I'm A Celebrity: Boy George says people in prison loved him

Boy George has claimed people in prison "loved" him and thanked him when he left, when he was jailed for assault and false imprisonment.

The 61-year-old singer was convicted of assaulting Norwegian model and male escort Audun Carlsen in 2007 and served four months in prison in 2008 before being released on probation.

The Do You Really Want To Hurt Me singer told his I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! campmate Scarlette Douglas: “Do you know what, the people in prison were amazing to me. They loved me.”

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He added of his time in prison: “It was very boring. The clothes was quite similar to this. They also thought I was going to be a total nightmare. And when I wasn’t… they literally thanked me when I left.

"I knew when I was there, I was like, ‘Right this isn’t my life. This isn’t what I want, I’m never coming back'. I accepted it and I just thought I’ll take what happens.”

But the musician - real name George O'Dowd - was not happy about being quizzed on his conviction.

He told the Bush Telegraph: “Scarlette blatantly talked about my court case. I thought it was inappropriate what she did, actually. I thought she shouldn’t have said what she said to me.

"And I thought I handled it really well as it’s a very big sore point for me when people say things like that.”

The A Place In The Sun presenter asked: “What happened with you BG and some guy in handcuffs and a radiator?”

Boy George said: “It’s not true, no radiators.”

He went on: “Handcuffs is true but the radiator bit wasn’t true, but thanks for bringing it up... Sometimes these things, they go into the ether, and people keep saying them and they become folklore... I think if it was true I wouldn’t be working now."

The Karma Chameleon singer said went on: “Good job I know what the full story was. The best way to explain my thing, Scarlette, if I beat someone up there would have been photographs.

"And there were none, because it didn’t happen. So 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. 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.”

Boy George added: “Sometimes I think, do I want to explain it? I know the truth. I also know, if I’d done what I was accused of doing, I don’t think I’d be working. I don’t think I’d ever have come back from it.”

Carlsen originally attended a photography session with the singer at his London home, where he was then handcuffed to a wall.

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In 2009, a High Court judge banned the Boy George from taking part in Celebrity Big Brother as the conditions of his licence included restricting him to "permanently reside" at an address approved by his probation officer.

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