Boy George has said he would have left I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! after Matt Hancock’s arrival if his mother had died in hospital during the pandemic. The former health secretary, 44, made his highly-anticipated entrance to the Australian jungle during Wednesday evening’s episode of the hit ITV reality show.
During a conversation with TV presenter and property expert Scarlette Douglas, the Culture Club frontman, whose real name is George Alan O’Dowd, said: “You know, beginning of the pandemic my mum was in hospital. I wasn’t allowed to see her.
"I thought she was going to die. I was tweeting Greenwich hospital going, ‘Please look after my mum’.
“I used my name, I was like, ‘Please look after my mum’. And they did, she was fine.
“I feel like, I don’t want to be sitting here like I’m having fun with him. It’s difficult for me because, you know, had something happened, if my mum had gone, I wouldn’t be here now. I would have gone when he walked in.”
Boy George, 61, continued in the Bush Telegraph, adding: “If I had lost my mum, I would go. And I feel a little bit selfish, you know, just kind of, everyone’s so nice to him and I was like, Jesus, what we gonna do?
“I don’t want to spoil this experience for myself. I’m not good at hiding what I feel. Especially when it’s something so strong.”
Hancock entered the jungle as a late arrival alongside comedian Seann Walsh, with the pair undertaking the Beastly Burrows Bushtucker Trial shortly after their entrance. The pair entered a secret camp dubbed Mole HQ, where they discovered they would be undercover moles in the main camp and were given a series of secret missions to undertake to earn the campmates their luxury items.
Before appearing on the ITV programme, Hancock had come under fire for his decision to join the stars in the jungle. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was among those to join the criticism of Hancock, who had the Conservative Party whip removed following the announcement that he would be participating.
Sunak said he was “very disappointed” in the MP’s decision. During Wednesday’s show, presenters Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly poked fun at the the West Suffolk MP and wider goings on in UK politics.
At one point Dec said: “Now, just 18 months ago, Matt Hancock was a member of of the cabinet. Creating policy, liaising with the Prime Minister, even running his own ministerial department.”
To which Ant added: “Now he’s sitting on a log, next to a giant toy mole with a flashing red nose, having just rinsed a load of cockroaches out of his bum crack.”
Dec said: “A week really is a long time in politics isn’t it?”
- I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! continues on ITV.
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