Kerching of the jungle
Anger over £500k pay day for ‘abuser’ George
EXCLUSIVE
JANINE YAQOOB TV Editor
JAMES INGHAM
BOY George will take home a cool £500,000 and become the highest-paid contestant to ever appear on I’m A Celebrity.
BY and
The Karma Chameleon singer, 61, touched down in Australia yesterday wearing a lion mask.
The new series of the reality show starts next Sunday.
Insiders say a bumper pay packet tempted George Down Under to become the most expensive celeb in the ITV show’s 20-year history.
His fee is said to eclipse that paid to US media personality Caitlyn Jenner, 73 – the biggest earner in the jungle until now.
CONVICTED
When the Culture Club star was quizzed after arriving at Brisbane Airport to complete the 10-strong line-up of campmates, he joked: “I’m here to do a version of The Lion Queen.”
But the decision to sign the singer – who is a convicted abuser – has been met with anger by many.
George was jailed for 15 months in 2009 for falsely imprisoning a male escort by handcuffing him to a wall and beating him with a chain.
The star, whose real name is George O’Dowd, served just four months in prison and described the experience as “lifechanging”.
When he returned to the public eye as a judge on TV’s The Voice in 2016, his victim Audun Carlsen called for him to be axed and said he had “ruined his life”.
George’s stint on I’m A Celeb has received criticism online.
One man wrote: “I, and thousands of other abused queer men, feel sickened.” Another added: “He chained a man to a radiator. Why is he still platformed?”
The Sunday Mirror can reveal George signed for the show after plans for a Hollywood biopic about his life were shelved.
It is thought he could miss out on millions after plans for his film project, Karma Chameleon, were put on hold.
The pop legend has sold more than 50 million albums and is worth an estimated £43.8million.