Big Brother winner Rochelle shares surprising truth about applying for the show
Big Brother UK winner Rochelle Rackham has revealed the truth about her application to the reality TV show.
The 57-year-old mother of three from Essex became one of the most controversial winners in the ITV social experiment’s history when she took the crown on 5 November, as well as the £100,000 prize fund.
She beat runner-up Twinks Burnett in a very tight race, with just 1.3 per cent of the vote between them - and it’s safe to say people weren’t happy with the result.
Digital Spy reports that Rochelle’s behaviour prompted viewers to reach out to Ofcom with nearly 500 complaints last month.
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However, it turns out that she actually had no intention of going on the show to begin with, and had never even watched it before taking part in the latest season.
Speaking to Richard Arnold, Susanna Reid and Ed Balls on Good Morning Britain on Monday (9 November), Rochelle admitted her application was ‘by accident’.
She explained: “I actually wanted to go on The Traitors because I thought, ‘Oh, I’d love that. That’s a bit of me’.
“And obviously because I’d been looking at my phone, things popped up, and I was riding. I was by myself, and suddenly this Big Brother thing came up, and I thought, “Oh, I’ll just make a video.”
Rochelle continued: “I was on my horse; I had no makeup on, it was raining, and I had my hat on. I did the worst video ever because I’m techno-useless, and then I just sent it.
“And when they got in touch with me, I thought it was a joke, and then it kind of snowballed from there.”
She laughed: “I don’t know what I was doing. I’ve never had any desire to go on it. I never even watched it. Here I am, and I’ve won it.”
Elsewhere in the interview, she described the moment she won and was met with quite a frosty reception from the crowd as ‘completely surreal’.
She added: “When they said my name, I literally couldn’t believe it. It was amazing. I deserved it. Believe me, I deserved it. I deserve every penny for what I went through. I have had mental torture for eight weeks.
“I said to them, ‘This is the worst hotel I’ve ever been to, and I am never coming back again. And they kept saying to me, ‘Would you come again?’ I was like, ‘Why would I want to come again? I can’t wait to get out of here.”
Rochelle added that she ‘didn’t take enough’ personal items into the house as she didn’t think she’d get as far as she did, and even ‘begged’ producers to let her leave.
The reality TV star brutally admitted: "I didn't take enough stuff in with me because I was so convinced I'd be there for maybe a week, and when it went on and on, it was like OMG I'm never going to get out of this hell hole. And they wouldn't let me go, four times I begged them to go."
Topics: Reality TV, ITV, Good Morning Britain, Big Brother
Madison Burgess
