Celebs Over the Limit

Each week you can read our celebrity column and then play bingo online to win cash and some great prizes. The recent news that Nicole Ritchie is threatening hunger strike if she’s jailed for drink driving has led us to two ponderings. One: whether anyone would actually notice if the infamously skinny star went on hunger strike, and two: how many other stars there have been that have been caught at the wheel red-faced and red-nosed from too much alcohol?

There’s nothing clever or glamorous about driving under the influence, but some stars seem to think that they can get away with it. Well, they can hire a top notch lawyer after all and they’re not used to being told what to do. One such celeb who seems to think she can get away with doing what she likes is the aforementioned Nicole Ritchie. Well, what else explains her threat to go on hunger strike? And, let’s face it, she’s hardly making a profound political protest here is she? Either she thinks she shouldn’t be treated the same as non-celebs or she is simply looking for another excuse not to eat! She can’t claim it was a one off mistake either. This isn’t the first time Nicole’s failed to stay sober behind the wheel either. Her file claims she was convicted of drink driving in 2003 and so, under Californian law, a second conviction could see her behind bars. This time she is said to have been under the influence of an unspecified drug as well as the alcohol. Whether she will receive a prison sentence or not remains to be seen, but most people would agree that Nicole shouldn’t be treated any differently from the everyday “man (or woman) on the street” for her misdemeanour.

Moving to a celeb a little closer to home and a lot less high profile, lingerie model Caprice Bouret was arrested in August 2006 for drink driving and consequently lost her license. This was despite her hiring high profile lawyer Nick Freeman; known as Mr Loophole for his ability to get his celebrity clients off drink driving and speeding charges on legal technicalities. Showing that it’s not always all about money and fame: in the world of celebrity if you’ve done something wrong you sometimes actually have to pay for it. At the time, Caprice claimed that her erratic driving was down to some prescription drugs she had been taking for a urinary infection that had affected her alcohol tolerance levels. This didn’t go down too well with the ruling judge however, who decided that Caprice must have known she was at risk of being over the limit.

Another celeb who beggared belief by getting behind the wheel in a complete state and who most certainly regrets it now is the charming (!) Mel Gibson. He was arrested in July 2006 on suspicion of drink driving and if that weren’t bad enough for a major Hollywood star, he added massive insult to injury by proceeding to launch into an anti-Semitic (anti Jewish) rant at the arresting officers. Gibson is a strict Catholic and had already upset some sectors of the Jewish community with his film The Passion of the Christ, which many saw as also being anti-Semitic and biased in its approach. The suspicion that he may have some less than warm feelings towards Jewish people was seemingly compounded when he was arrested and drunkenly spouted that the Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world”. Not the best Public Relations exercise for Mel Gibson. Being such a major Hollywood player however, it’s doubtful that his career will suffer too much as a result. And he’s hardly short of a bob or two; even if he were never to work again he’d be unlikely to end up on the streets. Mel of course apologised after the event, calling his statements “despicable” and saying he was “ashamed” of his actions.

Some lower budget celebrities this side of the pond have also been caught dunk behind the wheel: Eastenders’ Jessie Wallace, Cold Feet’s John Thomson, The Bill and former Eastender Todd Carty, to name but a few. And let’s not forget the late George Best. The alcoholic former footballer was arrested in 2004 and was banned from driving for 20 months and fined £1,500 after pleading guilty. Upon his arrest Best was found to be nearly two and a half times over the limit of alcohol for driving. The lesson to be learnt form this is simple: don’t drink and drive anywhere celebs, coz you’ll get caught too!

Thankfully, you don’t have to move from your own home to play bingo online here at Mecca Bingo. So you can enjoy a glass or wine or two, guilt free as you play an online bingo game! come back next week for more celeb ponderings and in the meantime, play online bingo for your chance to win cash and big jackpots.