X Factor’s Bradley: ‘I got gaybashed in a club – but my attackers claimed they hit me in self defence!’

Flamboyant X Factor star Bradley opens up about his three year relationship with a girl, getting gay bashed at a nightclub and whether or not he and Ottavio have snogged!

In PART ONE one of our exclusive interview with X Factor stars Ottavio and Bradley, Ottavio opened up about how bullies terrorised him at school because he was gay. In the second part of the interview, Bradley reveals how he was gay bashed in a nightclub, confesses that he dated a girl for three years and finally reveals whether or not he and Ottavio have snogged!

X FACTOR’S OTTAVIO: ‘BOYS USED TO KICK AND PUNCH ME BECAUSE I WAS GAY – BUT LOOK AT ME NOW!’ READ OTTAVIO’S SHOCKING INTERVIEW HERE 

So Bradley, where did you both meet?

I met Ottavio at uni, Southampton. I met him on his first day, I was in the third year at this time. At that point, he had never been out before. On the first night out, he was so innocent and said to me around 7pm, ‘are we going out then?’ And I said ‘no the club isn’t even open yet’. That was the night he had his first Malibu and now that’s his favourite drink.

Ottavio: I spent the night dancing facing the wall because I didn’t know what I was doing.

Bradley: He was dancing with the wall, bless him! He was so shy!

Ottavio: I remember Bradley said to his friend, ‘what’s he doing dancing with the wall’. But I didn’t know myself.

When you met for the first time did you each other?

Bradley: When I first laid eyes on him, I thought, ‘God, let me do you your brows’.

Ottavio: I confess, I had slugs.

Bradley: It was two hours of him screaming and the neighbours next door who were having a BBQ were wondering what was going on.

Did you give him a gay makeover?

Ottavio: I really loved his hair so I said ‘I want to go platinum’ and so I did.

Bradley: I turned him to a clone of myself. And then I thought, ‘fuck, I really don’t like myself’. And I created a monster.

Were you ever boyfriends?

Bradley: Er, oh no, we were just friends.

Not even a snog?

Bradley: Well, we kissed once at Halloween. But I was absolutely wasted.

Ottavio: And the first night we met, when we watched Tracey Beaker.

Bradley: I don’t remember that.

Ottavio: The first night we went out. When we got back to Bradley’s, he said go on choose a DVD. So I picked Tracey Beaker. And then I got on top of him.

Bradley: Honest, I was wasted, I didn’t do anything.

Ottavio: (pulls face)

Er… Ottavio’s face is saying something else.

No, it’s not. I’m not saying anything. I suppose I was frigid. He made a bit of a move and I went, ‘Oh, I can’t do this.’ I didn’t know what I was doing.

Bradley: Thank God you didn’t

Ottavio: Well, you made the first move.

Bradley: I was bloody wasted.

Ottavio: Oh you weren’t that bad! But then after that we decided to stay just friends. When I lost my virginity a while later, I was like scared so I phoned him and asked him for advice. I needed some after care.

Bradley: That phone call was too much for me.

Ottavio: He gave me some good advice – and said get some loo paper.

Did you find it easy to get to know other boys in the end?

Ottavio: When I first started going out on the town and the bars I didn’t know what I was walking into and I was shitting it. There were drag queens, gays, all the categories. But it was all new to me. But Bradley showed me the ropes.

So Bradley, when did you realise you might be a flamboyant so-and-so?

From the age of three. According to my mum and dad, I jumped up on the stage in Butlins and grabbed the mic and said ‘Everyone, look at my red shoes and started singing.’ No one asked me to go up there, I just did it of my own accord – so they all knew from a young age that I was a camera whore.

And when did you know that you were a boy who liked boys?

Everyone knew I was a gay, so no one was shocked. When I came out I did it by text. I sent everyone the message ‘I’m gay’, then drank a whole bottle of vodka. When I came round, I had all these messages saying ‘yeah we know.’ There was no drama, even though I had been expecting one.

Did you have a happier time at school than Ottavio?

Well, I had a girlfriend at school for three years.

Blimey!

Yeah, I did. She has a baby now – but it ain’t mine. I promise. I was quite annoying at school. I was a bit of a rude boy. I had inner swag!

The night of the notorious chicken gate, was it a date you were on? 

Ottavio: Oh God no, we were just watching clips of Ladette to Lady on YouTube. And we used to love watching old X Factor clips.

Bradley: I used to go to school with AbLisa [The two girls who fought on stage]

Have you had any bad experiences?
Bradley: I was beaten up one time in Southampton for being gay. I was in a bar called Popworld, it’s a straight bar but they play a lot pop stuff like Britney. I was on the pole upside down and dancing. And these three guys said to me ‘can you stop dancing like that’, I think it was because they were trying to pull the girls who were loving me doing what I was doing. They thought by insulting me that the girls would like them. So I said to them, ‘I will dance how I want to’ and they suddenly punched me right in the face. I ran down the back of the cellar and my tooth was in my hand.

Did you report the attack to the police?

Yeah I did, but the guys pleaded self defence, which I thought was quite funny. I have to admit after that experience I did tame my ways a little bit – but I was back to being me again after a week. One positive thing can say about the punch – is that when they hit my nose, they pushed it back into place. It was a like a free nose job. I never got it checked out.

We hope you make it to the live shows… If you do make it what kind of songs can we expect you to sing?

Ottavio: I’d like to sing Go West bythe Pet Shop Boys! Just well knowns. We’d do Madonna Vogue, Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi and give them our own spin.

We want you to do Kylie’s Your Disco Needs You.

We love Kylie, but we haven’t heard of that one. we’ll have a listen.

How’s having Louis as you mentor?

We love him as he likes to take risks. He has been on the show the longest, he knows the most, he champions the underdog. And he genuinely loves the show. So we’re very lucky to have him.

Of course, Rylan was the last X Factor star to be as flamboyant as you… Has he given you any advice?

He has told us to just be ourselves and ignore any thing that is negative. Just be you and remain grounded.

Amen boys! Amen.

The X Factor judges houses is on ITV Saturday and Sunday