Former Eggheads star CJ De Mooi says he’ll never work again amid sexual assault allegations.
The TV personality, 49, has in his owns words become “utterly unemployable” after he was accused in January 2016.
After leaving Eggheads of his own accord in 2013, he returned to the show for a further two years before he was suspended.
He said: “I was suspended by the BBC at the time; I can understand that because I was being accused of a horrific crime.
“I was questioned by police and three months later I was cleared of any wrongdoing.
“I hadn’t done anything wrong whatsoever but on the very day I was cleared the production company that made Eggheads on behalf of the BBC terminated my contract.
(Image: Mark Lewis)
“There was no explanation. They didn’t even need to give me one as my contract was such that they could just get rid of me and that was that. I haven’t worked since. That was three and a half years ago.”
He claims ‘he hasn’t earned a penny’ since he was fired from the show and says he needs around £135,000 to guarantee he won’t be thrown out of his house after an expensive legal battle with his accuser.
Mr De Mooi, through anger and a need to speak out, named his accuser online, contrary to the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 which affords all alleged victims of sexual assault a lifetime of anonymity.
However this is not the case in Scotland, where the alleged offence took place, so Mr De Mooi spoke out.
(Image: Mark Lewis)
The accuser threatened Mr De Mooi with legal action and made clear his intention to sue him.
What followed was an expensive and fraught battle that left Mr De Mooi facing huge costs and the threat of losing his Welsh home.
Mr De Mooi said: “The only asset I have is my house and I was declared bankrupt last year. It’s been hell since then – I don’t have a bank account and I’m not allowed to do any business. I have had to beg and borrow.
He says his legal fees are going to be around £40,000 and he may have to put his house up for sale to cover his debts.
(Image: Roland Leon/Sunday Mirror)
Video Unavailable
The episode was followed by other allegations without foundation for theft, assault and child abuse.
Mr De Mooi was then arrested at Heathrow Airport in September 2016 for the alleged murder of a man in Holland, on the back of something he had penned as a throwaway line in his 2015 autobiography about an encounter with a mugger in Amsterdam years previously.
Claims were made that Mr De Mooi had written: “He caught me on the wrong day and I just snapped. I fully suspect I killed him; I’ve no idea what happened to him.”
These words do not appear in his book. Rather, he wrote: “I half-punched, half-pushed him into the canal. Trembling with rage and with fists still tightly clenched, I’m ashamed to say I walked away. I didn’t give this sorry creature another thought.”
(Image: Roland Leon Sunday Mirror)
In 1989, Mr De Mooi was diagnosed with HIV while living in London. But, he says, his difficult upbringing as a gay man in south Yorkshire meant he met the diagnosis with ambivalence.
Mr De Mooi said: “It was a relief when I was diagnosed with HIV. I was glad that I was going to die. I walked out of the hospital with a big smile on my face.”
The teenage CJ spent three or four months on the streets up north and then set off on a long journey to find fame, fortune, happiness – anything – in London, Holland and Germany.
After settling back in the UK CJ started taking part in quizzes and in 2003 he joined Eggheads.
