Shamed tennis star Boris Becker signs up to Holly Willoughby’s Netflix show – after being jailed for hiding £2.5m
TENNIS legend Boris Becker has signed a big money deal to take part in Netflix’s huge new reality TV show, Bear Hunt – and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
This week a court ruled he was no longer bankrupt because of a deal that would see him pay back an undisclosed “substantial sum.”
German Boris, 56, won three Wimbledon titles but his womanising and luxurious lifestyle caught up with him and his debts of over £42m contributed to him being jailed in 2022.
Now he’s set to bounce back by taking part in the show, based in Costa Rica, alongside a long line of other celebrities.
A TV insider said: “He is a sensational signing for Bear Hunt, not least because of the huge attention that’s been on him in recent years.
“This will be Boris very much stepping back into the limelight after laying low for some time after being jailed in the UK and then deported.
“Producers will be hoping that his natural competitive streak, which was always evident on the tennis court, will prove to be TV gold on this show.”
Bear Hunt, which will be hosted by Holly Willoughby, sees a string of celebrities try to evade being “hunted” by survival expert Bear Grylls. If they’re caught, they’re eliminated.
Boris, who’s been twice married and has three children, joins an all-star cast which already includes rugby ace Danny Cipriani, Spice Girl Mel B and Saturdays singer Una Healy.
But he will be one of the most high profile as result of his jailing two years ago for trying to hide assets totalling £2.5m
The one time multi-millionaire ran up huge debts and was declared bankrupt seven years ago, owing creditors £42million over an unpaid loan of more than £3million on his estate in Mallorca.
But he was then accused of trying to cover up his actual wealth. In an ITV drama which aired last year his former partner even claimed he hid his prized, costly racehorses in their bedroom to keep them hidden. Which he denied.
Boris served time at HMP Wandsworth and Category C Huntercombe Prison near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire.
He was released in December 2022 and deported to his native Germany.
But this week Judge Briggs ruled: “On the spectrum of bankrupts who range from ‘difficult as possible and doing everything to frustrate the trustee’s inquiries’ to ‘co-operative, providing information and delivering up assets’, Mr Becker clearly falls on the right side of the line.
“Mr Becker has signed a statement of truth, engaged solicitors to ensure compliance with his obligations and entered a settlement agreement that benefits the joint trustees.
“I accept his evidence and find that objectively he has done all that he could reasonably do to fulfil his obligations to the joint trustees.”
Louis Doyle KC, representing Becker, said the former BBC commentator and his trustees had ‘been able to resolve their differences’ through a settlement agreement.
He said: “That agreement has been formalised in writing. It affects a compromise of all outstanding matters in the bankruptcy although that is predicated on Mr Becker making payment which will have the effect of providing a substantial sum into the bankruptcy estate.”
Why did Boris Becker go to prison?
Boris, 56, is the German former world No. 1 tennis player.
He was the youngest-ever winner of the gentleman’s singles Wimbledon Championships back in 1985 – when he was just 17-years-old.
He later won two more Wimbledon titles in 1986 and 1989.
Boris was sentenced to two and a half years in April 2022 for hiding £2.5million in assets while bankrupt.
Boris was released from jail in December 2022 after eight months of his 30-month term in Huntercomb prison, Oxon.
He was accepted on the early release scheme which allows “any foreign national serving a fixed sentence who is liable for removal from the UK to be removed from prison and deported up to 12 months before the earliest release point of their sentence”.
Boris was then deported to his homeland, Germany.
