I blew my £200,000 on booze ...now I’m a labourer on £7.50 an hour
Frankie Cocozza on life
“Now I love being on the building site. I get so much grief, but it’s a crease up. I knock up pug (mortar mix) for the plasterers. It’s fun. It gives me a reason to get up in the morning.”
Frankie was 18 when he appeared on X Factor in 2011.
During his live audition he revealed his bum tattooed with the names of seven girls he had bedded. And he was kicked off the show after a crew member reportedly heard him boasting about cocainefuelled sex sessions.
He admits his life had “gone out of control” and that his behaviour off- stage ‘ overstepped the competition rules”.
“They only put me on there because I had tattoos on my a**e,” says Frankie. “I wasn’t any good at singing. I was just a lairy 18-yearold. They weren’t going to get any number ones off me.
“Me and my mates just turned up at clubs all over the country afterwards and had loads of free booze poured down our necks and an army of girls trying to get in to sit with us. It has been a bit dark at times, but I’m controlled. It never got to a stage where I need help.”
He says it was the grief he suffered over the death of his aunt, Helen Cope, from cancer that drove him to try to blot things out with drink.
Frankie, of Brighton, says: “I was quite l ucky the show happened around the time of her death – because while losing her did f*** me up, it would’ve been 10 times worse without X Factor.
“I’ve got a close-knit family and she was a wonderful woman.”
After his exit from the show he made two EPs – one reaching 19 on iTunes, the other failing to chart – but it was his car crash lifestyle that kept him in demand in the reality TV arena.
In 2012 he was in Celebrity Big Brother, coming second to winner Denise Welch. With the show’s fee, a host of magazine deals and club appearances worth up to £4,000 a night, Frankie reportedlyp earned more than 2011 X Factor winners Little Mix in the 12 months after the show.
“I got this credit card, checked the account and it was £185,000,” 185,000,” he said. “I thought f****** *** hell, and went mad.
“I didn’t think it wass going to end. I spent it all on Fred Perry and booze – among otherher things I won’t say. And I did s*** loads of holidays. Me and thee boys went to Amsterdam about eight times.
“Over the years I think I’ve spent about £ 200,000 000 on alcohol.” When best friendriend Connor Saunders, 19, was killed after being punched in an unprovoked attack, Frankie spiralled further out of control, blowing what was left of his fortune.
“After Connor died I went a bit