Archive May 13, 2025

EXCLUSIVE: Sam Thompson opens up for the first time about One Direction star Louis Tomlinson being on the same team with him for the Soccer Aid match as he embarks on an incredible 260mile endurance challenge for UNICEF

Sam Thompson has broken his silence about his ex Zara McDermott dating One Direction star Louis Tomlinson.

The former I’m a Celebrity winner is set to play on the same Soccer Aid team with the singer next month in aid of UNICEF. And Sam – who yesterday launched a 260mile endurance challenge for the charity – told the Mirror how he’d heard that Louis was a “great bloke.”

He said: “I’ve never met Louis, but the moment I see him, I’ll be like, ‘mate, how amazing is this what we’re doing, and hopefully we can make as much money as possible’. And I imagine – from what I hear is a really lovely bloke – I imagine the reply will be exactly the same.”

Sam, who split from Zara four months ago and is now dating Samie Elishi, added: “It’s a charity football game and everyone will have a smile on their face….everybody is doing it for a cause that is far beyond relationships and who’s hooking up with who and all that kind of stuff. Football brings everyone together.”

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It comes as Sam opened up about undertaking five back-to-back endurance days of running and cycling in less than two weeks. He is set to transport the Soccer Aid for UNICEF match ball from last year’s stadium – Stamford Bridge in London – 260 miles to the home of this year’s match at Old Trafford in Manchester.

It will see him take on five marathons and over 160 miles by bike. Speaking about how he was feeling, Sam said it has been giving him sleepless nights.

“I am so nervous…I’ve had nightmares about it,” he says. And he said even being out of his comfort zone in the jungle was nothing compared to this endeavour.

He said: “This is by far gonna be the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. The jungle was great. But I’ve never been a runner. Before I started training for this, I had never even run further, I think, it was 8K. And even then I remember getting back, my legs were dead and I was like, “oh, my God, this sucks. Why would anyone do this?”

“And then I stupidly watched the marathon this time around. Shouldn’t have done that because the amount of people who are literally on the floor. How is this even a thing? Like, Joel Dommet is a seasoned pro and he passed out.” Asked if he would rather do jungle trials instead, he says; “Oh, my God, the amount of camel’s penises I would eat, I can’t even tell you.”

Sam says juggling training with his TV work, podcast with Pete Wicks and radio show with Bauer was proving hard going. “There’s so much going on. It is incredibly hard to go and train, I would have loved to have trained maybe a little bit more. But such is life, you know, and you can’t always just do it. So it’s gonna be one hell of a shock to me. It’s 260 miles, which is a lot,” he says.

He also spoken to Jamie Laing who recently ran five ultramarathons in five days for Comic Relief. “Jamie and I are really great friends, he was like, ‘I can only just walk now…it’s going to be the hardest thing you’ve ever done,’” he says. “We’re not athletes. We’re your average Joe’s when it comes to physical activity, I think. And we are just two guys who’ve never run before.”

Eurovision fever is upon us as a host of countries battle it out once again in the semi-final stages of the contest to reach Saturday’s epic final in Basel, Switzerland

Music fans across Europe are set to be in their element once again as the iconic Eurovision Song Contest returns. This year’s semi-final stages are underway, and fans are eagerly waiting to see if their favourite acts will progress to the next stage.

This year sees Basel hosting events following last year’s impressive victory by Switzerland’s Nemo in Sweden. Their song titled The Code gave their reflection on their non-binary identity.

With the rumour mill in full flow about how Switzerland will put on the spectacle – a Celine Dion performance has been touted – one thing is certain: the countries that are battling it out for the coveted award.

This year’s UK entry sees Remember Monday take to the stage in the hope of avoiding the dreaded nil points announcement. The Country trio landed the plum gig after being selected by the BBC’s team of experts. Fans may recognise the group from their efforts on The Voice, where they reached the quarter finals.

Ini total, 37 countries are challenging on the big stage, with the the top 10 from each semi-final making it through to join the ‘big five’. But who else will be competing – and who is banned from doing so?

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Who are the Eurovision Song Contest ‘big five’

The UK, Spain, Germany, France and Italy make up the annual event’s ‘big five’. This means these countries receive automatic qualification for the final, which will be held on Saturday, May 17.

Their route straight to the final comes as these are the countries that make the biggest financial contributions to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the organisation that owns and operates Eurovision.

The rule came into play in 2000, giving the five countries direct entry into the final – along with the host country.

Eurovision 2025 semi-final lineups

Those outside of the ‘big five’ hoping to make it to the big showcase have to battle it out in two semi-finals. This year sees the first semi-final take place tonight (Tuesday, May 13). It will feature Iceland, Poland, Slovenia and Estonia to begin with.

The running order continues: Spain, Ukraine, Sweden, Portugal, Norway, Belgium, Italy, Azerbaijan, San Marino, Albania, Netherlands, Croatia, Switzerland and Cyprus.

As Italy, Spain and Switzerland automatically qualify for the Grand Final of the spectacle, their viewers will be able to vote for their favourites.

The second semi will take place on Thursday, May 15. This time 16 countries will fight it out. They will be: Australia, Montenegro, Ireland, Latvia, Armenia, Austria, Greece, Lithuania, Malta, Georgia, Denmark, Czechia, Luxembourg, Israel, Serbia and Finland.

UK, France and Germany entries will also perform despite already being through. Their audiences will be able to vote still for their favourite songs.

Countries that are banned from Eurovision

While Israel’s entry is fully expecting a frosty reception, and protests are expected to be carried out, they are still taking part in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Over 70 participants of previous contests have come together to call for the exclusion of the country due to its continued bombing of Gaza.

However, some countries have been banned.

Among them is Belarus. The country has been banned from competing since 2021. In that year, the country’s entry song,Ya Nauchu Tebya (I’ll Teach You), was deemed to have had lyrics included which were politically motivated and potentially harmful.

Russia have also been banned. The country’s participation was suspended indefinitely due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, which began in February 2022. Some critics of Israel’s entry have claimed the EBU lacks consistency due to this ban.

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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs allegedly used tapes of ‘depraved’ sex acts to blackmail his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, who has today given evidence against the hip hop mogul in a New York court

A New York court has heard how Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs allegedly used tapes of ‘depraved’ sex acts to blackmail his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.

Combs faces a string of serious allegations, including kidnapping, arson, drug ­trafficking, sex crimes, bribery and obstruction of justice, which could see him facing a life term if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.

Cassie, 39, and Combs were involved in an 11-year-long on-and-off relationship between the years 2007 and 2018. On the first day of the hip-hop mogul’s criminal trial, the court heard how Combs, 55, kept Cassie drugged “half of every week” and forced her to perform sex acts on male escorts at “freak-off” parties, which he filmed.

Assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson spoke of how Combs allegedly used lies, drugs, threats and violence in order to control model, dancer and singer Cassie, as well as another woman referred to only as “Jane”.

READ MORE: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs trial LIVE: Ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura claims she was ‘frequently’ assaulted

Ms Johnson stated: “He told her he could destroy her career by releasing the videos of her performing sex acts on dozens of male escorts. They were souvenirs of the most humiliating nights of her life.”

Giving evidence today (May 13) at the Federal District Courthouse in Lower Manhattan, New York City, Cassie alleged that Combs’ ‘freak offs’ stemmed from his interest in voyeurism. She told the court how they would hire an escort and entail her “setting up this experience so that I could perform for Sean.”

She continued: “Eventually it became a job for me, pretty much, so I knew if it was something he wanted me to do, I had the contacts to set it up and get a hotel room and all of that, but in the beginning, Sean set it up. He was in charge.”

Speaking from the stand, Cassie described how she’d had an off feeling when Diddy first proposed a ‘Freak Off’. She recalled: “I also felt a sense of responsibility. It was him sharing something like that with me. I was confused, nervous but also loved him very much and wanted to make him happy so, I knew it wasn’t something I wanted to be doing especially as regularly as it became, but again, I was just in love and wanted to make him happy.”

She continued: “It got to a point where I just didn’t feel like I had much of a choice, didn’t really know what ‘no’ could be or what ‘no’ could turn into. And I just didn’t feel like I had much say in it at that time, being really super young, naive, total people pleaser, I didn’t know if he would be upset enough to be violent or if he would write me off and just not want to be with me at all.”

Cassie also detailed the physical abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of Combs, whom she described as a “larger than life” entrepreneur. Asserting that she was “frequently” assaulted by Combs, Cassie claimed he would “bash on my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me.” When asked how often these alleged assaults occurred, she responded: “Too frequently.”

Cassie told the court feared that “blackmail materials” would get leaked to the public, and had even held onto broken laptops, iPads, and phones as she said that she didn’t know what could be on them.

Commenting on the cycle of abuse allegedly endured by the model and singer, as well as others, Ms Johnson said earlier this week in court: “Half of every week, Cassie was in a dark hotel room, high and awake for days performing sex acts she did not want to do on male escorts. These sexual performances lasted multiple days, and they involved multiple escorts.”

During one ‘freak off’, the term used for Combs’ sex parties, Cassie was allegedly forced to participate with an open wound on her face. After learning Cassie had been seeing another man, Combs allegedly “beat her, kicking her in the back and flinging her like a rag doll”.

Remarking upon how Combs called himself “the king and expected to be treated like one”, Ms Johnson told jurors: “You are going to hear about 20 years of crimes, but he didn’t do it alone. An inner circle helped him commit crimes and cover them up.”

Ms Johnson went on to advise the jury that they would see Combs’ violence for themselves, including footage of Cassie and Jane “pretending they enjoy themselves during Freak Offs”. One video shows Combs “brutally beating Cassie during a Freak Off at an LA hotel.”

After footage of this hotel assault aired on CNN last year, Combs issued an apology and stated that he took “full responsibility” for his actions. He said, “I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.” Daniel Phillip, a second witness, told the court about alleged “Freak Offs” he’d been involved in at a New York hotel or at Diddy’s personal residence.

Male revue manager, Phillip, has claimed he received payment to have sex with Cassie, and has alleged that Combs would direct him as they had sex. Combs allegedly instructed Phillip and Cassie to use more baby oil throughout their encounters, and allegedly asked Phillip to pick up the items before they met.

Phillip also told the court that on one occasion, Cassie instructed him to urinate on her while Combs watched and masturbated. Combs allegedly filmed the pair on his phone and a camcorder on one or two occasions. During one Freak Off, Phillip claims he heard what sounded like Cassie being beaten in another room. “I was shocked,” he stated, claiming that Combs had “started dragging her by her hair into the bedroom,” after Cassie was allegedly on a computer.

Phillip told the court: “In my mind, it was going through my head if I tried to do something, I might lose my life.” When asked why he didn’t make a police report, Phillip replied: “I was concerned for my life.” It has been alleged that Combs had photographed Phillip’s driving license, and Phillip was worried that he had an “in” with the police.

Teny Geragos, defending, acknowledged Combs’ violent past, including the 2016 hotel assault on Cassie. She told the court: “What Combs did to Cassie on this videotape is indefensible. It is not evidence of sex trafficking. It is evidence of domestic violence.”

Ms Geragos asserted that the musician is “a very flawed individual but still not a racketeer, trafficker or somebody transporting for prostitution”.

The trial continues.

For confidential support, call the 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Freephone Helpline on 0808 2000 247 or visit womensaid.co.uk If you or your family have lost a friend or family member through fatal domestic abuse, AAFDA (Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse) can offer specialist and expert support and advocacy. For more info visit www.aafda.org.uk

If you’ve been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999

Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com. Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

READ MORE: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs forced girlfriend into depraved sex acts with escorts, court hears