James Arthur Refused £250K For 'Celebrity Big Brother' Appearance

James Arthur has revealed that he turned down two huge money offers to appear on reality television during the lowest ebb of his career.

As has been well-documented, the road from James’s ‘X Factor’ victory to his recent number one single wasn’t exactly a smooth one, with a homophobia scandal, the loss of his recording contract and several public outbursts all not exactly painting him in the best light.

Now he’s back on the music scene, James has admitted that during his downtime he was offered a six-figure sum to appear on ‘Celebrity Big Brother’.

He tells the Daily Star: “I got offered loads of reality shows including ‘I’m A Celebrity’ and ‘Celebrity Big Brother’.

“They were life-changing amounts of money. The most I got offered was £250,000 for ‘CBB’, which I really needed at the time, not knowing if I had a career.”

James continues: “I think they thought I was a crazy Twitter troll and didn’t realise I am a shy, self-deprecating guy. I feel like I made a brave decision not taking the cash. It was a great option for me and my family but I wanted to stay true to my music and I am proud of that decision.

“I’m a huge fan of those shows but I don’t think there’s any chance I would be back at No. 1 now if I’d gone down that route. I wasn’t sure how seriously people would take me after doing reality TV.”

After a controversial couple of years, James has managed to turn things around, and topped the charts earlier this month with his comeback single ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’, shortly after re-signing to Simon Cowell’s Syco record label.