Malcolm McLaren

Profession: Manager of band
Place/Date of Birth: London, 22 January 1946
Associated with: I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here

Malcolm: I’m a Celebrity is a fake - Nov 12 2007
Malcolm McLaren has lashed out at I’m a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, calling the show "fake".

The punk legend walked from the ITV show just before it hits TV screens on Monday night.

TV insiders suggested that the 61-year-old former Sex Pistols manager, who admits a fear of poisonous snakes and uncontrollable wild beasts, got cold feet.

But Malcolm told The Sun: "This is not a reality show. It’s fake. They fix things. They know who’s going to win and lose.

"There are about 550 people in the jungle. It might have been a jungle once upon a time, but now it’s a film set."

He said: "I had every intention of appearing on the show. But the trials are tricks to fool the public about a danger that isn’t there. It proves this show is nothing more than a circus."

Malcolm said he decided that the show was fake after meeting the show’s medic, known as Dr Bob.

He told the Daily Star: "The medic, Dr Bob McCarron, told me ’Things are so safe, I would send my own kids in to do the show’.

"There is nothing bad in there. They’re hoodwinking the public."

But a TV insider said: "He bottled it... After the health and safety talk he became scared and was particularly worried about snakes."

ITV is expected to announce Malcolm’s replacement - with former Apprentice contestant Katie Hopkins, pantomime star Christopher Biggins, and Right Said Fred singers Richard and Fred Fairbrass the favourites.

McLaren pulls out of jungle contest - Nov 12 2007
Former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren has pulled out of the new series of I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! before the contest has even started.

The 61-year-old, who lists his fears as poisonous snakes and uncontrollable wild beasts, made the decision in the last 24 hours, a show spokeswoman said.

The series will continue with nine contestants instead of 10 and the spokeswoman said it was too early to say if another hopeful will be added.

McLaren had never seen the ITV1 show, hosted by Ant and Dec, which starts on Monday. But he was aware that Sex Pistol John Lydon previously had taken part.

The I’m A Celebrity... spokeswoman said of the departure: "He flew 5,000 miles to take part, but on the day they were due to go into the jungle he changed his mind."

She said viewers would see the celebrities’ reactions when they were told.

Further details about why McLaren had left were not given, but insiders suggested that he had got cold feet about the idea.

The other contestants include former Catatonia singer Cerys Matthews and 38, ex-EastEnders actor Marc Bannerman, 34.

Also taking part are Anna Ryder Richardson, 43, who made her name on Changing Rooms, PR guru Lynne Franks, 59 - on whom Edina in Absolutely Fabulous is said to be modelled - former Hollyoaks star Gemma Atkinson, 22, and 1970s supermodel Janice Dickinson, 52.

The male jungle campers are Jason Brown, 31, known as J in the boyband 5ive, chef John Burton Race, 50, and football pundit Rodney Marsh, 63.

Biography

After a childhood spent mostly with his eccentric grandmother, Malcolm McLaren (b. 22 January 1946, London) spent the mid to late 1960’s at various art colleges. In 1969 he became romantically involved with fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and they subsequently married and had a son together, Joseph Corre, who now runs upmarket lingerie/sex boutique Agent Provocateur.

In 1971 he opened the shop Let It Rock in Chelsea’s Kings Road, which catered for Teddy Boys. Among the shop’s many visitors were several members of the New York Dolls, whose management McLaren took over in late 1974. It was to prove an ill-fated venture, but McLaren did spend some time with them in New York and organized their ’Better Dead Than Red’ tour.

After returning to the UK, he decided to find a new young group whose stage presence and rebelliousness could equal that of the New York Dolls. The result was the Sex Pistols, whose brief spell of public notoriety ushered in the era of punk. The creation of Sid Vicious, the conflict with Johnny Rotten, the involvement with Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs and, finally, a self-glorifying film The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle, were all part of the saga.

Following the Sex Pistols’ demise, McLaren launched Bow Wow Wow, heavily promoting the 14-year-old singer Annabella Lu Win. Although their recordings were original for the period, the dividends proved unimpressive and the group split.

Eventually, he decided to transform himself into a recording star, despite the fact that he could not sing. His ability to predict trends saw him assimilating various styles of music. The arduous sessions finally came to fruition with Duck Rock, which featured two UK Top 10 singles, Buffalo Girls and Double Dutch.

The work pre-empted rock’s interest in world music, as exemplified on Graceland by Paul Simon. McLaren next persisted with the music of urban New York and was particularly interested in the ’scratching’ sounds of street hip-hop disc jockeys.

McLaren moved on to a strange fusion of pop and opera with Fans, which featured a startling version of Madam Butterfly that became a UK Top 20 hit. Paris, and the subsequent ambient remix album, proved more popular in Europe (France in particular) than the UK.

More recently he managed a Far Eastern Spice Girls copycat band, Jungk, whose members are kung-fu experts. He also ran for for mayor of London in 2000. McLaren lives in Soho with architect Charlotte Skene-Catlin.
November 2007

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