Alan Carr’s ex Paul Drayton targeted in Grindr blackmail plot

Alan Carr‘s ex-husband Paul Drayton has revealed he was targeted by blackmailers threatening to leak his intimate photos, saying: “My blood ran cold.”

Comedian and actor Drayton, who was married to Celebrity Traitors winner Carr from 2018 to 2022, has been documenting the ordeal on Instagram, but has now opened up further in a new interview.

On 24 June, Drayton revealed he had been contacted by an account who proceeded to send him one of his own intimate images which he had “sent to somebody on Grindr”, before threatening to release it to the public unless he paid up.

At the time, it seems Drayton, who recently released his memoir, Ride – Or Die Trying, didn’t take it too seriously, captioning a video about it: “Don’t send nudes kids!” adding the hashtag “funny”.

He explained he was advised to report it to the police after laughing off the threats with the blackmailer.

Eventually, he shared a third threat on 5 August, saying: “I have nothing to hide and am posting this to raise awareness on how this goes on. I had no intention of paying him anything, I just tried to obtain as much info as possible.” He included the images in it, having previously explained he believed someone had used a second phone to take a photo of the expiring images he’d sent on Grindr.

Drayton said he had reported it to the police.

‘It’s like your nervous system goes into high alert’

Now, speaking to The Sun, he admitted: “When I first got a message and those pictures, my blood ran cold, it’s like your nervous system goes into high alert.”

The scammer set up a number of different WhatsApp accounts, targeting Drayton with profiles of handsome men.

“It really is scary thinking that people are spying on you,” he said. “Obviously I’ve got a public Instagram account… but you still have to be careful.”