Boy George addresses his prison sentence on I’m a Celebrity for first time

Boy George has opened up about his time behind bars for the first time on the latest instalment of I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!.

The singer was questioned about his conviction by campmate Scarlette Douglas.

The host of A Place in the Sun asked: "What happened with you BG and some guy in handcuffs and a radiator?"

The 61-year-old replied: "That's not true."

"I don't know the story, I just heard radiator, handcuffs," she responded.

"It's not true, no radiators," he replied.

Scarlette said: "Oh, just handcuffs."

"Handcuffs is true but the radiator bit wasn't true, but thanks for bringing it up," George replied.

In 2008, George - whose real name is George Alan O'Dowd - was convicted of assault and false imprisonment. He was sentenced to 15 months and given early release after four months.

Anyway, he wasn't best pleased about Scarlette bringing it up.

ITV

Speaking to The Bush Telegraph (aka that camera where they open up about their experiences with campmates), he 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."

Expanding on his version of events, he told Scarlette: "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."

Doug Peters / Alamy Stock Photo

As for what it was like in prison, he 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."

But while George might not like being asked about his conviction on the show, the victim of the assault doesn't think he should be on it raking in a pay day in the first place.

Audun Carlsen - who claims he is still traumatised by the experience - said: "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."

Topics: Celebrity, Im A Celebrity, Music, Crime

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey