Calum Best: From Reality TV Love Rat to Fitness Fanatic Amidst Addiction and Scandal

For a certain generation of Noughties fans, Calum Best was defined as one of reality TV’s biggest names.

A nepo-baby before the term was even coined, the star was the son of legendary late footballer George Best, who attempted to kickstart his own career on Celebrity Love Island.

The ensuing years have saw Calum a womanising reputation that wasn’t helped by the release of a sex tape in 2017, while he was appearing on Celebrity Big Brother, and claims that he once fathered a love child.

Now a self-confessed fitness fanatic, the heavily tattooed TV personality has also featured on Celebs Go Dating, Celebrity Ex On The Beach and SAS: Who Dares Wins.

But his rollercoaster love life was never far from the headlines, with Calum dating names including Sarah Harding, Bianca Gascoigne and even Lindsay Lohan.

From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail’s new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop.

Calum endured a turbulent childhood as the son of late footballer George, given the sportsman’s well-publicised battle with alcoholism

In a 2017 interview, he revealed the details surrounding his father’s relapse following a liver transplant. 

It happened in 2002, following his assurance that he was cured of his addiction to drink, and Calum caught him himself while the Best family were away on holiday.

Speaking about the time he walked in on the late Manchester United player, Calum said: ‘I knew he had just swigged from this bottle. And it was like f**k! It ended right there. I wanted to give up then totally.

‘From then on it was just back to drinking. And he drank and drank until it ended. I remember leaving that trip so confused and upset and distraught.’

Talking about how this set Calum himself on a downward spiral, the current CBB star said: ‘I came back and snorted and drank and s***ged my way through everything.’

George’s battle with alcoholism finally took his life in 2005, which sent Calum into a tailspin of self destruction and grief.

It was during this time that Calum was also a contestant on Celebrity Love Island, and won the second series with Bianca Gascoigne.

Despite their winning title, the pair split up shortly after their stint on the dating series.

Calum had already earned a reputation for his rollercoaster love life, having dated Girls Aloud star Sarah back in 2005.

In 2006, he enjoyed a brief romance with Rod Stewart’s daughter Kimberly, but their relationship quickly fizzled out.

Later in 2006, Calum was given the chance to brush with some of Hollywood’s finest, as he started dating actress Lindsay Lohan, at the height of her Mean Girls success.

However, things took a turn when Calum confessed Lindsay dumped him after becoming fed up with his attempts to flirt with other women, and he wrote in his memoir: ‘The two of us together are combustible. At this moment in our lives, we’re both a bit nuts.

‘We both like to party a lot and it makes things tempestuous.’

Calum also had a short-lived romance with glamour model Georgia Salpa in 2011, and in 2016 he was rumoured to be dating TOWIE star Chloe Sims.

They both kept quiet about the romance rumours at the time, but Chloe later referred to Calum as her ‘ex’ in an interview with The Daily Star.

Later that year, Calum appeared on US dating show Famously Single and struck up a relationship with fellow reality star Brandi Glanville, but their romance ended after a fiery row which featured on screen.

In the midst of his long list of famous girlfriends, Calum has also been accused of fathering a love child, after Lorna Hogan, 33, fell pregnant the day before the memorial of his father George Best. 

In 2015, Lorna claimed that Calum had refused to take a paternity test, and claimed he ‘abandoned’ his daughter Amelia.

She told The Mirror: ‘All she can say is that she doesn’t know him and he doesn’t want anything to do with her – it’s heartbreaking.’

She went onto claim that a DNA test was later planned through Calum’s mother Angie, but says he failed to attend.

In 2017, Calum hit back at these claims in a response to a fan on X, writing: ‘Did a paternity test to clear the child wasn’t mine bless.’

George’s own struggles with alcoholism would haunt Calum who described how he would feel, ‘demonic anger,’ because of his father’s drinking.

Indeed in 2007 his own life started to fall apart as he spiraled out of control, suffering alcohol and drug addiction.

Calum said at the time: ‘I’m a bad boy. I go out and get drunk, I get high on cocaine and I do stupid debauched things with the wrong women.

‘I’ve been sowing my oats for years, and I’ve been doing drugs for the past six years. I do drink too much and it gets out of control.

‘The drink leads to the coke and the coke leads to debauchery – the wrong people and places. When I’m high I do wild, stupid s**t. I’m a red-blooded male and I’m addicted to sex.

‘I don’t have to be like Dad, but I feel his blood running through my veins. I need to sort out my problems before it’s too late.’

Over the years, Calum hasn’t given up in his quest to find love, and has been a regular on shows such as Celebrity Ex On The Beach and Celebs Go Dating.

He previously told The Mirror: ‘I’m doing it because I’m still f*****g single and in the hope of finding someone and the hope that this might be the one.

‘The thing is, if I can’t find a f*****g Mrs in my private life then I’m going to try elsewhere

‘I remember I was once told, if opportunities come your way take them and if they’re opportunities that are with the best intentions then go for it and this came about.’

Calum has also endured two stints in the Celebrity Big Brother house, originally finishing in third place.

In January 2024, Calum was cleared of sexually assaulting a British holidaymaker at Wayne Lineker’s Ibiza beach club.

The three trial judges ruled Spanish state prosecutors had not done enough to convince them Calum had forced his alleged victim to put her hand down his shorts and onto his penis as she claimed in her court testimony.

They pointed to the lack of ‘external corroboration’ of the tourist’s version of events and questioned why a female friend with her at the time and a security guard she said she had sought help from were not called to give evidence.

In an Instagram Stories message alongside part of a news report confirming his acquittal, he wrote: ‘The truth prevails. I have been acquitted and won my case. Thank you everyone for all your messages of support.’

He finished the emotional post off – which was imposed over a scenic image of a lake and rolling hills in the distance -with a heart emoticon.

In recent years, Calum has taken a step back from reality TV to pursue his passion for fitness, and he is currently the chairman of the Dorking Wanderers FC women’s team.

As well as regularly sharing shirtless snaps on Instagram, he is also a fixture at the annual Sellebrity soccer charity matches.

He is also the chairman of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (NACOA), and designs crystal jewellery with his brand Aura by Calu.

Calum has also been hit by business woes in recent months, appointing liquidators to close his failing media business Trouble to Triumph.

The liquidators reportedly found an unpaid £85,625 tax bill as well as a £48,971 director’s loan.

It was agreed based on his financial situation that Calum will pay just £60,000 of the £250,000 he is said to own, in monthly instalments.

Liquidators told the publication: ‘Following substantive correspondence with the director, and in consideration of his current financial means, a full and final settlement of £60,000 has been agreed.