Jermaine Pennant opens up about fighting Matt Hancock on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins | OneFootball

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Jermaine Pennant opens up about fighting Matt Hancock on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins | OneFootball

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·28 September 2023

Jermaine Pennant opens up about fighting Matt Hancock on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins

Article image:Jermaine Pennant opens up about fighting Matt Hancock on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins

Highlights

  1. Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins is currently airing its fifth series in the UK, putting celebrities through intense training.
  2. Jermaine Pennant, a former footballer, participated in a military training exercise where he fought against ex-politician Matt Hancock.
  3. Pennant emerged as the winner and spoke about his motivation to not be on the losing side, expressing satisfaction in beating Hancock.

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The fifth series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins is currently airing in the United Kingdom on Channel 4. If you aren't familiar with the show, celebrities who think they have what it takes to pass SAS selection are pushed to their limit by elite ex-special forces operators.

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This season sees celebrities being put through their paces in Thung Ui, North Vietnam. Several former sportspeople are taking part, including former Welsh Rugby Union player Gareth Thomas and Great British Olympian Perri Shakes-Drayton.

Former footballer Jermaine Pennant is also appearing on the show. The Englishman made 231 appearances in the Premier League with nine different clubs, including Arsenal, Liverpool, Birmingham City and Stoke City. Pennant, now 40, retired from football in 2017 and has since ventured into punditry, while he has also appeared on several reality TV shows since hanging up his boots including on Celebrity Big Brother in 2018.

Jermaine Pennant fights Matt Hancock on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares wins

One activity that contestants have to take part in is 'milling', a military training exercise where two opponents punch each other in the head as aggressively as possible without evasion.

The directing staff decided that Pennant's opponent for the exercise would be ex-British politician, Matt Hancock. Hancock was a member of the Conservative party and served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from 2018 to 2021. There was only one winner when the two went up against each other and you can view footage of the fight below...

Pennant, it's fair to say, did not hold back. He got the upper hand early in the fight as he landed a number of blows. The former English footballer was instructed to take Hancock down to the ground and, after successfully doing so, they were told to stop. The fight was described as 'pathetic' by Jason "Foxy" Fox but, unsurprisingly, Pennant was declared the winner.

Jermaine Pennant opens up on fighting Matt Hancock on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares wins

Pennant has spoken to the media about his fight and he revealed exactly what was going through his head when he was told he'd be fighting Hancock.

He told RadioTimes: "My first thought when they shouted number 5 [Pennant's recruit number] out I was like, 'Yes!' and then after that it was, 'Do not lose! If it's rubbish, it doesn't matter but just do not want to be part of the losing side' because I wouldn't be allowed to walk the streets again. I'm just very grateful that I won to save face."

In another interview, he admitted it was 'satisfying' to beat Hancock.

He said, per the Mirror: "It was satisfying to beat Matt in a fight I’m not going to lie. I don’t think anyone was happy to see Matt in there at first. The whole nation was unhappy with what went on, what people had to go through and what Matt got up to. All those feelings don’t just go away but having said that we were a team in there and we had to get on. "You can judge people but everyone makes mistakes. I’ve made mistakes in the past and when you go in there you are all kind of starting a fresh. Yes he’s made mistakes but you are all in there working as a team so you have to give him a break and his due for that. But having said that all is not then forgiven."

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