‘Quite a Lot of People’ in Parliament May Vote for Hancock to Face I’m a Celebrity Trials, MP Says

Helen Chandler-Wilde
·2 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- On his first day of reality television, former British Health Secretary Matt Hancock slipped on a rope bridge, sang an Ed Sheeran song, crawled through mud, then bathed in a stream.

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His antics took place on I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, the British reality TV show which places a group of well-known contestants together in extreme circumstances in a jungle camp in Australia for around three weeks, and decides a winner through public voting. Viewers also vote to put contestants through “bushtucker trials,” where they must do difficult or demeaning tasks to earn meals for the camp. Past challenges include being locked in a box with rats, or eating the genitalia of different animals.

Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris told Sky News Wednesday morning that “quite a lot of people” in the Houses of Parliament have downloaded the I’m a Celebrity app to vote for Hancock to do the bushtucker trials.

Before the end of last night’s episode, it was announced that Hancock would face the next bushtucker trial after receiving the most public votes. He will do the “Tentacles of Terror” in tonight’s episode, which will see him plunged into water.

Hancock was suspended from the Conservative Party earlier this month when his appearance on the show was confirmed. According to The Sun newspaper, he will take home £400,000 ($455,120) for his appearance on the show.

Fellow Conservative MP Tim Loughton told Times Radio that Hancock was an “absolute prat,” and said he felt “disappointed and disgusted that he's put himself and his so-called celebrity career ahead of serving his constituents.”

Andy Drummond, deputy chairman of Hancock’s local Conservative Association, said he was “disappointed” by the MP. “We believe that this is a serious error of judgement when he is a paid, elected Member of Parliament,” Drummond said in a statement. “MPs should be working hard for their constituents, particularly when we have a cost of living crisis and people are facing hardship.”

Hancock said he was going on the show to raise awareness of dyslexia, a condition that he has, as well as to demonstrate that “politicians are just human beings too.”

Previous contestants have included Olympians Caitlyn Jenner and Sir Mo Farah, and broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire. Hancock is not the first politician to appear on the show, with sitting Conservative MP Nadine Dorries entering in 2012 and Stanley Johnson, father of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in 2017.

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