Levi Roots is among the early favourites to be crowned winner of Celebrity Big Brother – but his life hasn’t always been so glittering.
The charismatic British-Jamaican rose to fame in 2007 after appearing on BBC show Dragons’ Den in a bid to secure funding for his Reggae Reggae Sauce business venture. Proving a huge success, the 65-year-old has gone on to earn a fortune by creating several more condiments, as well as soft drinks, ice creams and ready meals.
Life in his younger days was much different, however. Aged 15 in the 1970s he was imprisoned in Pentonville for six months charged with assaulting a police officer. And in 1986 he was convicted once more following a raid on the youth centre he ran that found him to be in possession of drugs and a gun.
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Almost four decades on, Levi maintains his innocence, however, insisting he was part of a police set-up, who were targeting “Yardies” at the time.
(Image: James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock)
Speaking to host Rich Leigh on the first episode of his The Starting Line Podcast, Levi explained: “I accepted that this was where I was. And it wasn’t until many years later, after Dragons’ Den when I got famous, that the police officer that arrested me wrote a book. And in the book it literally says how he set me up.”
He continued: “It was the time of the Yardie gangs, in the 80s. According to his [Peter Bleksley] book [The Gangbuster] , they were trying to root out Yardies, and they set me up. I’m far from a Yardie! They set me up, basically. I never knew how or why until this book was written. One of the greatest tragedies is that I was always trying to tell my mum this is not the son that she knew.”
(Image: PA)
Levi clearly used his jail term wisely though as he explained the backstory of his guitar playing – made famous in his delightfully catchy Reggae Reggae Sauce jingle years later. “The music is what inspired me as a chef and everything else that I do,” he proudly declared.
“My mum brought me the guitar when I was in prison and it’s the same guitar that I took onto Dragons’ Den. And I wrote the Reggae Reggae Sauce on the same guitar. That’s the most powerful thing I have, is my story.”
(Image: James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock)
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Levi previously appeared in the ‘civilian’ Big Brother house in 2013 as a special celebrity guest – providing a Caribbean-themed barbecue for housemates including winner Sam Evans and runner-up Dexter Koh.
Series 2 of Leigh’s podcast launches on YouTube soon and features Succession star Brian Cox and five-time Paralympic gold medal winner Ellie Simmonds.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
