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A former MP being targeted by hardened criminals has chosen to fight back in the most unexpected way.
As part of the cast of the series Banged Up, farmer and former Tory politician Neil Parish has been locked up inside HMP Shrewsbury, a Victorian prison decommissioned in 2013.
The series sees well-known faces become inmates to find out first-hand what life’s really like on the inside, sharing cramped cells with ex-cons.
During the next episode, Parish, probably best known for watching pornography in the Commons chamber during a debate, decides to stand up for himself after a former convicted burglar does his best to bully him.
Some of the ‘pranks’ inmate Tony decides to pull involve an entire bin being poured over Parish’s bed, pouring body wash into his pillowcase, and balancing a bucket of water on a door to have it fall on the politician when he walks into his cell.
‘How about we give this MP a little bit of a shower,’ he says before it all plays out, as seen in an exclusive clip ahead of tonight’s show.
Former MP Neil Parish signed up to become an inmate in Banged Up (Picture: Channel 4)
It’s clearly the last straw for Parish, who then records a video diary saying he is ready to stand up for himself.
Put in a cell with international drug dealer Chet Sandhu, who would rather ‘chop up people than trees’, Parish is given advice on how to best fight back.
While he’s taught how to make a weapon using a toothbrush and razor, Parish decides to take a different path to defend himself.
He was quickly targeted by a convicted criminal called Tony(Picture: Channel 4)
As he admits, prison is ‘scary’, and he’s learnt it’s necessary to be ‘careful and watchful’.
‘You immediately think, what is going to happen next? It’s a bit like in politics. You never quite know when something is going to blow,’ he shares.
He continues: ‘Neil Parish. You must stand up for yourself.’
One ‘prank’ he was subjected to included having a bin being dumped on his bed (Picture: Channel 4)
With limited resources available to fight back, Parish decides to raid the food stash for his revenge.
Taking his chance, he sneaks into Tony’s cell and decides to also leave him some gifts on his bed.
He’s then seen squirting mayonnaise onto Tony’s white sheets, before making a full meal out of it and adding some beans and tuna.
However he decided to fight back(Picture: Channel 4)
His approach was to dump mayonnaise, beans and tuna on his foe’s bed(Picture: Channel 4)
Parish then put on an impressive poker face when Tony discovered the mess (Picture: Channel 4)
When Tony eventually makes his way back to his room, he’s hit by the smell of the stinky fish, and his reaction is pretty priceless.
With his own lunch in hand, he is at first confused about the stench wafting from the cell and grabs some room spray to freshen the joint up.
But he quickly realises the source of the stink, and safe to say, he’s not impressed.
Staring at the absolute mess on his bed, Tony then storms back out to find the culprit.
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‘Who’s thrown that over my bed?’ he yells out as the others eat their meal in a common area.
As he starts losing it yelling, Parish’s poker face doesn’t let him down and he’s even brave enough to return to the room.
‘What’s happening,’ he asks, pretending he’s just as perplexed about the mess.
But as he’s standing in the cell chatting, Tony blows up and picks up what appears to be a bin and hurls it across the room in anger.
Tonight’s episode will reveal how it all plays out(Picture: Channel 4)
When the accusations were made against him in April last year, Parish said he might have viewed the pornography by mistake.
He said that he had been initially looking at a website about tractors and then reached ‘another website with a very similar name’ and ‘watched for a bit’.
Parish then said that his ‘biggest crime’ was that on another occasion he ‘went in a second time’ while waiting to vote’ in Parliament.
He resigned within a week of the accusations being made.
The other famous faces also locked up for the experiment include former EastEnders star Sid Owen, Gogglebox’s Marcus Luther, actor and comedian Tom Rosenthal, pop star HRVY, journalist Peter Hitchens and sitting Conservative MP and Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer.
Banged Up is airing tonight from 9.15pm on Channel 4.
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