Stephen Bear, a former competitor on MTV’s The Challenge series and Celebrity Big Brother, has officially been charged in conjunction with revenge porn allegations.
The allegations were originally made by an ex this past December. Bear was arrested at Heathrow Airport after returning from Dubai earlier this year, and released on bail later.
Stephen Bear officially charged, court date set
As reported by Sky News, Stephen Bear’s official charges via Essex Police include voyeurism, disclosing private, sexual photographs with intent to cause distress, and harassment without violence.
Those charges stem from allegations made in December. Allegedly, Bear secretly recorded intimate footage of the ex at his home using closed-circuit TV cameras (CCTV).
The allegations claim Bear then shared and distributed that footage without consent online. He was arrested at Heathrow Airport this past January and released on bail shortly after his arrest.
Bear, 31, previously denied these allegations, calling them “silly” in a social media video he has since deleted. In addition, he released a social media video amid the allegations in which he claimed he had attempted suicide and was seeking counseling.
He is set to appear in Colchester Magistrates’ Court on July 2, 2021.
A BBC report indicates revenge porn has been considered a crime in the UK since October 2015 and involves “sharing intimate video of someone without their consent.” It carries a maximum prison sentence of two years.
The charges come in the same week that the UK government published the Draft Online Safety Bill. According to the BBC, part of that bill covers revenge porn and seeks to force social media firms to remove harmful content quickly.
As of the time of writing, Stephen Bear has not commented about the news of his charges.
Stephen Bear appeared on MTV’s War of the Worlds season of The Challenge and then War of the Worlds 2.
He then returned to compete on Season 35, Total Madness, which aired from early April through late July 2020 on MTV. In addition to appearing on The Challenge, he was on UK’s Shipwrecked: The Island, two seasons of Ex on the Beach UK, and Celebrity Big Brother UK 18.
The Challenge Season 37 premiere date is TBA on MTV in 2021.