‘I HAD TO BELIEVE THE LAW WOULD COME OUT ON THE SIDE OF TRUTH’
Star hoping to rebuild acting career after accusations left it in tatters
FORMER Eggheads star CJ de Mooi says he is rebuilding his life after being arrested in relation to an alleged murder in the Netherlands. The quizzer and actor, who lives in Caldicot, Monmouthshire, claims he has been left fighting for his career after being sacked by the BBC.
The 47-year-old was wanted by Dutch authorities after writing in his book that he had attacked a mugger in Amsterdam in 1988.
A European arrest warrant was issued against de Mooi and he was arrested at Heathrow Airport in 2016 after returning from a business trip to South Africa.
He faced extradition to the Nether- lands to face the charges and appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court but the extradition attempt by the Dutch authorities was later dropped.
Now de Mooi is planning to make a complaint to the IPCC and the Dutch authorities over the ordeal, which left his career and reputation in tatters.
“If they think I’m going to be grateful and shut up they have got another thing coming,” he said.
After a year he described as “horrible”, which also saw him face a discontinued accusation of sexual assault and the loss of his role on the BBC Eggheads show, de Mooi is now hoping to get his acting career back on course.
He said: “It was horrific and very upsetting but I knew I had done nothing wrong and you had to believe, in this country at least, the law would come out on the side of justice and on the side of truth.
“In both cases I was completely exonerated and had done nothing wrong but some person made one accusation which got me fired and ruined my career and somebody put forward a case which was completely wrong which got me splashed on the front pages.”
He added: “There’s still this public perception that I had done something horrifically wrong but I have done nothing.”
Speaking about his acting career, de Mooi said he had a play lined up in the West End later this year and had been working on a film.
He said: “Acting has been the only thing that will make me happy. I fell into TV work by accident.
“I think you know in the pit of your stomach when there’s something you are meant to do and for me that is acting and performing.
“I was four or five years old when I knew I wanted to be an actor and it’s the only thing that keeps me going.
“Acting is my career and my life and if I don’t get another acting job as long as I live I’ll keep on trying.
“I have done theatre in the West End but my ultimate dream would be to work on Broadway.
“The theatre is my true life and if I get to Broadway at some point, I could die happy.”
De Mooi, who is a member of Caldicot Running Club, will be running the Cardiff Half Marathon in October.
He said: “I have run the Cardiff Half before when I ran for Barnardo’s but I haven’t done it for a couple of years... I wanted to get a taste for it again.
“I have lived in Wales for 11 years and it’s important to support the local community.”