Andrew O’Keefe and his band of brothers

FIRST PICTURES: Sporting a fresh beard, TV personality Andrew O’Keefe this week grabbed a mic and jumped on stage to salute a “band of brothers” who have befriended him in rehab.

Troubled game show host Andrew O’Keefe has been rallying his “band of brothers” at the rehab centre where he has been pictured this week for the first time since his arrest in January.

Sporting a fresh beard, the TV personality grabbed the microphone and jumped on stage to congratulate the 11 men who have completed their drug and alcohol rehab stints at the Connect Global camp.

Smiling and relaxed, he told them how their friendship and support has affected him.

“Every single one of you has contributed something extraordinarily special to this brotherhood,” O’Keefe said. “You are beautiful men, go well.”

As camp cleaner, O’Keefe has been sweeping floors and making coffee while he let his band of brothers take the spotlight.

Andrew O’Keefe (right), with Pastor Ross Pene, congratulates the his band of brothers at graduation night at the Connect Global rehab centre at Swan Bay. Picture: David Swift

Wearing an apron bearing the words Turkey Shortcuts, he was also decorating the tables with flowers for the graduation ceremony at the court-ordered drug rehab camp which has been his home for four months.

“There are no shortcuts even for a turkey like me,” O’Keefe, 50, who has at least two months to go at the centre, was overheard joking.

The former host of Channel 7’s The Chase and Deal or No Deal has been at rehab at Swan Bay on the NSW mid-north coast since he was bailed by the Supreme Court in late May on condition he stays there 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.

After nine previous attempts at rehab, he is sharing the tranquil but basic retreat with alleged bikie boss Matty Douet, who was charged after the Anom sting with selling cocaine, a banking chief who held up a pharmacy to feed his valium addiction and affluent eastern suburbs real estate agent Matthew Ramsey, who has been charged with stabbing his best friend’s wife.

(“Ramsay is) one of the loveliest guys you can talk to,” pastor Ross Pene, who created Connect Global and manages the centre, said.

A camera-shy Andrew O’Keefe (centre) on the obligatory daily 5.30am walk at the Connect Global rehab centre. He is with Tony Bull (left) and Adam Ritchie, two volunteers who successfully went through rehabt and stayed on as volunteers. Picture: David Swift

Like the other people undergoing the rehab, O’Keefe has a number of random urine tests a week which have all come back clean for drugs and alcohol.

Pastor Pene revealed one positive test means they are out. No favours.

“We have had guys smuggle drugs and alcohol in here and we throw them out. No drugs,” he said. “You can’t go putting anyone on a pedestal.”

Pastor Ross Pene (second from right), who created and runs Connect Global rehab centre, with Travis Sorger, 25, and graduates Issa Mohammad, 27, and Junior Livingston, 22. Picture: David Swift

This is one of the few rehab centre where they accept men who are on drugs charges. Other centres are only for those with drug addiction problems.

“They just need to get to a place where there is healthy living, where there is routine,” he said.

“Once they start loving themselves they can love other people again. They go home and start connecting with their families.”

Residents start their day at 5.30am in their basic cabins, looking in the mirror and telling themselves they are “a good man”.

This is followed by a 3.5km run or brisk walk, the gym and breakfast before a day of tasks.

O’Keefe’s job is cleaner and the nephew of rock’n’roll legend Johnny O’Keefe has flagged the idea of setting up a church choir.

The Daily Telegraph was given exclusive access to the centre’s graduation, which is the first since O’Keefe arrived there.

Andrew O'Keefe arrives at Waverley court in Sydney in 2021 after being accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Pastor Pene said the men create strong bonds as they beat their addictions.

A lot of hugging goes on at graduations and many residents return to work as volunteers, such as chef Adam Ritchie, 41, and cook Toby Bull, 33, who served up prawn bruschetta, tomato bruschetta and homemade sausage rolls as hors d’oeuvres followed by a medley of roasted rainbow carrots with mash and chicken — and options for vegetarians and gluten free.

“We are brothers and every single one of us in this place has a lot of time for every other single person in this place, every single day, and when we don’t have a lot of time for them we tell them and we are very honest with each other like that, as brothers should be,” O’Keefe told the gathering.

“I just want to say to every single guy who is leaving, thank you so much for what you have brought to this place, your absence will … be noted by us in our hearts because every single one of you has contributed something extraordinarily special to this brotherhood

“And it will be a very different brotherhood no doubt a very viable brotherhood none he less without you, so thank you guys you are beautiful men, go well.”