Matt Hancock has already divided viewers ahead of his I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! debut, but he could ruffle some feathers with campmates too.
The former Health Secretary has sparked intense backlash for his decision to head down under to film the reality TV show as a sitting MP. The politician was embroiled in another scandal last year after he was found to be breaching his own social distancing guidelines during the pandemic after he was caught on CCTV kissing aide Gina Coladangelo.
Despite the current criticism, this isn't the first time Mr Hancock has starred on reality TV after he reportedly skipped a Conservative party conference to take part in the next series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. During the filming of the Channel 4 show, the MP reportedly left his co-stars fuming with his 'selfish' food habits.
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."
"It was clear he wasn’t a team player. Matt clearly looks after number one first, and he’s bound to annoy his I’m A Celebrity cast mates when he does the same thing in the jungle," the source added. "Food is always a contentious issue in camp, so tempers will really fly if he hogs the grub and doesn’t think about other people.
"It will be tense for those in camp, but it will make great TV and producers are hoping it all kicks off."
The MP has become one of the highest paid signings of the show, as in comparison Noel Edmonds was reportedly paid £600,000 to take part. Mr Hancock is set to take home an eye-watering £400,000 for his jungle stint down under.
A spokesperson for Mr Hancock told Metro.co.uk that the show is ‘an amazing opportunity’ to promote the second reading of his Dyslexia Screening and Teacher Training Bill. The spokesperson added that the politician has reached an agreement with producers to allow him to ‘communicate with his team’ while in the jungle in the event of ‘an urgent constituency matter’.
They continued: "Matt will be making a donation to St Nicholas Hospice in Suffolk, and causes supporting dyslexia, off the back of his appearance. He will, of course, declare the amount he receives from the show to Parliament to ensure complete transparency, as normal."
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! launches tonight at 9pm on ITV.
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