Exclusive! Gareth Gates interview. Lovely fella an’ all.

Oh look, an exclusive interview with Gareth Gates. Done by us, with him, for yous.

FYI. He’s got new things coming out, like a single and stuff. Anways, here’s what he has to say for himself.

So how does it feel to be back in the spotlight?
I’m really finding it great. It’s a really good experience. I’ve never been able to give interviews in the past speech-wise, so it’s one thing I’ve been really looking forward to. No-one was able to see my personality because there was always a void between Gareth Gates the singer and Gareth Gates the personality - because there was no personality!

That must have been really frustrating.
Yeah, because it was only the people closest to me and who spent a lot of time with me, like my friends and family, who were able to see my personality and that I am actually a fun guy! [laughs]

So that whole Jordan episode - do you regret it?
No, my relationship with Jordan, I don’t regret at all. The only thing I do regret is the way I handled it. The fact that I denied it for so long made it a much bigger story that it ever should have been.

Why did you deny it?
Well, I was a 17-year-old and I just wanted to keep it out of the papers. I think everyone’s got something in their lives that they don’t want their parents to find out about, plus I didn’t want my fans to find out, and so me at that time, not really knowing how these things work, I thought, ‘Let’s just deny it and deny it’. And also, when we were together we made an agreement that we’d never speak about it.

So she broke that agreement?
Yeah, she spoke about it and it was in all the papers, and they then came to me and said, ‘Jordan’s saying this, is it true?’ and that’s when I denied it and just kept on denying it.

Weren’t you really pissed off with her?
Oh no, well… no, I wasn’t. The fact that I kept on denying it, I think that made it worse for her  and added more fuel to her fire.

Why do you think she decided to tell everyone?
Erm, you’d have to ask her I think!

Do you think it was the Jordan thing that fucked up your career?
I think it was several things, like I don’t think the second record was up to scratch. But I don’t think that helped.

Did you fancy her before?
Yeah, she’s a very beautiful girl, and over that period that we were seeing each other, when you get to know her she’s a really, really nice girl.

Was she any good?
I certainly won’t be answering that question! That’s extremely cheeky!

So are you on good terms?
I haven’t had the opportunity to see her face-to-face, but when the opportunity arises I’d love to just talk to her and finally put things to bed.

What about gay experiences - ever been involved in one of those?
I haven’t, no. I am very, very sorry! [laughs]

We won’t hold it against you. You’ve played gay clubs before though, haven’t you?
Yes, I’ve played G-A-Y twice. When I first did it, if I’m honest, I was used to little girls on the front row screaming and crying, and to be at G-A-Y and see men doing that, it was a real eye-opener. But the more the show went on I really started to play up to it a lot more and the second time I did it I had a really great time.

Had you been to a gay club before?
Yes, but I can’t remember where. You know what it’s like when you’re on a night out with friends…!

How would you feel about gay men touching themselves to pictures of you?
[laughs] Erm, yeah, erm. I’m speechless after that question!

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