Carol Vorderman has broken her silence in a lengthy Instagram video after being accused of “cosying up” to Matt Hancock at Cheltenham Festival. The Channel 4 Countdown legend was spotted talking to the ITV I’m A Celebrity star in the crowds at the race event on Tuesday – months after calling him a “c***.”
Carol faced criticism from some, who claimed she was “fake”. Now, the 62-year-old has addressed the furore on her Instagram Story after returning to her hotel room.
She said: “We had a great day at Cheltenham and we have just looked online – there’s a whole thing in the Daily Mail about me cosying up to Matt Hancock at the races,” she said. “OK I am going to tell you what happened – I am always a guest at the Jockey Club – I go to a lot of race meetings as you know. I have shares in a horse with the chairman of Cheltenham races.
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“We were having lunch, we go to parade ring and we always go to the Royal Box to watch a race. I was chaffeur – not drinking – so I was having tea. Me, some people from ITV Racing, my friend and I, we went onto the terrace to watch Honeysuckle. It’s a beautiful horse, one of the favourites and it was a big thing because it was the final race before the retirement. We went onto the terrace to watch.
“We were alone on the terrace, and then maybe three other people. We’re looking out and there’s a tap on the shoulder. ‘Hello, my name is Gina’, I turn around and it’s Matt Hancock. ‘Hello I am Matt’, and I replied ‘I’m Carol’, I mean what are you to do in the Royal Box? You can’t call them in the Royal Box.
“We spoke to Gina, asking about racing and whether they were into it. They said Matt was because he had racecourses in his constituency and he has even done a bit of jockeying himself – which I didn’t know. We turned around again to watch, and Carol said ‘oh by the way, thank you for everything you do with your son enlightening people with your son with dyslexia, I have dyslexia too’ and I turned around to be civil and said it was important to me.”
Carol said: “That’s all. At that point, I’d said ‘by the way, I really want to watch this race’ and I turned around and watched the race. We never spoke another word again. Not a word. Talk about a bloody setup! I mean what are you to do? I was brought up to be polite – just as you do with all the people who ask for selfies or whatever at Cheltenham. That’s the truth. It has made me laugh.”
Carol laughed as she said: “I mean what are you to do?”
