Matt Hancock has finally mentioned his dyslexia on I'm A Celebrity - nearly two weeks after he first joined the show.
The Tory MP insisted his primary reason for going on the show was to access younger voters who might not access politics in the more traditional way and also raise awareness of dyslexia, which he said was an important cause for him. After joining the jungle over a week ago, he has yet to mention his dyslexia which he was diagnosed with when he was 18.
Mr Hancock insisted talking about his dyslexia was much more important than the £400,000 he is said to be being paid for his jungle stint. But rather than mention it, he has been taking part in trials with snakes, rats and other jungle critters and even enjoyed an all-you-can-eat beach BBQ before angering campmates and viewers when he came back and asked for more of their food.
However, tonight, Mr Hancock finally mentioned his dyslexia diagnosis during a chat with Babatúndé and Seann about their achievements and school days. Mr Hancock talked in length about many of his achievements, before later discussing his dyslexia diagnosis. He had sparked much anger from viewers for not mentioning it in the past couple of weeks.
As they spoke about their school days, Seann said of his own childhood: "I’ll tell you what kind of kid I was… remember when you got asked to leave class, stand outside, then there’s the window? It was just giving me my own TV show…I didn’t want to learn."
Mr Hancock then added: "I desperately wanted to learn. One side on maths I could and on English, I couldn’t."
"Are you talking about reading specifically?" Seann questioned before Matt then added to say: "Yeah. And then the moment I was identified as dyslexic at university suddenly instead of feeling I was just rubbish at something and useless, it was ahhhh… so actually I am OK with language, it’s just my brain works differently and I can work on that."
Before he headed into the jungle, Mr Hancock explained he wanted to use his appearance on the reality show to "raise the profile of his dyslexia campaign" as he defended himself to the public over his decision to head Down Under.
Writing a lengthy column on his decision to enter the show, he said: "As a backbench MP, I have the freedom and time to champion causes I believe in and care about — including dyslexia. I want to raise the profile of my dyslexia campaign to help every dyslexic child unleash their potential — even if it means taking an unusual route to get there . . . via the Australian jungle!
"I’m A Celebrity . . . is watched by millions of Brits up and down the country. I want to use this incredible platform to raise awareness, so no child leaves primary school not knowing if they have dyslexia. By talking about dyslexia on prime-time TV, I hope to not only increase support for my Dyslexia Screening and Teacher Training Bill."
Angry viewers fumed over Mr Hancock's late mention of dyslexia and took to Twitter to vent their frustrations.
" Matt Hancock said he was going into #ImACeleb to raise awareness about Dyslexia. That’s got to be the first time he has vaguely mentioned it!" one wrote, as a second added: "finally brought up dyslexia which was apparently the reason he went in #ImACeleb."
A third shared: "FINALLY HE MENTIONS DYSLEXIA AFTER NEARLY 2 WEEKS IN THE JUNGLE. #ImACeleb," with a fourth writing: "So Matt Hancock, who went into #ImACeleb to raise awareness about dyslexia, has taken over two weeks to mention his dyslexia."
