September 28th 2023.
Jermaine Pennant has revealed what was going through his mind when he punched Matt Hancock on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins. The former health secretary is back on our screens as he continues his reality TV stint after coming in third place on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
Appearing on Thursday's The One Show, the 40-year-old former footballer explained: ‘When we got that task and I put the gloves and hat on, I was thinking, “Oh no”. And then they said number one, which is Matt Hancock, and straight away I got a little bit of a lift, thinking right, the nation is supporting me, they’re all behind me.’
Pennant had previously said he just thought about ‘not losing’. He added: ‘It probably doesn’t matter about the fight, then after that it was like do not lose, it probably doesn’t matter about the fight… do not be the losing side because I would not be allowed to walk the streets again. I was just very grateful that I won and I saved face.’
In a preview clip for the episode, the two contestants go head-to-head for the boxing challenge, where they have to keep punching each other for one minute. Despite Hancock trying to fight back and stay in the contest, it’s not long till he’s pushed onto the floor.
The ex MP has previously spoken about how the trials ‘p****d[him] off’ and that he was even given an unfortunate nickname, branded ‘Matt Handj*b’. ‘They were pretty rude. Calling me names, taking the p**s out of my surname, and god, it p****d me off,’ he told The Sun.
He continued: ‘With all my flaws on the show, when you’re under massive physical strain and you’ve been woken up in the middle of the night, you can’t hide. To make something like this work, you’ve just got to go all in. I went in as a politician and I came out as a human being.’
‘Jermaine is no softy – [but] it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I expected, being smacked in the face’, he added to the publication, thanking adrenaline for lessening the pain.
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins continues on Sunday at 9pm on Channel 4. Viewers are in for a wild ride as the show follows 16 celebrities as they are put through their paces in the jungle phase of SAS selection in Vietnam. Matt Hancock will be returning to our screens, although we’re not sure if he’s ready to go head-to-head with Pennant again!
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