Photo: Huisgenoot/YOU
by Thinus Ferreira
The homeless Bachelor South Africa reality star Lee Thompson (34) who has been wandering the streets of Cape Town is back in rehab - again - while more people have come forward with very unsavoury stories making him look like South Africa's version of "The Tinder Swindler" and claiming that he owes money he never repaid.
South Africans were shocked when Huisgenoot and YOU magazines for their latest editions on sale, on Friday showed photos and reported that the troubled former Sharks player and fitness model has been living on the streets of Cape Town.
It comes after he had been evicted from the Airbnb guest house he stayed at in Buitenkantstreet which he trashed and which he tried to break into afterwards earlier in August.
The guest house he rented for R300 a day since March was filled with filth ranging from condoms and liquor bottles, things were broken and even a fire was made in a room, which the owner described as "a nest" and a "pigsty".
Lee Thompson couldn't be reached for comment.
The magazine tracked down the homeless Lee Thompson - who rose to fame as the first heartthrob of the South African version of the reality dating show The Bachelor SA on M-Net (DStv 101) in 2019 - and found him at the Culemborg Safe Space 2 night shelter.
Following Friday's revelations, Huisgenoot now reports that Lee Thompson has been taken to a rehabilitation centre in Gauteng by family and friends - his second stint in rehab at the same centre.
A friend said the fear is that Lee might not stay long enough: "His mom wasn't aware that things got so bad again. Lee is good with hiding and pretending that everything's okay. I hope this lasts and that this is now his rock bottom".
Lee Thompson's glamorous and fitness social media on Instagram is far removed from how he was found as a homeless man on Cape Town's streets with people noting how the content he had been posting doesn't square with his real-life behaviour and some dubbing him in responses to his Instagram postings as South Africa's version of "The Tinder Swindler" in reference to the Netflix documentary.
Many people have come forward to say they've paid for his non-existent tell-all memoir, The Truth Behind the Rose, about the way he was allegedly manipulated by M-Net and Rapid Blue producers during the production of The Bachelor SA, with the book's publication which constantly got postponed although Lee Thompson took money as part of pre-orders from people who said they want to read it.
Lee Thompson even made the bold claim that Oprah Winfrey allegedly had written him a direct message asking him for a copy of his book because she wanted to read it.
The alleged charity that Lee Thompson claimed he had started - the Live Hope Love South Africa Children's Fund - and which he claimed he would donate 10% of the sales of his The Truth Behind the Rose book to, can't be found and doesn't appear to exist.
A business person who had worked with Lee in the past on social media influencer campaigns told TVwithThinus "I knew Lee was on a downward spiral - just didn't know how bad he would hit rock bottom. He did not even own a phone a few months ago - that's how bad things got".
According to the person, Lee Thompson "took advantage of people with good natures. He used his Bachelor SA badge to stay at many hotels and trashed them too. Word got about and he was banned before he even got to ask anyone - very bad reputation".
"There are a lot of people who are going to come out of the woodwork who he owes money to - some may be too embarrassed to say."
