Boy George Spoke Candidly About His Criminal Past In The Jungle

Proceedings in the jungle took on a frosty turn when A Place In The Sun presenter and campmate Scarlette Douglas asked Boy George about his past criminal conviction on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Referencing the case, she asked the Culture Club musician: “What happened with you BG, and some guy in handcuffs and a radiator?” But what exactly was she referring to?

In 2009, Boy George (born George O’Dowd) was convicted for the assault and false imprisonment of Norwegian model Audun Carlsen. At the subsequent trial, judge David Radford said that the singer was guilty of "gratuitous violence," and sentenced him to 15 months in prison, calling the offence “so serious that only an immediate sentence of imprisonment can be justified.” The musician was later freed from prison after four months for good behaviour.

Boy George claimed that he detained Carlsen against his will because he suspected him of hacking into his laptop during an earlier meeting, and though he admitted to police that he handcuffed him to his bed while he investigated the allegations, he denied beating him. He also claimed that he was suffering from drug-induced psychosis at the time of the incident, and pled not guilty.

"Whilst I accept that Mr Carlsen's physical injuries were not serious or permanent, in my view there can be no doubt that your premeditated, callous and humiliating hand-cuffing and detention of Mr Carlsen shocked, degraded and traumatised," Radford said in his closing remarks, as per The Guardian.

Discussing the conviction in the jungle, meanwhile, Boy George denied various elements of the story. “Handcuffs is true, but the radiator bit wasn’t true, but thanks for bringing it up,” he said, labelling parts of the story as “folklore.”

“I think if it was true I wouldn't be working now,” Boy George told Scarlette. “I don't even know what the full story was, I just remember hearing ‘handcuffs and radiator,’” Scarlette replied. “Good job I know what the full story was,” George said. “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.”

“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,” he claimed. “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.”

The singer appeared to be frustrated with the exchange, despite being outspoken about questioning the controversial former Health Secretary Matt Hancock about his own past during his time on the show so far.

“Scarlette blatantly talked about my court case. I thought it was inappropriate what she did, actually,” he later said, speaking in the Bush Telegraph. “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.”

Carlsen, meanwhile, has criticised ITV for casting Boy George on the show, telling The Mirror: “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.”

Victim Support is a charity offering support and help for people affected by crime.