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Just because he found fame in a pre-social media world doesn’t mean Antony Costa has evaded abuse himself.

And sadly the Blue crooner found himself in the firing line from cruel Twitter trolls who targeted his heritage – his mother is Jewish while his father is Greek Cypriot.

Vile keyboard warriors even taunted him into reacting by wishing death upon his relatives.

Yet the slurs taught Antony a lesson in not rising to the venom – of which he has a few pearls of wisdom for spat king James Arthur.

Chatting ahead of The Big Reunion 2 tour kick-starting in late autumn, the 32-year-old warned the X Factor motormouth to “not believe your own hype”.

Antony explained: “No one prepares you for the other side of fame.

“When you start, you just see bright lights, performing, stages – you don’t know about interviews, the papers, it’s just doing what you love doing.

“If people take an interest and start writing about you, great. If it’s bad, you’ve got to deal with it.

“Social media has changed a lot since we started, there was no Myspace, Yourspace, Anyotherspace, Twitter, so for us it was more anonymous. More of a secret.”

He confided: “It freaks me out when people record us at gigs on their phones because then you start becoming obsessed with yourself.”

Antony continued: “You come off stage and it’s like, ‘Let me just check YouTube, oh I didn’t do that right,’ you become critical of yourself. Back in the day, we’d do a show and it was gone.”

Discussing the ever-growing egocentric industry, the Londoner stressed humility is key.

When asked what advice he has for Recovery singer Arthur – who has had very public squabbles with Frankie Boyle, Lucy Spraggan and Teddy Edwardes – Costa said: “I’d say ‘Keep doing what you’re doing because you’re obviously a great artist, just don’t believe your own hype.’

“He’s got to know what he’s doing, he’s in his mid-twenties. I get it all the time, I’ve had anti-Semitic comments, ‘Jewish c***’ and ‘I hope your mum dies’, everyone’s got an opinion now.

“People just go on Twitter and tell you you’re a p****, and you’re like, ‘Okay, cheers.’

“But if I’m having a bad day, I don’t express it online, because whose business is it? You’ve got to deal with it yourself.”

Joking – or maybe not? – Antony quipped: “You never know, I might run for Prime Minister.”

The chart-topper – who is expecting his first child with Rosanna Jasmin in June – claimed his own self-esteem demons have led him to consider his fame as little more than an honest profession.

He continued: “When Blue first started, I was a cheeky chappy, extroverted, but then you start reading stuff about yourself, and getting abuse on the street, you don’t want to talk, your head is down, you’re looking at your watch because you want to go home.

“You start going into yourself, then you don’t want to speak and tell the other lads to talk in interviews, then you get blanked as you’re so quiet. It was hard to take. I became very introverted.

“But then I went on to do I’m A Celebrity [in 2005] after Blue called it a day, and that was the making of me. I found myself, I hate saying that, but I did.

“At first I didn’t want to do it, I told my agent, ‘I don’t want people hating me.’ I’m not a hateful guy, I’m just me. I seem reserved, but that’s not the case, once you know me I’m everyone’s mate.”

Antony’s confidence grew following his return from the jungle, confessing “it was a nice little ego boost, proving I could do something for myself”.

He added: “I’d have taxi driver’s beep me, saying ‘I f***ing hate the band, but you’re wicked.'”

In contrast, Big Reunion co-star Sean Conlon claims he never watches Five videos online, and revealed he hasn’t even watched the BAFTA-nominated ITV2 show.

He said: “I just listen to my own head, I don’t know if it’s good or bad. I’ve been living a normal life for a long time, there was a big challenge to handle fame differently second time around.

“I used to run away from it, and in a sense I still do, but when people recognised me I used to go really insular. I was very shy, nervous, I didn’t like the negativity it brought.

“When I was 17, I’d meet all these famous people, and think, ‘How does a famous person act? If I’m normal I’m going to let people down. How do you act like a star?’ You get all confused.

“Sure, you’ve got to have some ego, when I started I was very self-centred, I thought the world was about me like every other artist, but having a family chills out you a bit.”

And the Leeds lad also had some personal insight to offer to Arthur, warning: “My advice would be, enjoy it while it lasts. It’s probably not going to last forever.

“If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it. You don’t have to always live up to what people expect, you’ll end up on your a***. Champagne taste, lemonade money.”

Meanwhile, refreshingly down-to-earth and likeable Antony believes there’s longevity in the franchise, saying if the series runs out of bands, it could invite solo artists onto the show.

He said: “I think it’s a genius idea, and if I wasn’t a part of it, I’d still be a genuine fan regardless.

“ITV and the team have definitely got something good going on.”

In the meantime, see ya down the front row in October…

Catch The Big Reunion crew on tour at one of the following dates:

October

17: Sheffield, Motorpoint Arena
18: London, The O2
19: Nottingham, Capital FM Arena
20: Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena
21: Birmingham, LG Arena
22: Bournemouth, BIC
23: Brighton, The Brighton Centre
25: Glasgow, The SSE Hydro
26: Manchester, Phones 4U Arena
27: Leeds, First Direct Arena
28: Liverpool, Echo Arena
29: Aberdeen, AECC GE Oil & Gas Arena
30: Newcastle, Metro Radio Arena

November

1: Belfast, Odyssey Arena
2: Dublin, The O2 Dublin Arena

Daily Star

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