BIG BROTHER CONTESTANTS SCAMMED

• Selva Carmichael had Mario Marconi and Lisa Appleton filmed for 18 hours a day for a documentary they believed would make them stars
• Selva, who called himself the 'Silver Fox', also tried to drag Chico into his scam by pretending to be his manager
• It was all to convince rich people his production company was successful and encourage them to invest money
• But instead he used their cash to fund his lavish lifestyle
• He is currently serving 3 years in jail for a £500,000 fraud involving Santander Bank

Con: Fraudster Selva Carmichael duped Bog brother contestants Mario Marconi and Lisa Appleton into thinking they were being filmed for a reality show

A conman duped a pair of fame-hungry Big Brother contestants into being followed by a camera crew for several months as part of a bogus reality TV show he had dreamt up.
Mario Marconi and Lisa Appleton, who were on the Channel Four show in 2008 and got engaged in the house, were tricked into filming ‘Lisa and Mario: Their Journey’ by serial fraudster and fantasist Selva Carmichael.
The couple were never paid a penny for their work despite being filmed for 18 hours a day last year and their show has never aired.
It has also emerged that Carmichael - who calls himself ‘The Silver Fox’ - also targeted X Factor singer Chico by posing as his manager when the pair had only met on two occasions.
All this was for the benefit of his TV production company, the World Screen Group, which he used as a front to lure in celebrities and investors and take their money to fund his luxury lifestyle.
They paid him in the hope of sharing in his profits and appearing on his shows, but it was all an elaborate ruse.
Carmichael is now being sued by one investor for more than £42,000.
Meanwhile it has emerged that Carmichael was jailed earlier this year for a £500,000 con involving Santander Bank and is currently serving a three-and-a-half year prison sentence.
The 'Silver Fox' lived with wife Jashmir in a £725,000 home in Chackmore, Buckinghamshire, which has a Aston Martin on the drive.
Ms Appleton said: 'Knowing Selva Carmichael now, he’s a compulsive liar, lives in a deluded land and is a serial, serial conman.'
Her partner Mario added: 'How low can someone go to get footage to convince people you have a television show?'
The couple shot to fame in series nine of the Channel Four reality show Big Brother but their celebrity careers have since failed to take off.

Strange: Selva Carmichael with Mario Marconi and Lisa Appleton after they bought his claims he would make them stars

Hoax: In a scene from their 'show' Lisa and Mario have a bath together share some fizz

Lies: Lisa cries in during the fake show which they say they put their heart and soul into

They were introduced to Carmichael by a mutual friend during charity work, when he introduced himself as the President, Director and Producer of World Screen Group.
Lisa said: 'I thought I’d met the almighty god of the industry.'
Carmichael promised them he could reignite their flagging careers, and bragged that he was producing a clone of Miami Vice set in India, called Bombay Vice.
They signed a contract and began filming the documentary, opening their hearts and lives for several months.

Wouldn't be duped: Chico was approached by Selva Carmichael, but he refused to be dragged into the scam

The cameras captured their most intimate moments - including Lisa undergoing surgery - and the pair even recorded a charity record with Selva.
But Carmichael’s filming schedule pushed Mario and Lisa to the limit.
Lisa said: 'Filming 18 hours a day, two to three hours sleep and all this pressure.
'He was pressuring us all the time.'
Once the promised deal with a national television station failed to materialise, Lisa and Mario decided to leave Carmichael’s agency.
Lisa said: 'He said "you’re has beens and you’ll never work in the media again".
'He was really horrible.'
Meanwhile an attempt to lure Chico in Carmichael offered him a children’s TV show at a charity bash.
Chico said: 'He came up to me and he said: "Chico I just want to say if something comes off tonight business-wise, can you please tell them I’m your manager?"
'I said: ‘Yo, listen to me here, let me tell you one thing.
'’First of all you’re not my manager. Secondly, you’re not my representative. Thirdly I have only met you twice and you and I are not entering a business venture or anything like that".
'What he wanted from me was the friendship and the celebrity contacts and friends that I had, so he can build a roster of celebrity friends that he can actually use to lure rich, unsuspecting victims.
'This guy claimed the world and delivered absolutely nothing'.
An investigation by the BBC programme Inside Out West also revealed that Carmichael had duped the Five Stars Appeal charity.

Sad: The pair, far left, pictured with other Big Brother contestants, say they have been left bereft by what has happened

He promised a £23,000 luxury yacht holiday as an auction prize and also made a £10,000 bid - neither of which materialised.
'We severed ties and took legal action against him, at no cost to the charity, to try to recover as much money as possible,' a spokeswoman said.
In 2002, Carmichael was sentenced to four and a half years as part of a multi-million pound property scam.
He swindled huge sums of cash by offering get-rich-quick investment schemes buying property in Spanish holiday resorts, earning him the nickname ‘Costa Conman.’
Carmichael sold bogus holiday homes from the set of flop BBC soap Eldorado, under the banner of his crooked Carmichael Corporation.