd done a pretty good job. And then I fell in love with somebody. Someone who I was at uni with and worked closely with in the pandemic, and I had to resign from government."
The SAS staff pushed him as to why he felt he was able to breach the social distancing guidelines he was involved in setting during the pandemic.
Hancock said: "The truth is I was very careful not to break any of the laws. The guidance wasn't legally binding at that point. But it was guidance."
He added: "I regret lack of leadership at the end."
Leaving the interrogation room he said to camera: "I have self doubt abut things that I have done.
"One of the things about this course is it will push me and hopefully I'll find out the truth about myself."
After Hancock signed up to reality TV show I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2022 his parliamentary whip was suspended.
But the 44-year-old father-of-three is still an elected MP for West Suffolk, meaning he is being paid an annual salary to serve his constituents and sits in the House of Commons as an independent.
What else happened on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins
Hancock was first to be chosen to take part in the melee fighting task and was paired with former footballer Jermaine Pennant.
He confessed: "I've had endless death threats over the vaccine, but I haven't been punched by somebody since I was a teenager. I'm not sure how I'll respond to it."
The MP flailed his arms while Pennant planted punches directly to his face before bringing him down to the ground.
Former Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton was first to cry, shortly after arriving at the training camp in Vietnam.
TOWIE star James 'Arg' Argent struggled with the all the tasks the group faced in the first episode and model Danielle Lloyd promised to take him under her wing as her "sixth child".
Singer Gareth Gates, 39 declared: "20 years ago on Pop Idol I became the biggest loser. I was a shy boy. So I'm looking forward to showing that I'm a man now."
Will we be back for more?
No celebrities quit or were sent home in the first episode. So for all the Matt Hancock haters who enjoyed tuning in to I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! to watch the former health secretary pelted with cockroaches and made to eat raw sheep vagina, he will be doubtlessly be subjected to more humiliation and insults in the next episode.
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins continues on Channel 4 at 9pm on Sunday.
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