Tensions were high for health secretary Matt Hancock during the covid pandemic. He made decisions that were devastating for the country during a time of crisis, such as sending elderly patients back to care homes, despite them testing positive for Covid – a decision that was later deemed irrational and unlawful by two senior judges. Then there was his shocking claim that “there was never a national shortage [of PPE], thanks to my team”. Finally, after scandalous photos emerged in June 2021 of him breaking the Covid guidelines by kissing businesswoman Gina Coladangelo, he resigned his position.
‘Celebrity’ Matt Hancock
Fast-forward to 27 November 2022 and he placed third in the reality TV competition, I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here. However, this doesn’t seem to be an accurate reflection of public opinion. Many people took to Twitter to try to convince others not to vote for Hancock, reminding everyone of the part he played in the deaths of thousands during the pandemic, and his apathy towards NHS workers.
According to the response from Twitter, Hancock’s appearance on the long running ITV show was a failed attempt to humanise a politician who became hated by members of the public, such as nurses, and families who lost loved ones during covid. During his departing interview with presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, Hancock said “I wanted to show what I’m like as a person… lots of people come to me with preconceived ideas”, also stating about politicians that “we don’t come across as human enough”.
The show detached Hancock from his actions as a politician, demonstrating that he is just a person, which worked well with his campmates. Several of the celebrities commented that they separated ‘Matt Hancock the former health secretary’ from ‘Matt who wins meals for camp’ and in this way were able to tolerate him. But judging by viewers responses on social media, the public won’t easily accept his plea for ‘forgiveness’.
Cheating the Celebrity game?
The idea that his participation in the show was to trick the public into forgetting his past and to clean up his image gained more attention when Hancock was accused of cheating his way to third place.
Mike Tindall, former rugby star and a fellow campmate on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, claimed “Matt’s making sure his t-shirt number is on display all the time”. He asked other campmates “Have you noticed someone’s been advertising themselves?”. The T-shirt numbers are a way that viewers can vote for their favourites to win. Tindall also added “Once a politician, always a politician. Always polling for votes”.
Furthermore, Hancock’s PR team launched a Tik Tok campaign while he was in the jungle, telling people to vote for him five times, which is the maximum amount of votes each person is allowed to have via the show’s app. They even uploaded step-by-step instructions. During his time in the jungle, Hancock amassed 77,000 Tik Tok followers.
Final verdict not yet in
One Tiktokker wrote in response to these videos: “Always use all my votes to keep Matt in!” Some viewers, like @RickyDHale on Twitter, have concluded that this means him placing third on the show is unfair and another example of him cheating.
On the other hand, the show’s rules state that “viewers voting via phone or MSDC may vote as many times as they like” and only votes “in excess of six hundred (600) votes are deemed to be designed to excessively manipulate the outcome of the vote”. It’s therefore unlikely that this will qualify as an attempt to cheat on Hancock’s behalf.
But while he and his team may have played by the rules, the whiff of foul play remains. While consistent effort from his PR team and his success in the bushtucker trials swayed some, it is safe to say that Hancock’s decisions during the Covid pandemic won’t be quickly forgiven.
