I'm A Celebrity star Charlene White recalled the devastating death of her aunt from Covid, as she confronted Matt Hancock over his pandemic regrets.
Amid fury over his arrival, the ITV News and Loose Women star grilled the disgraced Tory MP over his rule-breaking during the pandemic, and his role as Health Secretary during this time.
Hancock had been asked about the pandemic by other campmates, when he insisted he did not break any laws - but admitted to breaking Covid guidance.
He denied getting a lockdown fine, after it emerged last year that gatherings had taken place with political figures, including parties at No 10, when it was prohibited.
The country was in strict lockdown and unable to attend social gatherings, with a rule of six in place - while other gatherings occurred when the public were banned from meeting with people outside of their household.
Speaking to his campmates on Friday's edition of the jungle series, Hancock denied breaking any Covid laws when grilled about his resignation as Health Secretary in 2021.
It followed Hancock and government aide Gina Coladangelo's affair being outed, as well as the fact the pair had broken strict Covid guidelines - which he says was down to him "falling in love".
The affair was exposed after Hancock was caught on CCTV canoodling with Gina, with it believed that the images were leaked by an insider at the Department of Health on May 6, 2021.
Chris Moyles had asked: "You got a lockdown fine, didn’t you?" to which he replied: "No, of course I didn’t. No, I did not. I didn’t break any…"
It's then that Charlene had her say on his antics, before revealing her tragic loss - and how the restrictions set by Hancock, which he went on to break, impacted her family and their grief.
Charlene said: "You were socialising with someone outside of your household," with him replying: "I didn’t break any laws. Guidance is different."
As Scarlette Douglas asked why he broke the rules, he said: "Because it was a mistake, because I fell in love with somebody."
Scarlette continued: “But you did it anyway? It’s that kind of, you just do it and then afterwards it’s like, ‘Oh I’m sorry, I’m sorry'," to which he said: "No, because it’s bigger than that."
Bringing up her personal loss, Charlene told Hancock: "It’s massively bigger than that. My aunt died from Covid in the first wave. So, we couldn’t go to the hospital to go and visit her.
"I had to sit by myself in the church at her funeral. We couldn’t hug each other because we were following guidance. And I get that you fell in love, I understand all of those things, but sorry for a lot of families like mine doesn’t really cut it."
He told her: "Yeah. Well, there you go. That’s one of the reasons that I regret it as much as I do."
Charlene then asked: "Do you have regret regarding the way that as Health Minister you dealt with the pandemic as a whole?"
The MP said: "So the pandemic as a whole no, I’m much, much more robust in my defence of it."
Charlene added: "Even when PPE, with carers and with old people’s homes..?"
Hancock said: "So PPE for instance, I know, of course I saw what happened to it, but that’s because we suddenly needed masses more PPE and so did everybody else in the world. And care homes…
"There were reasons for the decisions that were taken and ultimately those problems were caused by the virus, not the people who were trying to solve the problem."
Charlene admitted in the Bush Telegraph: "It was a lot but you tend to get the best out of people when their guards are down and they feel safe."
I'm A Celebrity airs every night at 9pm on ITV and ITV Hub.
