BACHELOR ON THE STREETS

YOU tracked down Lee Thompson who's gone from TV stardom to destitution

- BOHEMIA JUMATT

HE SEEMED to have it all. A face to fancy, a body to behold and the chance to wine and dine a bevy of beautiful women. And for a while that's exactly what Lee Thompson did as the first man to take part in the South African version of the hit dating reality TV show The Bachelor.

Viewers got to know him as the suave, sophisticated holder of the red rose and many a woman's heart was broken when he turned them down. But for one Cape Town guesthouse owner, Lee is the guy who wrecked the room he'd rented from her recently.

Lee (33) was a tenant from hell, says the owner, who prefers not to be named. "He's not exactly a gentleman with a red rose the room looked like a pigsty when he left. He's a man in trouble.

For the past two months Lee rented a room in her guesthouse in Cape Town's CBD. He paid R300 a night, and when he left it looked as if a bomb had exploded, she says.

"It was one big mess. The whole room was strewn with clothes, rubbish, empty drink bottles and glasses. The kitchen floor was littered and even the furniture was broken. Not to mention the used open condoms lying on the bedroom floor,' she says.

Even after he was evicted, she claims he gained access to her house and made himself comfortable. She contacted the police, but by then Lee had left.

Now it appears he's homeless - the former reality TV star has been spotted living on the streets since he was evicted.

When YOU approaches three homeless men in the city centre, they mention that they might've seen him, but don't know where he sleeps. They point to a man known as Whitey, who claims to know Lee.

"He asked me to show him how things work on the streets because he's not street-smart, Whitey says.