Former S Club 7 star Paul Cattermole has said he was turned down to appear on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! because he is “not famous enough”.
The pop singer, who injured his back last year and has had difficulty finding work ever since, has also said the £66,100 he received for the eBay sale of one of his Brit Awards will go on “paying bills” and perhaps working on a new solo album.
Cattermole, 40, told NME, on his decision to sell the music award: “Someone said to me, ‘Why don’t you just not sell the awards and just go into the jungle (on I’m A Celebrity…)?’
“I have asked them many times if they will let me in and they won’t have me. I’m not famous enough, apparently.
“But when you look at some of the people they put in, it really is extended friends of famous people. Cousins of friends.”
He added: “I’ve been told this by many of these reality TV shows – they just don’t want me. They could easily have put me in the jungle. Or the dancing one. Or the ice one.”
Cattermole sold the best newcomer statuette that he won with his then-bandmates in 2000 and, after the bidding on the auction website suddenly rocketed, he waived the postage fee.
Asked why he sold the gong, he said, while working on the UK tour of The Rocky Horror Show last year, he was “injured in quite a bad way”.
66k that is incredible, to the point where I am blushing ☺️, so I just wanna say a big thanks to everyone that sent messages, I was answering messages all week I’m sorry if you didn’t get a reply. . Thankyou 😘Xx
— Paul Cattermole (@Paulcattermole1) January 16, 2018
He said: “There an un-choreographed bit of dancing (that went wrong) and someone fell on me. I was out of the show for about two months.
“My back has gone – it hasn’t been right since.”
He said that “things just haven’t gone well this year with that injury” in terms of finding work.
S Club 7, who were known for pop hits such as Reach, Bring It All Back, S Club Party and Don’t Stop Movin’, split in 2003 after five years together.
Cattermole was in the band along with Jo O’Meara, Bradley McIntosh, Rachel Stevens, Hannah Spearritt, Tina Barrett and Jon Lee.
They reunited in 2015 for a tour, but Cattermole said it was “difficult” and that “not everyone in the band sees eye-to-eye”.
“There was a fall-out over whether we should be doing a dance troupe, Diversity-type show with choreography to backing tracks, or do what we’ve always done and have a live band,” he said.
“I was being forceful about the live music to the point where I upset some people. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have pushed it so hard. There was even shouting.”
Of the money he makes from the sale of the Brit Award, he said: “Just less than half of it will go on paying the bills.
“But what do you think I should spend the rest of it on? I’ve always wanted to record a covers album. I know it’s a cliché to do it, but the reason people do it is that they sell. It is something that does sell in the music industry these days.
“I’ve actually always wanted to do a Motown album. Polydor bought the Motown back catalogue at the end of the 90s and they were our label, so I should ask if I can record some of them.”