Grinning Matt Hancock has refused to say when he will be back at work - as he spent his first day outside of the jungle partying instead of catching up on his MP duties.
The disgraced former Health secretary, 44, came third on I'm A Celebrity and couldn't keep his hands off girlfriend Gina Coladangelo once he returned to the JW Marriott Hotel on the gold coast.
The pair then wore white and enjoyed a drinks reception at the hotel before joining the other contestants for a three-hour dinner party at La Luna restaurant at the Marina Mirage.
Asked on his return when he would be returning to work, Hancock declined to answer and simply smiled and held Gina's hand as they headed back to their room.
The two other finalists Jill Scott and Owen Warner both had appeared on ITV show Good Morning Britain and contestants normally are contracted to do this on the day they leave.
But Hancock snubbed this option and instead is thought to have brokered a big money deal for his first interview.
Writing about his decision to do the show days before he entered the Jungle, Hancock wrote: "As soon as my time in camp is up, I will return to Suffolk to hold a surgery where I will catch up with my constituents and discuss matters of concern."
However, he left camp around 8am on Monday morning in Australia and will not fly home until late on Tuesday. He has been out of contact by phone or email for three weeks but still felt he had time to devote Monday to relax.
As the Mirror reported, he will present a bill on dyslexia to the House of Commons on Friday, his representative said - but he might have to do so as an independent after being stripped of the Tory whip after it emerged he would be taking part in the primetime series. It is unclear whether he will be readmitted.
Voting results were released for I'm A Celebrity yesterday and showed Hancock never stood a chance of winning.
In total, when there were three left, Jill managed to secure 47.29% of the vote whilst Owen placed second after receiving 30.99% of the vote. He bagged about a third of all votes but Hancock was way behind with just a fifth of the vote at 21.72% of all votes.
When the vote came down to just the two of them - Jill and Owen - it was a more hotly contested competition, with Jill receiving 57.66% of the final vote and Owen bagging himself a total of 42.34%.
And Hancock's lack of votes in the final came despite a concerted PR effort by his team to get young votes.
Support from young TikTok users appears to have been one of the keys to his on-screen success.
Over the past few days, before the final on ITV on Sunday evening, members of Hancock’s PR team were lobbying for votes on the app – encouraging people to vote for him repeatedly and giving them step-by-step instructions.
Since 8 November, Hancock’s PR team has posted 26 videos of him on the app, all linked to his appearance in the jungle.
In the most recent one, he said: "I've just come out of the jungle and I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who voted for me. Im incredibly grateful for every vote. I am thrilled Jill has won, she is so wonderful and I am so glad the nation has been able to see it. But the number one thing is a massive thank you to everyone who voted for me."
He now has more than 88,000 followers and at least 511,800 likes across his official TikTok account, while videos of him overall have been watched 400 million times, according to TikTok’s internal data.
Hancock also still needs to answer how much of his appearance fee, believed to be around £400,000, he will donate to charity.
Image:
James Gourley/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)He was suspended from the conservative party and was slammed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Sunak said: “I was disappointed when he went on the show … we’ve spent however long [on] all these challenges that the country faces – not just me.
“MPs not just from my party, from all parties, are focused on debating and trying to solve [the challenges]. I think that’s what we should be focused on and that’s why I was disappointed he went on the show.”
There has also been criticism from families who had loved ones who died in care homes when he was health secretary.
In April, Hancock apologised after the High Court ruled government policies on discharging patients from hospitals into care homes at the onset of the pandemic were "unlawful".
And in June 2021 he was forced to resign after CCTV footage surfaced of him embracing his aide Gina Coladangelo at a time when this would breach his own rules on physical contact. It also ended his 15-year marriage.
A spokesperson for Mr Hancock said: "Matt will be in West Suffolk this week and the second reading of his Dyslexia Screening and Teacher Training Bill will be heard in Parliament on Friday."
