Matt Hancock insists he has "lots of support" about his decision to join I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! despite being suspended by the Conservative party.
The former Health Secretary has faced widespread backlash for his decision to go down under to film the reality show while parliament is sitting. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon have criticised the MP for his decision to depart from his constituency.
Despite all the controversy, Mr Hancock insists he actually has a lot of backing for his decision to head down under to the jungle. He said in a final interview ahead of his jungle debut: "I informed the Whip and I gave my reasons. I have had a lot of supportive messages from people who can see what I am trying to do to show that politicians are people too."
In his final interview before going into the camp, he added: “I don’t expect to serve in Government again but there are lots of ways you can communicate and engage with people.
"When I got approached to take part, I did think long and hard about it but one of the reasons that I felt able to say yes was because the IAC team have put in place a system so I can be reached at any point on any urgent constituency matters.
"Lots of people have a view on me from being Health Secretary in the pandemic dealing with some very difficult issues, but that’s not the whole story. I am looking forward to throwing myself into it all like I do everything in life. You can’t hide anything in the jungle, you see somebody warts and all."
He added that a lack of food in camp could lead to him letting his guard down.
Matt said: "I am not very good on low (amounts of) food. It really shows people who they truly are because you do let your guard down when you can’t eat. But I have done quite a lot of camping in quite extreme places. I love the adventure of it and so the camping side I will be fine with."
Campmates could run into trouble as Matt's food habits reportedly caused trouble behind the scenes of his last reality show. An insider told The Sun : "Matt got a reputation during filming for Celeb SAS: Who Dares Wins for being greedy and selfish when it came to the food.
"They all had to share military style rations, but Matt always got up first and helped himself to big portions, leaving less for the others – understandably this seriously annoyed his cast mates. A few of them spoke up about it and pulled him up for his greedy behaviour – they felt it was inconsiderate and thoughtless, especially as they were all hungry and had limited food."
The MP will enter the jungle alongside fellow late entrant Seann Walsh on Wednesday's night show.
I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! watch the next live episode tomorrow at 9pm (Wednesday) on ITV and ITV Hub
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