A troubled childhood, prostitution and modelling… the weird world of Eggheads CJ de Mooi
FOLLOWING news that Eggheads star CJ de Mooi has been arrested on suspicion of murder, we take a look into his fascinating background.
Joseph Connagh, known as CJ de Mooi on the show, was arrested under a European arrest warrant by Dutch Police at Heathrow Airport on Wednesday.
The arrest comes after the quiz show star, who was one of five regular panellists on the popular BBC show, admitted that he may have killed a mugger in Holland two decades ago.
In an extract from his autobiography, CJ, 46, said he punched the mugger, who approached him with a knife, before throwing him in the canal.
I fully suspect I killed him
CJ de Mooi
Of the 1988 incident, he wrote: "He caught me on the wrong day and I just snapped.
"I fully suspect I killed him. I've no idea what happened to him."
CJ, who lives in Monmouthshire, described it as "the one incident in my life I do regret" and "the only outburst of violence I've ever done".
But this isn’t the first time that CJ has hit the headlines – and his past is pretty colourful.
Earlier this year the TV star had a separate brush with the law and was probed by police on suspicion of sexually assaulting a 23-year-old man.
He was barred from appearing on Eggheads while police probed the incident, but denied the claims and was never charged.
My body was the only commodity
In his younger years, CJ’s up bringing was less that ideal.
The openly gay former president of the English Chess Federation grew up in a violent, racist and homophobic household in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, before eventually running away from home in 1987 when he was 17.
About his family, CJ told : “I don’t refer to them as my family. They are just blood relatives. After my 17th birthday, I walked out in a thunderstorm with just the clothes on my back.
“I spent two months on a park bench in Rotherham before walking to Sheffield.”
CJ then turned to prostitution for money, selling his body in London throughout his late teens before moving to Amsterdam - where he lived on the streets.
He said: “My body was the only commodity I had and if I wanted to eat, I had to sell it... I wish I hadn’t had to do it but I don’t regret doing it.”
When he got to Amsterdam, he slept on steps in the city’s train station and even began begging and shoplifting.
Aged 19, after working as a rent boy in a brothel in the Dutch capital, he later moved to Cologne, Germany, where he was eventually spotted by a model scout and his life took a turn for the better.
CJ says that he had been begging outside a club when he was spotted.
He added: “A man asked me if I’d ever thought about modelling.
"I thought, ‘I know where this is going to go, but at least it’s a bed for the night.’
"It sounded too good to be true.”
He took on the name ‘De Mooi’ when modelling, as it translates as "handsome" in Dutch.
Five years later, he returned to the UK and ended up appearing on a variety of game-shows.
CJ made a name for himself for jokingly ranting on The Weakest Link that other contestants were “idiots”. He went on to win the Bad Losers version of show.
In 2003, CJ was chosen to become a panellist on Eggheads - which features five quiz champions competing as a team against different challengers.