Inside I'm A Celeb star Shane Richie's bizarre friendship with gangster Reggie Kray
I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! star Shane Richie was friends with the late Reggie Kray and claimed the gangster even burned down the office of an agent who owed him money
I'm A Celebrity star Shane Richie was close friends with Reggie Kray and even claimed the gangster burned down the office of an agent who owed him money.
Former EastEnders star Shane, who is currently battling it out on the 2020 series of the hit ITV reality show, previously claimed to be a pal of the former East End crime lord.
Reggie, who died in 2000, was once at the forefront of organised crime in London throughout at the 1950s and 1960s alongside his brother Ronnie.
Shane previously opened up about his friendship with Reggie - revealing he visited him in the 1990s after he was locked up.
Writing in his memoir Rags to Richie, Shane revealed he went to see him at Maidstone Prison in Kent and Reggie asked if there was anything he could do for him.
Shane explained: "I said to him: 'Funnily enough there is Reg'."
He went on to tell the gangster he'd done some gigs at Butlins for an agent who allegedly failed to hand over his £8,000 fee because he didn't have a proper contract.
Shane went on: "When I asked him for it he told to stick my request up my a**e because I didn’t have a contract. I'd trusted him and he’d tricked me.
"I told Reg that this guy lived in Canvey Island and that I was trying to take him to court to get my money back.
'"'Who is he?' Reg growled.
"I gave him the guy’s name but thought no more of it. I don’t know exactly to this day what happened but word has it Reggie made a call, the agent told him where to go, and, low and behold, his office was burnt down...
"Was is it a coincidence?” I don’t think so."
He also revealed that a week later he got a cheque for the whole £8,000 as well as flowers for his then-wife Coleen Nolan and toys for their kids.
Coleen has previously spoken about her ex-husband's friendship with the notorious gangster.
Back in 2017, she addressed the issue on an episode of Loose Women admitting she tore up two pictures that Reggie had sent for her sons.
She said: "He... sent me two drawings for Shane [junior] and Jake – he drew two pictures for them.
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