Gareth Gates, 41, shows off his rippling physique after stripping down to tight swimming trunks for new musical Boyband In The Buff – after detailing the furore over losing his virginity to pregnant Katie Price when he was 17

It’s been a while since Gareth Gates was judged for his singing ability.

Fortunately for the former Pop Idol star, paying ticket holders were only interested in his impressive physique as he took to the stage in Felixstowe on Thursday evening.

The once painfully shy teenager who overcame a debilitating stutter to forge an unlikely pop career looked vastly different at the east Suffolk town’s Spa Pavilion after signing up for musical roadshow Boyband In The Buff. 

Indeed, with his full beard, muscular physique and painfully tight swimming trunks, Gates, 41, was a far cry from the skinny lad who charmed Pop Idol viewers as he took to the stage, just days after discussing his notorious fling with Katie Price. 

Billed as a ‘celebration of pop, passion, and pecs’ with ‘tight harmonies and tighter pants’, the raunchy production was launching a 58 date nationwide tour at the Felixstowe venue. 

Gates, whose career has taken a series of unexpected turns since he appeared on Pop Idol in 2002, thrilled a largely female audience while lathering up beneath a shower alongside his four co-stars.

He will tour the country for much of the year with Boyband In The Buff, a nostalgic celebration of pop classics from the 1990s and 2000s – primarily those made famous by Take That, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys and Blue. 

The singer recently discussed his notorious former fling with Katie Price, after losing his virginity to the glamour model in 2002 when she was six months pregnant and he was 17.

Speaking to New Magazine, he admitted that his biggest fear was his parents reading lurid details of his sex life. 

‘That was a lot for a kid who wasn’t even an adult to take,’ he recalled. ‘She’s just Katie, she’s made a career out of talking about people’s relationships. Once you accept that, it is what it is.’

The Pop Idol star initially denied the romance as he feared at the time that it would jeopardise his career – something he stood by in his interview.

He said: ‘I was shocked and at the time I actually didn’t believe it was from her. I thought the press had made it up. 

‘But then it turned out it actually was her who sold the story – that was a lot for a kid who wasn’t even an adult to take.’

He added: ‘I would never talk about intimate details that two people have had together. Out of the respect for them and out of respect for myself…

‘That’s just not something I’d do. I didn’t want my parents reading every intimate detail about my life in the papers. 

‘They didn’t need to see that, nobody does. I’m not the sort of person who seeks publicity.’ 

He then later admitted the truth during a 2014 appearance on The Big Reunion, and shared: ‘I denied the whole Jordan thing because I was 17, I didn’t want my family to find out about my sex life.

‘If I hadn’t of lied it wouldn’t have been a big deal, my family, friends and fans wouldn’t have felt as let down, I guess.’

He added: ‘For me, I was very young. I had to say I don’t want to have a long-term relationship at this age, so she sold the story, and I said it was all lies.

‘The only thing I thought in my head to do was to say it never happened. I didn’t tell anyone, my friends or family, so they all backed me.’