Matt Hancock got “absolutely destroyed” during his forthcoming stint on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, according to one of the show’s instructors.
The former health secretary filmed an appearance on Channel 4′s reality show last year, during which he was put through intense military endurance training.
Former SAS leader and the show’s chief instructor Billy Billingham has spoken about Hancock’s stint on the new series of Who Dares Wins, revealing he and his team “really went at” the politician.
Speaking to The Sun’s Bizarre TV column, Billy said: “We treat everybody the same and we really went at him.
“You might think that he’d be a cunt but for most of the time he wasn’t. But if anyone shows any attitude, they get it and when he tried it, he got fucking smashed.
“In the interrogation bit, he gets destroyed, absolutely destroyed. At the time I thought, ‘Oh, hang on, maybe this is a bit much?’ But no, he deserved it.
“The idea is every single contestant will either leave on day one or will leave as a better version of themselves and with Matt Hancock, he’s still got a long way to go.”
Hancock’s stint on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins follows his appearance on last year’s I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! where he eventually finished in third place.
Hancock – who joined the ITV show after resigning as health secretary following the discovery he had broken Covid rules to conduct an extra-marital affair – was paid £320,000 for his time in the jungle, and donated £10,000 to charity.
The former Tory cabinet minister, who is now an independent MP, later said the public had warmed to him since appearing on the show and it had been a “real success”.
“Views of me go from total love and adulation to the exact opposite,” he claimed in February.
“The biggest challenge is I was in charge of the health service in a time that was extremely serious,” he added. “It would have been inappropriate to get any lightness or cheerfulness over because of the subject matter.”
In June, Hancock was reportedly rebuffed by bereaved people who lost relatives to Covid at the public inquiry into the pandemic.