Matt Hancock tells I’m A Celebrity campmates winning campsite leader vote ‘more than makes up for’ losing to Boris

Published

2 years ago

November 14, 2022

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Matt Hancock has said being voted leader of the I’m A Celebrity campsite “more than makes up for” losing to Boris Johnson in the 2019 Tory Party leadership election.

The 44-year-old MP was among those who threw their hat into the ring to replace Theresa May in Number 10, but withdrew part way through the contest before putting his support behind Mr Johnson.

Sunday’s episode of I’m A Celebrity saw him receive enough votes from the public to enter a head-to-head with former England rugby star Mike Tindall for control of the campsite.

The former health secretary recruited ITV broadcaster Charlene White, who he has previously clashed with over his breaking of COVID-19 guidance during the pandemic, and they were triumphant in a challenge that saw them working together to switch on a series of lights.

Ahead of the task, Tindall joked: “If I went home, and I’d lost to Matt Hancock, I’d be in so much s**t.”

Hancock then told White: “We are definitely the underdogs”, before she replied: “Did you go into the leadership challenge thinking you were the underdog?”

Dictatorship?

After their win, Hancock declared: “Obviously, it’s a great honour and privilege to be camp leader. I want to thank everybody who voted for me.”

White asked: “Does this win feel sweet, especially after you lost to Boris? Do you feel like you have been vindicated?”, to which he replied: “This more than makes up for it.”

However, their success prompted soap star Sue Cleaver, Tindall’s would-be deputy, to remark: “We now have a dictatorship…”

Hancock and White were then charged with assigning their campmates to chores while remaining exempt and getting the chance to sleep inside the RV – a step up from the campsite.

Earlier in the episode, Hancock was stung by a scorpion which “unexpectedly” nipped him on the finger. He later told his fellow contestants: “It was so painful… It hurts a lot, and I’m feeling slightly dizzy.”

He was seen by a medic straight away, with TV presenter and property expert Scarlette Douglas later joking in the Bush Telegraph: “He looked like he wanted to cry.”

Snakes and offal

Hancock was voted to become leader of the campsite after facing his fifth consecutive trial, House of Horrors, in which he had to crawl through a giant doll’s house full of pigeons, snakes and troughs full of offal, searching for stars to feed the camp.

Asked by co-host Declan Donnelly why he thought the public kept voting for him to take part in the gruelling trials, Hancock responded: “It must be the facial expressions.”

Facing his fear of snakes, the Tory MP located nine out of the 11 stars on offer, despite a snake attempting to strike him at eye level.

After returning triumphant to camp, he admitted: “I was absolutely shi**ing myself.”

The episode also saw former England footballer Jill Scott recalling playing football aged five and how her grandmother had predicted her success.

Attwood’s blood test

It comes after former Love Island contestant Olivia Attwood revealed she was forced to withdraw from the show after a routine blood test showed she was anaemic.

The test, which all the contestants undergo randomly throughout the show, also suggested low sodium and potassium levels, prompting staff to immediately take her to hospital.

Attwood, 31, disclosed the reason for her departure after only 24 hours in the Australian jungle in an interview with the Mail On Sunday.

However, she also said her tests at the hospital and back in the UK produced normal results.

A show spokesman said: “As a precautionary measure, Olivia needed to leave the jungle to undergo some medical checks.

“Unfortunately, the medical team has advised it is not safe for Olivia to return to camp as there needs to be further investigation.

“She has been absolutely brilliant, and she’ll be very much missed on the show.”

Entertainment

Thunderbirds and Peppa Pig actor David Graham dies aged 99

Published

5 hours ago

September 21, 2024

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Thunderbirds and Peppa Pig actor David Graham dies aged 99

David Graham, whose voice featured in some of the UK’s favourite TV shows, including Thunderbirds and Peppa Pig, has died.

The London-born star was 99.

Jamie Anderson, the son of Thunderbirds creator Gerry Anderson, led the tributes on X as he called Graham a “legendary” actor.

Graham brought to life the Thunderbirds puppet characters Gordon Tracy, scientist Brains, and Lady Penelope’s driver, Aloysius “Nosey” Parker, in the series about the secret International Rescue organisation.

“We will miss you dearly, David. Our thoughts are with David’s friends and family,” Anderson’s post on X confirming the death on Friday said.

Anderson went on to pay tribute to Graham, who also voiced the evil Daleks in Doctor Who, saying: “David was always a wonderful friend to us here at Anderson Entertainment.”

‘What a talent’

Anderson also told the PA news agency: “Just a few weeks ago, I was with 2,000 Anderson fans at a Gerry Anderson concert in Birmingham where we sang him happy birthday – such a joyous occasion.

“And now, just a few weeks later, he’s left us. David was always kind and generous with his time and his talent. And what a talent.”

Highlighting all the characters played by Graham, Anderson added: “He will be sorely missed.”

Graham returned as Parker for ITV’s remake Thunderbirds Are Go, which ran between 2015 and 2020, but not for the live-action 2004 film which saw Ron Cook take on the role.

The original 1965 Thunderbirds was created by Gerry Anderson, who died in 2012, and his second wife, Sylvia, the voice of Lady Penelope, who died in 2016.

Graham also played Grandpa Pig in children’s show Peppa Pig, and provided the voice for characters in Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom.

His in-person acting roles included Doctor Who, Coronation Street and Casualty.

Entertainment

Cleo Sylvestre: ‘Trailblazing’ actress dies aged 79

Published

7 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Cleo Sylvestre: 'Trailblazing' actress dies aged 79

“Trailblazing” actress Cleo Sylvestre who starred in films, soap operas and stage plays has died aged 79, her agent has said.

Sylvestre, also known as Cleopatra Palmer, appeared in productions as diverse as Crossroads, Shakespeare’s As You Like It and the first Paddington movie.

A spokesperson for Fulcrum Talent said: “It is with deep regret that I have to announce the sad news that Cleo Sylvestre MBE died this morning.

“Much loved and admired by her peers, she will be remembered as a trailblazer and a true friend. She will be sorely missed by so many.”

Sylvestre was also a singer and recorded with The Rolling Stones, who backed her on a 1964 cover of To Know Him Is To Love Him. She later worked as a musician with her blues band Honey B Mama And Friends.

Born in Hertfordshire in April 1945, she was brought up in London by her mother Laureen Sylvestre and studied at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts.

She was made an MBE in 2023 for services to drama and charity and was married to Ian Palmer until his death in 1995.

Sylvestre enjoyed roles in some of TV’s best-known shows, including playing Melanie Harper, the adopted daughter of Meg Richardson in ITV’s long-running Crossroads, during the 1970s.

Other TV roles came in The Bill, New Tricks, Till Death Do Us Part, Grange Hill, Doctor Who and Coronation Street.

Her more recent parts included ITV thriller Platform 7, and Channel 5’s revamp of All Creatures Great And Small.

Sylvestre began her acting career on the stage and was the first black actress to take a leading role in a National Theatre production – in National Health in 1969.

She made her Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) debut playing Audrey in a 2023 production of As You Like It.

Her film roles have ranged from the 2014 film Paddington, Kidulthood from 2006 and 1993’s The Punk.

US-born playwright and author Bonnie Greer wrote on X that Sylvestre was “one of the reasons that-from my vantage point in NYC (New York City) that I thought that this country has the best anglophone theatre, and the best place to be a Black woman in it”.

She added: “I still think that. Thank you, Cleo!”

Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, the UK’s first sickle cell nurse specialist, wrote that she was “devastated” at the death of her “wonderful, kind friend”.

Entertainment

Painting of nude woman prompts police visit at Powys art gallery

Published

14 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Painting of nude woman prompts police visit at Powys art gallery

A painting of a nude woman with her legs open has prompted a police visit to an art gallery in Mid Wales.

The painting is on display in the window of The Table in Hay-on-Wye, Powys.

Warning: The image below shows the painting

According to gallery owner Val Harris, the police have asked her to remove the painting under the Public Order Act, but she has refused to do so.

Ms Harris told Sky News the response the painting had received from some people was “shocking” and “rather sad”.

“We had the police here under the Public Order Act. They’d had complaints,” she said.

“I’m not prepared to take it out of the window. I run an art gallery, I support my artists, so that’s where we got to.

“And Poppy [Baynham, the artist] wants to keep it in the window, if she wanted to move it ’cause she was finding it too traumatic, I would have respected whatever she wanted.”

The painting formed part of the gallery’s It’s Party Time exhibition.

Some of the complaints were read out in a public meeting on Thursday afternoon, called so people could ask questions about the artwork.

One complaint was that the painting was “not suitable for children”, while another described it as “very sexualised”.

Baynham told Sky News it was “only supportive people” who attended the meeting after the complaints had been made.

“I think everyone who didn’t like the painting was just a bit scared to show their faces obviously. So it turned out really, really great, a lot of people showed up,” she said.

“I couldn’t do it without the support, I think I would have given in if it was all hate.”