Hancock enters The Jungle – Will S
Matt Hancock has entered I’m a celebrity. The reaction of everyone watching, including myself when I saw him was ‘I can’t believe Matt Hancock is on I’m a Celebrity’. But he is. The man who two years ago was guiding us through covid statistics is now appearing on the most watched reality TV show in the country. Matt has been the centre of some major controversy, including his breaking of the covid rules when he got off with his aide. He resigned and pretty much everyone in the country agreed that it was right for him to go. He became a backbench MP and never expects to be a cabinet minister again.
Despite the fact he is going to be in the Jungle for the next few weeks until he is undoubtedly voted off, Hancock is still a serving MP. Parliament is sitting and he is not there, and this has been the second biggest controversy surrounding him. Many people believe, including some in the jungle, that Matt should not have left his constituents to go on a reality show when the country is facing crisis after crisis, and is so politically unstable. Furthermore, many people disagree with how he handled the covid pandemic, which at times could have been better.
Hancock has said his reasons for appearing on the show are to raise awareness of dyslexia, a learning difficulty which he suffers from. Additionally, he says it is to show people a different, more normal side of him. This is a reason used many times by politicians when explaining why they are going on TV, and I’m not sure it is a particularly good one. Despite this, I think Matt actually comes across quite well on TV and is likeable. He is definitely separate to the group and is keen to fit in, after all the celebrities also see him as the man that broke his own rules and led us through covid. Last night on the show, Matt admitted that he recognises he made a stupid mistake which is why he resigned and confirmed he still is with the aide which he had the affair with, Gina Coladangelo.
In my mind, Hancock’s breaking of the rules was in many ways far better than Boris’s. At least Matt did it to be with a woman he loves, rather than just to have a few drinks after work. Furthermore, whilst almost everyone has in some way been critical of the government’s approach to covid, the job they did was not terrible. People were supported financially and the vaccine’s success, which Hancock was a contributor to, brought us all out of lockdown. Ultimately, most blame for any mishandling of covid should lie with Boris as opposed to Hancock, who in many cases was just doing as he was told.
As far as I am concerned Matt sees this as the only way to change the way he is viewed in the public eye. At the moment, he is disliked by most of the country and will never have a leading role in government again. Perhaps he has been advised that the only way he can change this is by doing something out of the ordinary and drastic. That is what he is doing, and I commend him for that, especially considering on I’m a celebrity the public vote for who does the Bushtucker trials, which are essentially unpleasant challenges to get food for camp. So far he has been submerged in water with a crocodile and successfully got all available stars, and tonight he will be in another trial, involving the consumption of likely disgusting animal parts such as kangaroo penis.
Ultimately, I’m not sure it is right for Hancock as a sitting MP to have entered The Jungle. But I am certainly enjoying watching him on TV and it is very entertaining, helped by comments from other participants such as Babatunde saying “you were grabbing booty”, which Hancock took well. I think there is a chance he could redeem his career through this show, if not his political one then perhaps another role on TV.
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