Lance Bass tells us he is unsurprised at Bieber's arrest

Lance Bass saw it coming, you know. He knew there was trouble ahead for Bieber. He'd even shared his worries with dozens of listeners to his radio programme:

"I was not surprised at all," he told us at tonight's Delta Airlines pre-Grammys party in West Hollywood. "I host my own talk show on Sirius XM so we've been following the Biebs for quite a few months. The spiral down. So no, we called it a long time ago."

Yes. Yes. "We've been following the Biebs". That's a thing he said.

It might be worth wondering if, following someone on a downward spiral going 'he's heading for the bottom of a downward spiral' actually takes much in the way of predictive powers.

You might also ask if there was anyone at all on the planet who was expecting Justin Bieber to suddenly start a course at his local community college, start dating that nice girl from the next street and generally sort his life out.

Indeed, Channel 4 had already announced a series - "Justin Bieber's Further Descent Into Absolute Dickwaddery" - so obvious was this happening.

Indeed, three States had already got Bieber to pose for mugshots as it'd just save time when the inevitable occured.

Indeed, this year's MTV Awards had already negotiating with The Corrections Corporation of America as they're expecting to need some sort of live link to the rec room this year.

Lance Bass is very much a man watching the sunrise going "knew this would happen. I said the sun hadn't spiralled off into space, never to return."

Still, Lance - having called it - knows what Bieber needs now:

Like I said, he just needs a little chill time to snap him into reality.

Absolutely, Lance. When anyone gets loaded and drives too fast, putting people at real risk of life-changing injuries or death, the solution is booking into a day spa.

It was different for Lance, of course, because he wasn't the popular one in NSync ("was in a group"):

I feel for him because I know exactly what he is going throug," Lance said of Bieber. "I've seen it with Britney, with Lindsay, with all the other teen stars out there. It was easier for me because I was in a group, I had four of my best friends knocking me down when I needed it and a great family. But with solo artists, it's hard because you got a lot of yes people around you and there like, 'Yeah, that's great.' They'll never tell you no. When no one tells you no, your reality is so out the door."

"Hey, I'm going to get drunk and drive too fast - good idea, yeah?"
"Excellent idea, Mr Justin. How about something from the drug cupboard to take the edge off?"

I wonder if Lance's interpretation is as mistaken as you'd expect from someone who has a show on Sirius XM. Surely the problem Bieber will have had is not people saying yes, but rather - as he was a chunk of marketable meat that needed to be TeenBeat friendly - he's been surrounded by a lot of no; and when he finally broke free of that, it's an explosion.

Still, there's something that Bass gets right:

Bass added of Bieber's low jail bail amount of $2,500, "I have a feeling if it was any other person they'd be in jail right now."

Especially as most people can't easily post two and a half grand bail.