Bizarre Gogglebox controversies – from £500-a-ticket 'upmarket orgy' to £50k swindle and bitter family bust-up | The Sun
THEY’RE usually seen watching gripping dramas on TV, but sometime the Gogglebox cast's real lives can be just as scandalous.
Stephen Webb has become the latest star of the Channel 4 show to hit the headlines, after apologising for pulling a woman into a swimming pool at Brighton’s exclusive Beach House.
He was enraged after he was pushed in fully clothed by a prankster pal to howls of laughter from fellow drinkers, and witnesses said he then “shouted and screamed” at the woman.
Stephen has since apologised, telling The Sun: “I am very sorry if she felt upset or hurt by my actions. That was never my intention.
“I’d been swimming and having dried and got fully dressed, a friend pushed me back into the pool.
“I took it in very good spirits and everyone was laughing and joking so seeing his friend sat on the edge of the pool, pulled her round her waist into the water with me. We’d enjoyed a really good time together and I felt it was all part of the fun.”
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But he’s not the first Gogglebox star to be at the centre of controversy.
£500-a-ticket sex party
Boozy, posh couple Steph and Dom Parker joined Gogglebox in 2003, sitting on the sofa in the Salutation mansion they sold for £5 million last year.
But their huge home was also a B&B and used as the venue for an upmarket £500-a-ticket sex party in 2014.
More than 60 mask-wearing guests from a private swingers' club drank champagne at their residence before romping all night after sex club Killing Kittens paid out £1,700 for the night.
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A spokesperson for the couple confirmed at the time that Steph and Dom were not at the house when the sex party took place – and thankfully, neither were the Gogglebox cameras.
Anti-terror investigation
Gogglebox stalwarts Baasit, Umar and Raza Siddiqui were investigated by police in 2016, when they posted a picture on Facebook, dressed in camouflage ready to go paintballing.
The photo was captioned: “ISIS training day, look how happy we look!”
It was claimed that several of their friends commented on the photo with jokes about the terrorist organisation.
One even allegedly added a snap of an ISIS terrorist carrying a gun.
And a complaint sparked a police investigation.
Derbyshire Police concluded there “was no link to terrorism whatsoever,” but said they would be "offering suitable words of advice" to the brothers.
UKIP campaign
Like the Siddiquis, the Michaels were one of the original families on Gogglebox.
But the whole family had to quit at the end of 2014 when Dad Andrew – who sadly passed away last year – announced he was running as an MP for UKIP in the 2015 general election.
Channel 4 bosses decided Andrew could not hold a political seat and appear on Gogglebox giving his views on the telly.
At the time, Andrew’s wife Carolyne admitted the family were sad to be leaving – and was left in tears after being given just five days to choose between the show and her husband's political career.
However, Andrew failed to win the Hastings and Rye seat for UKIP in the election, and the family returned to Gogglebox in 2015.
He told The Sun: "I have a responsibility to keep my family happy after they supported me last autumn. That was a big deal for us. They supported me then, so it's my time to support them now.
"Now I have stepped down from my official position as prospective parliamentary candidate.
“I was happy to step down in order to pick up Gogglebox."
Family fall-out
Mother and daughter Sally and Paige Devine first started appearing on Gogglebox in 2019, but quit just two years later.
Paige originally said her decision to leave the show was "due to long hours of filming, restrictiveness, control of our actions and opinions and zero aftercare support".
However, she then went on a 2am Twitter rant calling her mum a “disgrace”.
She tweeted: “To clarify, people thinking I fell out with my mom over gogglebox, My ‘mom’ is an absolute disgrace who I wish to never speak to again due to a serious family issue NOT about a TV show.”
She added to BirminghamLive that she now had “nothing to do” with her mum, who quit the show first.
She went on to claim appearing on the hit show was like “being thrown into the lion's den”, and that filming sessions would begin at 3.30pm and go on until after midnight, with cast members paid £100 per session.
Paige also said she and her mum were often second choice when “favourites” weren’t available to film.
She said: “There are more popular characters on the show than myself and my mum like Pete and Sophie and the Malones.
“When they weren’t available producers would contact us and ask us to film at the drop of a hat which we would do.”
£50k family robbery
Scarlett Moffatt is easily one of the most successful people to come out of Gogglebox – and is a millionaire thanks to the TV work she's got since winning I'm A Celebrity.
But her mum Betty took some of that cash from her daughter's accounts to fund an online gambling habit in lockdown – expecting to pay it back with winnings.
But the big win never materialised, leading to a heart-breaking confession that left Scarlett “betrayed and confused”.
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But caring Scarlett realised her mum needed counselling and vowed to help Betty, who checked into rehab.
Scarlett’s dad Mark also rallied to his wife’s side and Scarlett was aiding her mum’s treatment for her gambling problem.
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