THEY were the squeaky clean boys in tuxedos who narrowly missed out on winning the first series of The X Factor but won over millions of mums and nans across the country.
Now, 20 years after finding fame on the show, operatic quartet G4 have revealed their life away from the microphone would have been enough to make fans choke on their tea.
In an exclusive interview, the group has lifted the lid on their secret, shocking debauchery, with frontman Jonathan Ansell admitting he blew £250,000 in a single year on booze, strippers and gambling.
Jonathan, along with current bandmates Mike Christie, Duncan Sandilands and Jai McDowall, also revealed there were threesomes at parties, regular flashings from their sex-mad fans and even requests to sign genitals — which they obliged.
Baritone Mike said: “No one believed it, because it’s very much, ‘Mothers love us’, or ‘My grandma loves you’, but actually we were rock ’n’ roll early on.
“We fell out of clubs drunk all the time but paps never really caught us.”
Recalling one wild night out, Jonathan said: “I had a threesome once at the OK! Christmas party.
“There was a vodka luge and two dolly birds behind it calling me over.
“I said, ‘I’ll only do it if you promise you’ll take advantage of me when I’m drunk’ — as a joke.
“Three hours later I got caught in the back kitchen with both of them and security had to drag me out.
“I went back with both of them. The next morning we had a photoshoot for The Sun and I was two hours late because I’d overslept.
“My phone was ringing off the hook and eventually I turned up really bleary-eyed.
“This stuff was going on and then we were singing Nessun Dorma on the TV.”
The group’s self-titled debut album was the fastest-selling record of 2005 and hit No1 on Mother’s Day — which is a good indication of who was buying their music.
But it was the daughters of their fanbase of mums and dads who were getting busy with the band.
Asked how many women he ended up sleeping with, Jonathan — now married to TV presenter Debbie King — said: “I literally don’t know.
“I spoke to my wife when we met and we were both trying to work out how we broach this conversation.
“I genuinely have lost count.
“The mental part was how easy it was to pull.
“You struggle at uni. Don’t get me wrong — I had a few conquests, but it was harder work.
“Then you do X Factor and it’s the ticket to pulling.
“It was a joke. You’d go out and it was almost boring after a while because you could just hook up all the time.
“You were drinking cocktails, bottles of vodka, champagne. We had a lifetime membership to Stringfellows.
“We were in and out of there all the time.”
I properly went wild and it’s horrendous what I must have lost through that year in drinking and gambling — it was probably a quarter of a million that I spent
Jonathan
Jonathan admitted there was a dark side to his out-of-control lifestyle.
He explained: “We were so famous at that point that you couldn’t just do normal things. I couldn’t just wind down after a studio session, a gig or in day-to-day life.
“I needed the endorphins of going out. A lot of the time, there wouldn’t be anyone to go out with because they were working, with normal lives.
“I would pay the guys if they didn’t want to come. I remember at a recording studio in Guildford, I paid (former members) Ben and Matt on different occasions £100 to come out.
“Then I worked out that being on your own in a pub, you look lonely. But standing at a fruit machine on your own, no one bats an eyelid.
“If I wanted to go out, I could go out and just stand at a fruit machine, order drinks and no one would think anything of it.
“But I did find that I then got too into the fruit machines and subsequently casinos and stuff.
“I properly went wild and it’s horrendous what I must have lost through that year in drinking and gambling — it was probably a quarter of a million that I spent indulging that compulsion that developed.
“That is something that I wish hadn’t happened.”
Jonathan is now settled down with a wife and kids, which means he can look back and see the funny side.
He continued: “I had some big wins. One night I got £7,000 on one round of stud blackjack and they paid you in bags — with £1,000 in each bag. I had it all stacked up in my jacket pockets.
“I went to the nightclub Pacha and they were frisking me down on the door. And I was like, ‘I’ve got cash in my pockets — please don’t make a scene in front of the queue’.”
But their wild antics seemed to rub off on some of their fans when they realised how raucous the lads were.
Jonathan recalled: “I got woken up by a fan with a cup of tea in my flat — and that freaked me out. They had slept with my friend in the adjacent room and I didn’t realise until the next morning. Then I couldn’t get her out of the house.”
That wasn’t the first time he had noticed the woman though.
Mike said: “It was quite a common thing that people would try to sleep with our friends to get closer to us.
“We had these two women on the front row on one tour. They wore these trench coats with nothing underneath and they would flash us at the end of every show.
“They were there with nipple tassels. It was hysterical.
“One of them was the woman who brought Jon the cup of tea.”
Other excitable fans have chucked their bras on stage (“they were monstrous — we would put them on like hats”) as well as pants (“they were always not clean”.) And then there were the fan requests.
Mike said: “We’ve signed a lot of people’s bodies and different body parts. Boobs, willies.”
Jonathan interrupted: “I got asked but I never did it. Did you?”
Mike replied: “Yeah. It wasn’t just me.”
Jonathan recalled: “It shocked me when it was presented in my face and they told me, ‘Sign this — my girlfriend would love it’.
“It happened to me three times and I’m still shocked and horrified.”
Their remarkable success as X Factor’s first major star act opened the floodgates for the discovery of a slew of superstars through the ITV show, including One Direction, Little Mix and James Arthur.
But when they auditioned for the first series, they had no idea what an impact it would have on their lives.
Mike admitted: “We entered X Factor as a complete laugh. We didn’t expect to get anywhere with it.
“We just thought, ‘We’ll go along, sing for Simon Cowell and that will be it’. Then we kept getting through.”
And while plenty of acts have moaned about their experience on the show, the boys have nothing but gratitude. Jonathan said: “We got the record deal, we did three albums and we’re still touring 20 years on. We can’t grumble.”
They’ve had their fair share of celebrity approval too, with David Beckham, Graham Norton and Dawn French all telling them they are fans.
They split in 2007 and reunited in 2014, with Duncan Sandilands replacing original bass Matthew Stiff.
We’ve signed a lot of people’s bodies and different body parts. Boobs, willies.
Mike
Low tenor Ben Thapa left in 2018 to pursue a solo opera career and has been replaced by Britain’s Got Talent 2011 champ Jai McDowall.
Jai said: “I said no, initially. I was a solo artist for a long time and I didn’t know whether I’d fit in. It took about a week. Jon cried — he phoned me many times.”
To celebrate their two decades in music, they are releasing a new album titled 20 on April 12, featuring their comeback single Io Che Non Vivo Senza Te (You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me), which is out today.
Recalling losing to Steve Brookstein in 2004, Jonathan said: “We were devastated when we came second on X Factor. We thought it was all over, and for that to be 20 years ago now, and still be doing stuff and sharing our music, is awesome.”
And their old mentor and current Celebrity Big Brother star Louis Walsh gave them a helping hand — urging them to do as many chart hits as possible. That’s partly why they have now covered Billie Eilish’s Oscar-winning What Was I Made For? and Vampire by Olivia Rodrigo.
Jonathan said of Louis: “He seems so scatty and does the maddest things. We’d be doing a gig and he’d come backstage and go, ‘I’ve got 20 people coming to see the gig tonight — I met them on the train’.”
Next month G4 will head off on a tour featuring more than 70 dates — which will be pricey for Duncan after he became known for a stunt on stage. He admitted: “It was a commitment to a knee slide which I got a bit excited about.
“I was getting through a pair of trousers a night because the knees were getting absolutely shot.”
But as for the debauched nights out, they are a thing of the past.
Jonathan said: “I now live in the Yorkshire countryside and I love sitting at home, watching the birds come to my bird feeders.
“Tending to my veg patch genuinely gives me an amazing thrill. There’s been a proper gear change and that’s the great thing about life.”
