Alex Reid (fighter)

Early life

Reid was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, the son of Bob and Carol Reid. He is the youngest of six siblings. He is of Scottish descent on his father's side.

In 1991, Reid was a member of the Hampshire Scout unit that was visiting Japan and South Korea, taking part in the 17th World Scout Jamboree at Mount Sorak National Park. In 1996, Reid enlisted with 10th (Volunteer) Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (10 PARA), a Territorial Army unit based in London, and spent three years training as a recruit before being discharged.

Career

In 1998 Reid studied on the one-year acting course at the Guildford School of Acting, in Surrey.

Acting

Reid played Jason Cunliffe in the Channel 4 soap-opera Hollyoaks, which he left in 2001. He made an appearance in the comedy My Hero in the following year. At this time he used the stage name "Alex Thorne". After a period away from acting, he appeared in the film Killer Bitch which was released in 2010; the film was described as pornographic and received terrible pre-release coverage. The film was made when he was still largely unknown, working as fighter and doorman, but released after he had become a celebrity. Reid failed to show up at the Premiere of the film at the Curzon Cinema, Mayfair, drawing criticism from the cast of the film. He had previously attacked the producers for 'using him for publicity', though he had walked out of the film without completing the role causing a complete shut down of the production for 6 weeks. He was replaced by ex-World Champion boxer Robin Reid (no relation). In June 2010, Reid challenged Reid to a boxing match. Reid signed with Salopian Films for a new comedy series called For the Love of Ella.

Mixed martial arts

Reid first got into martial arts at 14 and with time turned to mixed martial arts: "It was just a natural progression. I started off doing kung fu, karate-style tournaments before moving on to boxing, kickboxing, a little bit of judo, jiu-jitsu. MMA was a natural progression for a young lad wanting to find the latest and best style. It's just the most efficient and effective blend of martial arts really." He participated in mixed martial arts promotions Cage Rage, BAMMA and UCMMA and made his professional mixed martial arts debut in 2000.

Between 2004 and 2007, Reid appeared in the Cage Rage Championships. During this period, he faced a number of international fighters such as Daijiro Matsui, Dave Menne, Xavier Foupa-Pokam, Tony Fryklund, Jorge Rivera and Murilo "Ninja" Rua. On 22 September 2007, Reid faced Matt Ewin for the Cage Rage British Middleweight Championship at Cage Rage 23: Unbelievable, where he lost via unanimous decision. The Cage Rage promotion lost its Sky Sports television coverage in May 2008 and Reid then joined MMA promoter Dave O'Donnell's Ultimate Challenge MMA. Reid won his debut at UCMMA 2 - Unbreakable against John Maguire. He then won the UK1 kickboxing Middleweight title against Jake Bostwick at UCMMA 5 - Heat, and then defended it against Jack Mason at UCMMA 7 - Mayhem. Reid gave up his title in early 2010 so he could enter the 7th series of Celebrity Big Brother.

On 15 May 2010, Reid was scheduled to return to the cage professionally for the first time since 2007 to face Tom "Kong" Watson for the vacant BAMMA Middleweight Championship at BAMMA 3. However, Reid injured his knee while filming his documentary TV series Alex Reid: The Fight of His Life and was forced to pull out of the Reid-Watson fight. Reid was replaced by UFC and IFL veteran Matt Horwich, who Watson beat by decision to win the title. The Reid-Watson bout was then rescheduled for BAMMA 4 on 25 September 2010 and Reid caused further controversy by showing up for the official weigh-ins three hours late.

On 14 May 2011, Reid announced his retirement from MMA at an Cage Rage UK event in London. However, he did not rule out a return to the sport in future. His retirement was short lived, as he accepted a challenge from Jason Barrett. During the weigh-ins the day prior to the 2011 fight, both men weighed in at just under the 13 st 3 lb mark, being 13 st 2 lb and 13 st 1 lb respectively. For the camera shot of both men squared up to each other, Reid kissed Barrett on the lips, which infuriated him and he had to be held back by UCMMA officials. Reid was laughing at his reaction, and vowed he would apologise "after the fight". On 6 August, Reid defeated Jason Barrett, via triangle choke in the first round, marking his first win in 6 years in MMA and claimed the Super Title in the process.

Bellator

On 16 July 2016, Reid made his return to MMA for the first time in nearly four years when he lost to Rodney Moore at Bellator 158. This marks the first time he has fought for a top tier promotion.

Celebrity Big Brother

On 3 January 2010, Reid became one of twelve housemates in Channel 4's 7th and final series of Celebrity Big Brother. Reid was heavily booed on his entry, which he acknowledged saying "this is why I'm here, to hopefully change these boos into cheers" during his time in the house. He managed to win over the public and on 29 January he won the show with 65% of the vote.

Personal life

Reid began dating English glamour model Katie Price on 17 July 2009, thus becoming embroiled in intense publicity in Britain following Price's divorce from Peter Andre. Price claimed on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in November 2009 that the relationship "was over", though not long afterwards it appeared to remain intact. On 2 February 2010, Reid and Price married in Las Vegas. On 18 January 2011, Price announced they had separated. Reid's occasional cross-dressing as female alter-ego "Roxanne" was cited by Price as a factor in the split. This was later expanded on during Price's time on Celebrity Big Brother 15 in 2015 as she revealed that Reid enjoys receiving anal sex via a strap-on dildo and getting fisted - citing ultimately she "didn't want to be the man in the relationship".

Reid later began dating glamour model and fellow Celebrity Big Brother winner Chantelle Houghton. Reid later proposed live on the RTE programme The Saturday Night Show a few months later. On 15 November 2011, Houghton confirmed that she was pregnant with the couple's first child. On 17 June 2012, Reid confirmed Houghton had given birth to a daughter, Dolly Reid. The relationship ended after Houghton came home unexpectedly and walked in on him dressed as "Roxanne" and had turned their home into "a sex dungeon" with various anal sex toys for her to use on him. Reid is currently engaged to personal trainer Nikki Manashe.