I’m A Celebrity finished last night with wonderful LionessJill Scott rightly crowned Queen of the Jungle. Hollyoaks star Owen Warner came second. And, to many people’s horror, the former Health Secretary-cum-disgraced-breaker-of-his-own-rules-and-alleged-granny-killer Matt Hancock came in at third place.
Yes, a rather respectable bronze medal, all things considering. Many hoped the public would be so appalled at him being on the show - and at his decision to abandon his constituents while Westminster is sitting for a reported £400k fee - that he’d be voted out immediately. Instead, he was punished on air as the public repeatedly voted for him to do Bushtucker Trials in the first week.
We watched as he gulped down camel’s penis and sheep’s vagina. Only thing is, he turned out to be a rather ‘good sport,’ necking cow’s anus like it was chateaubriand. And yes ok, he made it to the final without any contestants walking out in protest. Admittedly, they seemed to forgive him pretty quickly after a gentle grilling early on. But just because they seemed to warm to him that doesn’t mean the public did.
His constant trials made good TV. So presumably ITV producers manufactured whatever situation they could to keep him in. The show leeches off controversial public figures desperate for a rebrand because people tune to hate watch. So on we watched and in he stayed.
And now here we are, scratching our heads after Matt Hancock came third place in the reality TV show. A narrative is forming that his plan to reinvent himself and appear ‘human’ has worked. ‘Has the controversial MP been forgiven?’ asked one BBC article. ‘Hancock has won in the jungle of public opinion,’ a columnist wrote in The Times. But PR guru Mark Borkowski’s team has used software to track media coverage and it shows comments on articles and social media posts about him are still mostly negative.
What’s more, Borkowksi says Hancock won backing from young TikTok users after his PR team lobbied hard for votes on the app in a deliberate strategy, according to the Guardian. His team encouraged people to vote repeatedly (which is allowed, within reason) and offered up simple voting instructions. Although this tactic could have helped him reach the final three, Borkowksi said he doesn’t believe it will pay off. ‘I don’t think he has a political career after it. I think he’ll be ridiculed,’ he told the Guardian.
It's easy to hear ‘final three’ and assume the country has fallen for him, but Twitter is also proof those votes don’t necessarily translate into wider public opinion. The social media site has been ablaze with furious critics unconvinced he’ll be able to rehabilitate his image. Of course, Twitter isn’t everything. But some voters have even revealed they only voted for him to watch people have a meltdown on Twitter, not because they actually warmed to him.
Others have suggested some of his votes are down to Tory block voting. And there have inevitably been claims of an ITV fix, because of course the broadcaster hoped he’d stay until the end. And this is before we even think of what his abandoned constituents must think of him.
Also, it’s true we all live in our own little echo chambers, but at the same time, the people we surround ourselves with still make up chunks of the country Hancock has supposedly ‘won over’. Yet wherever I look people are disgusted by him. I’m not just talking about friends, family and colleagues, but also the thousands of people I scroll past on various social media feeds each day.
Further proof lies in the complaints he received to Ofcom (more than 1,700) and the statement Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice issued before he appeared on the show – presumably watching him drink a glass of blended meal worms and attempt karaoke didn’t win them over or help them come to terms with their loved ones’ deaths.
Ironically, proof his plan hasn’t worked is also in the incredulous tone of any article that suggests it has. ‘Could it be? Not on my watch,’ they tut. No one can believe it because, guess what, it hasn’t worked. We’re all still just as appalled by him. As Labour MP Lisa Nandy said on Politics Live, ‘He’s come across as a complete plonker.’ He’s probably lost his job in politics, too. Business Secretary Grant Shapps said today he thinks his career in Westminster is ‘pretty much done’.
Let’s also take a minute to look at those voting numbers. When he lost out to Owen and Jill he lost out fairly substantially, with only 22% of people voting to keep him in (compared to Owen’s 31% and Jill’s 47%).
So before we perpetuate the narrative that Matt Hancock has redeemed himself, stop. If he does manage a rebrand and comes back in a high-flying role or as a media personality, there’s nothing to suggest it’s because he won over the nation’s heart. More likely it’s to do with the PR machine behind him – with help with his PR guru girlfriend Gina, no doubt.
So no Matt, we haven’t seen your human side, just the fact you have more money, better contacts and a more intense desperation to be liked than some of the other contestants.