Benefits Street star Fungi moans he’s living in ‘hell’ after his Universal Credit is slashed in HALF – but says ‘I’d rather booze than work’

BENEFITS Street star Fungi has moaned that he's living in "hell" after his Universal Credit payment was slashed in HALF - but says "I'd rather booze than work".

The 50-year-old, whose real name is James Clarke, claims he was getting £500 a month but this has suddenly been cut to £229 without explanation.

Fungi said since he was switched to the government's flaghsip all-in-one benefit he's been struggling to afford bills and food.

He believes he would be on the streets if it weren't for people recognising him from the reality show, which aired in 2014, and followed the lives of benefits claimants living on James Turner Street in Winson Green, Birmingham.

He said: “It causing me a hell of a lot of stress. I have to top up the gas and electric and buy food and there's nothing left after that.

“If it wasn't for who I am and people recognising me and giving me a few quid to get by, I would be back in jail now. I'd be stealing to survive.

“I know people in Moseley and if I get really hungry I go down there and they give me a free meal.

“If I went there starving to one of the shops they would give me food straight away."

ALCOHOL PROBLEMS

James, who lives with his girlfriend Kerrie Tarbuck, admits he has a drink problem for which he is receiving support from his GP.

The couple, who have been together for eight months, drink three £1.79 one-litre bottles of Frosty Jacks cider between them a day.

Fungi says they have cut down since he met the 40-year-old by chance when they passed each other in Moseley.

I can't work because I drink every day, as soon as I wake up I start drinking.

Fungi, real name James Clarke

They live in sheltered accommodation in Kings Heath where the rent is paid for them through a separate state payment.

The unlikely celebrity admits to having a chronic drink problem, but has been clean of hard drugs for more than four years.

He said: “I'm an alcoholic, all I've done is swap one for another, but I'd rather have the drink than that stuff.

“I can't work because I drink every day, as soon as I wake up I start drinking.

“I've been offered work on building sites and that. I can't do that. If I fell down and had an accident they'd be responsible. My doctor has signed me off as unfit to work.

“I don't get drunk - I can't. I wish I could get drunk.”

NEW BENEFIT SYSTEM 'HELL'

The father-of-one, who has grown a beard since his time on the show, described fellow benefits-claimant Kerrie as a stabilising influence, who suffers from epilepsy.

Fungi said: “She's very pretty, very nice. We are stable. When she puts her foot down and says do something I do it.

“The only thing that's a nightmare is the Universal Credit, it's the worst thing in the world.

“There will be people in jail and people homeless because of it.

The only thing that's a nightmare is the Universal Credit, it's the worst thing in the world

Fungi

“I know people who have got kids and they're struggling, they are having to go to foodbanks.

“They are going through hell."

Fungi failed to profit from his fame on the Channel 4 show, and two years after it aired he was sleeping rough under Birmingham's Chinese Pagoda and drinking 10 cans of super-strength cider and lager a day.

But he managed to quit drugs after a stranger who saw him on television paid £11,500 to put him through rehab.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “We are sorry to hear Mr Clarke is experiencing difficulties.

"If he contacts his Jobcentre, staff can explain his payments and check he is receiving the correct amounts.

“Universal Credit is a force for good for many, and over 1.4 million people are successfully receiving the benefit.”

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