EXCLUSIVE: ‘He’s like an insecure 12 year old!’ Ulrika Jonsson admits she finds Matt Hancock endearing as the former Health Secretary appears on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
- Ulrika Jonsson says she’s warming up to former Health Secretary Matt Hancock since his appearance on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
- The politician, 44, who divided public opinion with his decisions during the coronavirus pandemic, made the controversial choice to appear on the ITV reality show this year while still working as an MP for West Suffolk
- Television presenter Ulrika, 55, told MailOnline she finds Matt endearing, saying: ‘He’s basically like an insecure 12 year old trying to make it with a very tight group of 20 year olds’
Ulrika Jonsson says she’s warming up to former Health Secretary Matt Hancock since his appearance on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
The politician, 44, who divided public opinion with his decisions during the coronavirus pandemic, made the controversial choice to appear on the ITV reality show while still working as an MP for West Suffolk, setting foot in the Australian jungle as a late entry with comedian Seann Walsh, 36, earlier this month.
And television presenter, 55, Ulrika spoke out about Matt, who is still a contestant on the series, as she attended The Sun Military Awards at The Roundhouse in London on Tuesday.
Impressed: Ulrika Jonsson, 55, says she’s warming up to former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, 44, since his appearance on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
When asked if she liked Matt, Ulrika told MailOnline: ‘Yes, definitely, he’s basically like an insecure 12 year old trying to make it with a very tight group of 20 year olds, but it’s true.’
Ulrika wasn’t the only star to have some positive words to say about Matt at the event – former I’m A Celebrity winner Harry Redknapp said Matt had achieved what he’d set out to do by turning the viewing public’s opinion of him around.
Former football manager and player Harry, 75, who won the 2018 series of the show, told MailOnline: ‘He’s gone up a bit in people’s estimation. He couldn’t have couldn’t gone any lower, could he?
Endearing: Ulrika told MailOnline: ‘He’s basically like an insecure 12 year old trying to make it with a very tight group of 20 year olds’
‘He was at rock bottom, so the only way was up and he’s done that.’
It comes as fans of the show appear to have had a dramatic change of heart about Matt as many are now hoping he wins.
The politician received huge amounts of criticism when it emerged he had agreed to become a contestant on this year’s series.
Positive words: Former I’m A Celebrity winner Harry Redknapp said Matt had achieved what he’d set out to do by turning the viewing public’s opinion of him around
Champ: Former football manager and player Harry, 75, who won the 2018 series of the show (pictured on the programme in 2018)
But after having survived the first three eliminations, many viewers now seem to want the controversial MP, who will reportedly pocket £400,000 for the show, to be crowned King of the Jungle.
His unpopularity at the beginning of the show was arguably reinforced by being voted to do six Bushtucker Trials in a row.
However, viewers now appear to have eased off on the politician.
Controversial: The former health secretary, 44, received huge amounts of criticism when it emerged he had agreed to become a contestant on this year’s series
Taking to Twitter, one fan wrote: ‘Matt Hancock to win, I love him,’ while another added: ‘Seann, Matt, Jill & Owen for final 4, I’d be happy for any of them to win.’
Several fans simply wrote: ‘Matt to win’ while another said he was ‘the best’.
Not all viewers have been convinced however, with one writing: ‘People saying Matt Hancock to win because he is ‘humble and kind’ need to have their heads looking’.
Reaction: It comes as fans of the show appear to have had a dramatic change of heart about Matt as many are now hoping he wins
Another added: ‘So weird how Matt Hancock has gone on I’m A Celeb and suddenly people have forgotten about everything he did to this country and are actually wanting him to win because other camp mates are ‘mean to him’, is this real? You’re joking please’.
Another viewer said: ‘If Matt Hancock wins I’m A Celeb I’m writing an email of complaint to Ofcom’.
Matt was forced to quit as health secretary last June after CCTV images showed him in an embrace with his married lover Gina Coladangelo, 44, inside the Department of Health during the height of the pandemic.
Unimpressed: Not all viewers have been convinced however, with one writing: ‘People saying Matt Hancock to win because he is “humble and kind” need to have their heads looking at’
But speaking to a business podcast in February, he said the relationship started ‘quite quickly’ after legal social distancing curbs were lifted and replaced by guidance.
Speaking to The Diary of a CEO podcast, Matt said he ‘fell in love’ with Coladangelo after bringing her in to work with him.
He told the podcast host, entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den investor Steven Bartlett: ‘It actually happened after the rules were lifted, but the guidance was still in place. I resigned because I broke the social distancing guidelines by then.
‘They weren’t actually rules. They weren’t the law. But that’s not the point.
‘The point is they were the guidelines that I’d been proposing. And that happened because I fell in love with somebody.’
People had to stay two metres apart from anyone outside their household or bubble, under the guidance at the time.
Matt stressed that his relationship with Miss Coladangelo was serious, saying he hated that some had ‘got the impression somehow that this was [casual sex]’.
The father-of-three expressed his regret at the pain that the affair had caused after it triggered the breakdown of his 15-year marriage to wife Martha to be with Miss Coladangelo – who was also married with three children.
Quit: Matt was forced to quit as Health Secretary last June after CCTV images showed him in an embrace with his married lover Gina Coladangelo (pictured) inside the Department of Health during the height of the pandemic
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