Andrew O’Keefe reveals life inside rehab, declares this time will be ‘different’

Bibles, futon beds and strict routines are a far cry from the TV life of empty Andrew O’Keefe. In an explosive tell-all interview the former host reveals how he lives now.

The Connect Global Limited rehabilitation Centre at Swan Bay, where Andrew O’Keefe is in rehab.

Fallen game show host Andrew O’Keefe starts his day in rehab at 5.30am, rising in his single room cabin to face himself in the mirror and tell himself he’s a “good man’’.

Then he makes his futon-style bed next to a small kitchenette and heads off for a 3.5km run, a gym workout or a boxing session before a hearty breakfast of eggs, chicken and broccoli.

This is life for O’Keefe, 50, for at least the next six months in court-ordered rehab, as he awaits a hearing over allegations he assaulted a former sex worker by grabbing her around the throat.

He opened up to The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday at the rehab camp, which is situated at the end of a dirt road on the state’s mid-north coast. He was released on bail by the NSW Supreme Court last week, on the condition he lives at the centre for between six and 12 months.

He has pleaded not guilty to six charges, including intentionally choking a person without consent, three counts of common ­assault and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Former TV personality Andrew O'Keefe has opened up for the first time about his life inside rehab. Picture: John Feder/The Australian

The former host of Channel 7’s The Chase and Deal or No Deal game shows said he was unable to comment on his court matters.

But he was happy to speak about his time in rehab and his belief that the traditional values of “manhood’’ and “fatherhood’’ are not old-fashioned, adding that he believes “blokes are missing out” these days.

For at least the next six months, Mr O’Keefe will be staying in this cabin at the Connect Global Limited rehabilitation centre at Swan Bay. Picture: David Swift

They may then tend the vegetable garden and chicken coop as part of their daily chores. Picture: David Swift

Unshaven and dressed in a dark-blue hoodie, O’Keefe was almost indistinguishable from the other 25-plus men gathered around a table for their daily 8.30am meeting at Fisherman’s Village. The TV personality’s new life involves getting up at 5.30am and “mucking in’’ with everyone else, working around the facility while paying $700 a fortnight for his self-contained cabin named Neptune.

No favours. No lie-ins. It is tough.

Before breakfast there is a daily exercise session that could be a 3.5km early-morning run or time in the gym lifting weights or boxing. That’s followed by a hearty, healthy breakfast of broccoli along with poached eggs and chicken. Then comes a group meeting for either Alcoholics or Narcotics Anonymous and some prayer before the work starts around the camp. Cleaning up in the kitchen is among the chores.

This can be followed by court-ordered counselling sessions and blood and urine tests which have to come back drug-free.

All of the men sharing the facility with O’Keefe have been referred there by the courts. After nine previous failed attempts at rehab, O’Keefe said this time spent at the Connect Global centre at Swan Bay was going to be different.

“This is a very different place. It’s very much a holistic view of one’s place in the world,” he said.

“That is to say that you do address issues of addiction and patterns of behaviour but you do it in a way that is very much focused on being a useful member of family and community.”

In the main shed, the blokes hit the gym each day. Picture: David Swift

A group counselling session with some of the residents, all of whom have been referred to Swan Bay by the courts. Picture: David Swift

Connect Global promotes a “five step process to get life back on track” concentrating on manhood, fatherhood, family, workplace and community. After his first week there O’Keefe, a divorced father-of-three, said these may be considered old-fashioned values but they had “elements which are both necessary to the man himself and expected of that man by his family”.

“A big part of that is being free of drugs and it’s about questioning how you associate with your family and loved ones and creating a very positive vision for yourself of your place in society, which is not only what the blokes here lack but what other blokes in general lack as well,” he said.

Manager Ross Pene, pastor and Harley Davidson motorcycle fan. Picture: David Swift

Pastor Ross Pene, who created Connect Global and manages the centre, said O’Keefe was “going great”.

“He’s actually very grateful to be here, were his words,” Mr Pene said.

“He’s only been here a week but he has learned so much already. He likes the whole focus on man taking responsibility.”

Also on the management team: (left) Wayne Lee (assistant manager) and (centre) Mark Ramsland (board member), with (right) Pastor Ross Pene.

The pastor runs a tight ship in which “routine is everything”.

He encourages the residents to make a habit of looking in the mirror after they wash and clean their teeth every morning and tell themselves: “You are a good man and you are going to have a great day and who can I help in my daily routine today.”

Making their own beds is a must before breakfast.

Inside Andrew O’Keefe’s cabin. His bed must be made before the day begins. Picture: David Swift

Work around what is still a holiday park on the shores of the bay includes renovating the 37 of the 42 cabins owned or controlled by the charity, rebuilding footpaths or redoing plumbing and painting. The centre’s Mitsubishi bus and a houseboat have both been restored by the men who are staying there.

The heart of the camp is a large, draughty building that used to be the famous Moffat’s Oyster Barn which had closed long before the charity took it over. It is there Mr Pene houses his collection of Harley Davidson motorcycles, which he restored. He said while the camp is Christian-orientated, the spirituality was not about Bible-bashing but “a bit like a wind, you can’t see it but you can feel it”.

“We really encourage these guys to open their hearts up and when they do, we can really work on things with them,” Mr Pene said.

Chefs Adam Richie (left) and Toby Bull (right) are graduates of the centre, and are working towards careers in the rehab industry. Picture: David Swift

He said O’Keefe was far from the highest-profile client to have lived at the camp over the years and while some failed, no-one who had graduated had found themselves before a court again.

Chefs Toby Bull, 33, and Adam Ritchie, 41, are among the success stories who have returned to work there.

Meanwhile, O’Keefe said that like most public figures, he had created a public persona to protect his privacy, adding: “One of the difficulties of being in the spotlight is that you can lose sight of the demarcation line between the true you and the persona.

“When you lose that persona, you find yourself very empty.

“Here is very much about filling up that empty space with what you want in there.”