Boy George is now George of the Jungle (Picture: ITV)
One of the 1980s biggest pop stars – Boy George – is in the I’m A Celebrity jungle – and he has already indicated he isn’t there to mess around.
While the singer said before landing in camp that he didn’t need to bother taking part in reality TV simply for the pay cheque, when he arrived in Brisbane he was wearing a lion’s head mask which surely indicate he’s there to win.
It seems to help that he has also apparently bagged the biggest pay in the history of the show.
He’s surely got lots of showbiz anecdotes he can share with the rest of his campmates, while his outspoken nature means he might ruffle a few feathers too.
But he’s no stranger to getting himself into a little bit of trouble.
As the lead singer of the band Culture Club, Boy George was the voice behind hits like Karma Chameleon, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me and Time (Clock of the Heart), which soared to the top of the charts.
But off the stage the singer was also battling with serious drug addiction, which has been blamed for some of his run-ins with the law over the years.
When did Boy George go to prison?
Boy George performing in 1983 (Picture: TV Times via Getty Images)
It was Boy George’s androgynous style of dressing that first caught the attention of music executives, but the success of Culture Club’s first album cemented him as a bona-fide star.
The band’s debut album Kissing to Be Clever saw them become the first group since the Beatles to have three Top 10 hits in the US from a debut album.
But within five years of forming, Culture Club had fallen apart and Boy George’s drug addiction saw him in trouble with the law.
Boy George had been struggling with heroin addiction for several years and dabbling in other drugs soon followed.
Around the same time his younger brother David went on national TV to discuss his drug habit, which Boy George had been publicly denying.
Boy George arriving to court in 1986 (Picture: Dave Hogan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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But it was in 1986 that it all came to a head when the singer was arrested for heroin possession after police raided his house in Hampstead.
Undertaking treatment at the time, the magistrate handed him out a small fine, acknowledging that Boy George was taking steps to address his dependency issues.
However two decades later, in October 2005 he was arrested in Manhattan on suspicion of cocaine possession, which was later dropped, and falsely reporting a burglary.
He was sentenced to five days of community service, handed a fine and was ordered to attend a drug rehabilitation program, but an arrest warrant was later issued when he failed to appear in court for a hearing.
Boy George arriving at New York Criminal Court in 2006 (Picture: Jemal Countess/WireImage)
Then, in 2008, he was charged with the assault and false imprisonment of a male escort who Boy George handcuffed to a wall fixture and beat with a metal chain.
In 2009 he was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment but was released for good behaviour within four months.
But his brushes with the law haven’t seemed to slow down his career, and in the years since he’s released new music, been a judge on one season of The Voice UK and on four seasons of the Australian version.
His net worth is now reportedly around £43 million, and there’s reports he’s been paid around £1 million to take part in I’m A Celeb.
Boy George has acted as a judge on The Voice in the UK and Australia (Picture: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
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What is Boy George’s real name?
Born in Kent in 1961 and raised in Eltham, George Alan O’Dowd is now best known by his moniker which he adopted when Culture Club formed in the early 1980s.
Raised in a working-class Irish Catholic family with his four siblings, he’s said that his family history is a ‘sad Irish song’, with one grandmother being taken from her family and placed in an Industrial School as a child, while a great uncle was executed during the Irish War of Independence, while his mother alleged in her memoir that George’s father was abusive.
What has Boy George said about I’m A Celebrity?
The 2022 series of the show kicked off on Sunday, November 6.
And although he says he had to think ‘long and hard’ about whether he wanted to take part, Boy George eventually said yes because it’s the ‘biggest show on TV’.
The campmates are now settling into the jungle (Picture: ITV)
‘I am bored of being iconic in the corner and if you want to compete in the world then being part of telly is part of that,’ he said.
He previously said another reason for saying no in the past had been the serious clothing restrictions in the jungle – though it seems like he’s overcome those concerns by customising his khaki attire.
Boy George explained: ‘I’d have to get certain hats made and I couldn’t get over the food. I would have a problem with that.’
I’m A Celebrity 2022 airs at 9pm on ITV.
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Boy George has found himself on the wrong side of the law at times.
