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Matt Hancock has talked about the “injustice” he faced during the COVID pandemic in the latest episode of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
The former health secretary resigned from government in June 2021 after it emerged he had broken his own guidance by kissing and embracing his aide, Gina Coladangelo, in his office.
In the penultimate episode of the series, which airs on Sunday, the 45-year-old is made to strip down to his boxers in an interrogation that sees him accused of having an “attitude”.
Early in the episode, Hancock is interviewed by Jason Fox and Chris Oliver about the pandemic and is asked about how he dealt with being “vilified”.
“I feel a sense of injustice at being made to be essentially accused of corruption,” he said.
“Because that is what, if you boil it down, the accusation is, when I’ve essentially given my professional life so far in public service, and I know for a fact we did the right thing.
“And I didn’t benefit a drop from it and it’s just this sense of injustice that, hold on, I was doing the best I could in difficult circumstances and now I get a load of s*** for it.
“[Of] course it has an impact on me professionally that I have to deal with, but it doesn’t matter here [pointing to chest].
“What matters here is what I think of myself and also what the people I love and care about think of me and what people I respect think of me.”
Asked if he sees the course as a chance of redemption, he adds: “Well, I don’t know about redemption… the thing about this course is, as you say, it strips you back and you’ve got to leave it all on the line.”
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Last year, the MP appeared on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! – pocketing £320,000 in the process.
He said £10,000 from that total was donated to charity, a figure he said was more than the MPs’ salary he still received while appearing on the reality TV show.
“I didn’t primarily do it [go on the reality show] for the money, I primarily did it to try to show who I am,” Hancock told ITV’s Good Morning Britain programme in January this year.
“I think £10,000 is actually a decent sum.”
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins continues on Channel 4.
