But his father’s fame came at a price, and George’s playing career was soon overshadowed by his playboy lifestyle and an increasing dependence on the comforting embrace of alcohol. Whilst his tumultuous later years could never diminish the memories of the peerless, often breathtaking, quality of his football, they had a profound effect on Calum. Best has taken part in the reality TV shows Fool Around With on E4 and The Match on Sky One. In 2005 and 2006, he was featured in ITV's Celebrity Love Island, winning the second series on August 28, 2006. Around this time he played himself in the final episode of ITV's Footballers' Wives. In September 2006, Best appeared in the ITV2 series Calum, Fran and Dangerous Danan, in which he was seen traveling with Paul Danan and Fran Cosgrave from Texas to Los Angeles on America's U.S. Route 66. Who says that to their mum?’ he says. Despite living here for the past 20 years, Best still sounds as Californian as the day he stepped off the plane. ‘She was pretty traumatised by it. But just saying that out loud to her was my first step to turning my life around.’ Best's triumphant and tragic life has been charted in numerous books, with the man himself regaling readers over five of them, as well as dramas and documentaries. Next week, another arrives with George Best: True Genius, made with the blessing of his son, Calum.

We came up with the idea and the video had a million views in 24 hours — I’ve never seen something go viral that fast. (Calum) kept retweeting the video and now we are chatting all the time with him. It’s inspired him to do more with Dorking.These writings emphasise the impact of blatant episodes of abuse,they totally ignore the deficits in the family situation he was growing up in,there is no balanced side-by-side comparison of how his needs were not being met by his mother & no consideration is given to the broader social context & the fact he was socialized into an obsession with fame materialism and image.Being brought up in a milieu that is impressed,controlled or swayed by the money and power of others is an inadequate interpersonal/social context and is likely to stunt a childs development in terms of their spiritual awareness and emotional intelligence. You've been on shows like Love Island and Celebrity Big Brother – would you do another reality TV show?

Calum is filmed returning to Stormont and to the Cregagh estate where thousands of people gathered in the rain to pay their last respects to his father at his funeral. "If there's a way to be sent off, that's the way to be sent off," he says.As soon as I legitimately meant it and had conviction in my head, the universe gave me an opportunity. Making the documentary Brought Up By Booze (2009), where I talked about my feelings of having an alcoholic parent, was healing and helped me with the grieving process, and I've connected with charities and am a patron of Nacoa (The National Association for Children of Alcoholics)." On January 3, 2017, he returned to compete on the nineteenth series of Celebrity Big Brother, [14] in which he finished in seventh place. [15]

In January 2015, he took part in the fifteenth series of Channel 5 reality series Celebrity Big Brother. [11] He came third. [12] This is incredibly simplistic,it is unlikely the alcoholism was simply due to the pressures of her footballer son's fame. The 40-year-old never followed his father into football — “it was overwhelming and I didn’t know what I wanted” — but is ready to use his business acumen in taking Dorking forward from the sixth tier of the women’s game.Amy Clement, one of the co-founders of Her Game Too, says Best has been supportive since the campaign launched.

Along the way, he seemingly became more famous for his exploits off-screen as he was regularly pictured with famous faces on his arm. I felt part of the identity of the women’s team was to train and play here. We couldn’t have done that without him.” At 37, I'm the healthiest I've ever been, in my mind and my body. I'm very active, go to the gym every day and use weights. I play football three times a week and I do a lot of fitness classes and spin classes as well. He also got to know life in the spotlight where, though he was modelling, his only real claim to fame was that he was George Best's son. He got to meet us all individually — he wants to understand us. Obviously you hear a name and you wonder how much they’re going to be involved and what they are going to do. He stays after games, speaks to us at half-time and has been really keen. He’s very proactive.

We wanted to be training here at the stadium — within a week of Calum coming in he had sorted that,” says Will Letts, who is joint head coach with Lou Cooper. In 2016, Best was a member of the cast of the E! series Famously Single, which follows eight single celebrities in their search for love. He also returned for the second season of Famously Single which premiered June 25, 2017. [13] But the more I thought about it I decided I would take the job. The ladies are going from strength to strength and I absolutely love it.” Fatima Whitbread [javelin Olympic gold medallist], I mean, legend. So I think I’m physically fit, but these people are actual professional athletes and then I realised that this is really going to be a challenge.”