During his first, rather nasty, grilling on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, Matt Hancock admitted he regretted his ‘poor leadership’ near the conclusion of the epidemic.
The disgraced former health secretary, 44, resigned from Boris Johnson’s cabinet after kissing a colleague in government offices, in violation of Covid social distance guidelines.
After being brought into the initial conversation with the course teachers, he acknowledged his affair with now-girlfriend Gina Coladangelo during the new series’ premiere episode.
This came after his ‘catastrophic failure’ in the first challenge, which saw the 16 celebrity participants, including former Towie star James ‘Arg’ Argent and ex rugby pro Gareth Thomas, crossing poles at a horrifying height.
He was questioned by former Special Forces Operator and Royal Marine Mountain Leader Chris Oliver and Royal Marine Commando and Special Forces Sergeant Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox after being labelled a ‘complete and utter buffoon’ by the DS team of ex-Special Forces operators for barely managing to leave the platform he started on, instead somersaulting through the air.
As he first reflected on his biggest challenge in government, Hancock said: ‘I was managing a very difficult scenario in a professional sense and thought I’d done a good job.
‘And then I fell in love with someone who I’d known since university and worked closely with in government.’
The DS, on the other hand, were not going to let him off so easily, with Chris arguing that his actions made it appear as though he believed he was ‘above’ the regulations he enforced on the rest of the country during the lockdown.
‘The truth is I was very careful to not break the law,’ Hancock responded, claiming that the guidance he went against was not ‘legally binding’.
Despite appearing to have tears in his eyes, the MP remained firm and even ventured to interrupt his interrogator twice to defend himself – but was soon shut down.
When he was then accused of showing ‘weak leadership’ in the pandemic, he agreed, adding: ‘I regret the lack of leadership at the end.’
Returning to his fellow contestants, Hancock rejected a hug as he confirmed: ‘I didn’t cry – I’m not much of a crier.’
However, the DS then discussed the politician being ‘heavily guarded because of who he is’ and how he expected people to ‘dig into him from the start’.
In another segment of the programme, Hancock, who claimed she was suffering from a fractured rib when shooting, was placed against retired footballer Jermaine Pennant in a vicious punching competition in which they were encouraged to attack each other until they were forced to stop.
Hancock failed yet another mission.
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins continues at 9pm on Channel 4 on Sunday.
