Boy George was less than impressed when his camp mate Scarlette Douglas brought up his jail-time and court case during Wednesday’s episode.
In 2009 the Karma Chameleon singer, 61, was sentenced to 15 months for the assault and false imprisonment of Norwegian male sex worker Audun Carlsen during a ‘psychotic episode’, and ended up serving four months in prison.
The Culture Club star, whose real name is George Alan O’Dowd, has since turned over a new leaf and celebrated a decade of sobriety in 2018.
Seething: Boy George was less than impressed when his camp mate Scarlette Douglas brought up his jail-time and court case during Wednesday’s episode
And George did not appreciate his history being a topic of conversation in camp, as he ranted it was ‘inappropriate’ for the presenter to bring it up
Talking in camp, Scarlette said: ‘What happened with you BG and some guy in handcuffs and a radiator?’
Boy George replied: ‘That’s not true.’
Looking back: The singer, 61, was sentenced to 15 months for the assault and false imprisonment of male sex worker Audun Carlsen, with Scarlette asking him about the incident
Scarlette said: ‘I don’t know the story, I just heard radiator, handcuffs…’
Boy George said: ‘It’s not true, no radiators.’
Scarlette said: ‘Oh, just handcuffs.’
Boy George said: ‘Handcuffs is true but the radiator bit wasn’t true, but thanks for bringing it up.’
Assault: In December 2008, Boy George was convicted for the assault and false imprisonment of Norwegian male sex worker Audun Carlsen (pictured) during a ‘psychotic episode’ the previous year
Scarlette said: ‘Sorry, it wouldn’t surprise me if that was a fake story.’.
Boy George replied: ‘Sometimes these things, they go into the ether, and people keep saying them and they become folklore.’
Boy George in the Bush Telegraph said: ‘Scarlette blatantly talked about my court case. I thought it was inappropriate what she did, actually.
‘I thought she shouldn’t have said what she said to me. And I thought I handled it really well as it’s a big sore point for me when people say things like that.’
Full story: George suggested only he knew the full details of what had happened, insisting he had not chained Auden to a radiator but that he had handcuffed him
Boy George added in camp: ‘I think if it was true I wouldn’t be working now.’
Scarlette said: ‘I don’t even know what the full story was, I just remember hearing handcuffs and radiator.’
Boy George replied: ‘Good job I know what the full story was. The best way to explain my thing, Scarlette, if I beat someone up there would be photographs. And there were none, because it didn’t happen.’
‘So when you beat someone up, the first thing the police do is take a photograph and they show them in court.
‘There was no photos because I didn’t do that. But I did do one thing. I did handcuff him, yeah.’
‘Because I’d handcuffed the guy I’d already assaulted him. So, when I said ‘I did it’, I thought, I’ll tell the truth they’ll let me go home. I went to prison for four months. I was on tag for four months as well.’
Unimpressed: Speaking in the Bush Telegraph, George expressed his distaste at A Place In The Sun presenter Scarlette’s line of questioning
He added: ‘Do you know what people in prison were amazing to me. They loved me.’
Scarlette asked: ‘What was that experience like?’
Boy George said: ‘It was very boring. The clothes was quite similar to this. They also thought I was going to be a total nightmare.’
;And when I wasn’t… they literally thanked me when I left. They were like, ‘Oh my god. I knew when I was there, I was like, ‘right this isn’t my life. This isn’t what I want, I’m never coming back’. I accepted it and I just thought I’ll take what happens.’
He added: ‘Sometimes I think, do I want to explain it? I know the truth. I also know, if I’d done what I was accused of doing, I don’t think I’d be working. I don’t think I’d ever have come back from it. That was a slightly tabloid exaggerated scene.’
The conversation comes after Richard Madeley slammed the campmates earlier this week for not grilling Boy George on his time in prison.
Not impressed: The conversation comes after Richard Madeley slammed the campmates for not grilling Boy George on his time in prison
On Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain, the presenter told Susanna Reid: ‘He’s not been questioned about it. He chained someone to a radiator for a very long time and beat them up.’
Susanna responded saying: ‘Well he denies the beating.’
‘Well he was convicted and spent four months in prison and no one has mentioned it to him at all,’ Richard added.
He continued: ‘I wonder if that’s because they’ve forgotten it.’
Susanna said: ‘It was more than 10 years ago that it happened.’
To which Richard replied: ‘Yeah. He says it was a psychotic episode partly fuelled by drugs, that’s his rationale.’
In December 2008, Boy George was convicted for the assault and false imprisonment of Carlsen during a ‘psychotic episode’ the previous year.
It was claimed he shackled Mr Carlsen to a radiator and whipped him with a chain while screaming abuse when he was in the grips of a £400-a-day heroin habit.
Criticism: But the topic has seemingly not come up in the jungle so far, which Richard has criticised
George first met Mr Carlsen in 2007 when he got in touch via a dating site and asked Audun to model items from his clothing range.
They met at George’s flat in Shoreditch, East London where they drank wine and took cocaine but things took an unwanted turn.
After returning from the shop, George set upon Audun with another man, claiming the visitor had tried to hack into his computer, beating him and leaving him handcuffed to a wall fixture, from which he escaped by wrenching himself free.
Strong words: On Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain, the presenter told Susanna Reid: ‘He’s not been questioned about it. He chained someone to a radiator for a very long time and beat them up’
George was jailed in 2009 for 15 months after being found guilty of assault and false imprisonment, but was given early release after four months for good behaviour.
Still traumatised by the incident, former escort Mr Carlsen recently hit out at George appearing on I’m A Celebrity.
He told the Mirror: ‘Had I been a woman and he did what he did, he would never have been given the platform. It’s hurtful that big organisations like ITV give him that platform.
‘I think giving him this sort of platform and a record fee sends the wrong message to survivors of violence and abuse and is plain wrong.’
A representative for George told MailOnline: ‘George went to jail for four months willingly after openly confessing to false imprisonment during a psychotic break 15 years ago whilst in the midst of a well documented drug problem.
‘Not only has he been a pillar of society ever since, but he also remains sober to this day.
‘He apologised publicly on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories four years ago and we are very proud of him for his rehabilitation.
‘Everyone is entitled to a second chance and George has certainly earned it.’
Troubles: The Culture Club star has battled drug and alcohol addictions and in 2009, was jailed for 15 months for the assault and false imprisonment of a Norwegian male sex worker
An ITV source told MailOnline: ‘This is a historical, spent conviction dating back 12 years and Boy George has appeared on major TV networks globally on numerous occasions over the last decade, including as a coach for The Voice UK on the BBC and The Voice Australia.’
Speaking of the attack in 2020, Boy George sobbed on TV as he described a ‘psychotic episode’ when he kept Mr Carlsen prisoner in his flat.
He told Piers Morgan on his ITV’s Life Stories show that he had not apologised to his Norwegian victim because it ‘wouldn’t make any difference’.
He said: ‘I sent myself to prison. I told the police why I did what I did. In hindsight I was having a psychotic episode. I was a drug addict so I can’t sit here and say my reasons for doing it were founded in any way.
‘But I told the truth. I said, ‘This is why I did it. I was having a paranoid episode’. I have always denied beating the guy.’
Jailed: George was jailed in 2009 for 15 months after being found guilty of assault and false imprisonment, but was given early release after four months for good behaviour
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