Big Brother champ Nadia Almada has called for the reboot to return to its roots – and be filled with interesting characters rather than just influencers and models.
Nadia, who became the show’s first transgender winner when she triumphed in 2004, doesn’t want it to end up like “soulless” Love Island.
She says: “I’m super-excited for Big Brother. They will have to listen to the fans. They want the humour, the real people.
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“But I think they are really trying to keep the essence of the show, the social experiment, people from all walks of life connecting.
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
“We need to step away from influencers and models and go back to people like me, Brian Dowling, Pete Bennett, Jade Goody – people that created the foundations for this amazing show.
“We created reality TV – the whole genre was based on that show. Love Island is very generic. I find it’s not real. There’s no soul to it. I’m sick and tired of forced love relationships.”
After reports some original BB stars might make a return, Nadia, left, reckons she would go back as a guest or pundit.
She says: “I appreciate the fact they are considering us, bringing back some familiar faces.
(Image: E4)
“It’s very honourable and almost like an appreciation for what we created and delivered for that show.
“I’m not sure I’d go back as a contestant but in a guest spot or something like that.
“Or it would be quite nice to have a commentator position, looking at highlights of the night or week.” The revived series will air in the autumn and run for six weeks.
“We did 12 weeks,” says Nadia. “They’re having it easy and will probably have all mod cons – we didn’t even have a washing machine or dishwasher.”
Nadia, who spoke to the Daily Star on behalf of ICE36 (Big Brother Season 25 Exclusive – Nadia Almada | ICE36 Blog) won the fifth series of Big Brother with 74% of the overall vote and scooped £63,500.
And while she went on to release a single and make various other TV appearances, finding fame pre-social media meant she missed out on the opportunities on offer to today’s reality stars thanks to their large online followings.
Portuguese Nadia, who is only in touch with housemate Marco Sabba from her series, says: “We signed our lives away. We created history but we had no streaming rights, no revenue from it. It is irritating.
(Image: Unknown)
“I speak with Marco regularly and we look at the millions of followers and endorsements which we didn’t have. It didn’t exist. We say we missed out.
“For many projects, they first check your social following. If you don’t have that backbone of social followers they dismiss you in a way.”
Nadia, who now works as a hairdresser, is single. “I date but nothing serious at the moment,” she says. “I’ve met one really special person. He was almost The One but things didn’t work out.”
Nadia was involved in two of Big Brother’s most controversial moments – series five’s Fight Night and the rows with rapper Coolio which saw him get the boot.
(Image: Getty Images)
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Security had to step in during series five when the return of two contestants from a secret bedsit sparked an explosive fight.
Emma Greenwood and Victor Ebuwa threw food and silver trays at each other while Nadia knocked over a table and rowed with Jason Cowan, left.
“It was so wild,” says Nadia. “It was too much alcohol. It was so chaotic but it was such a moment in TV.
“We threw some tables up in the air, we had food fights, we took our tops off, there were a lot of breasts involved.
“It was an iconic night but it could have got a lot worse.”
Coolio, left, who died last year aged 59 from an accidental drugs overdose, agreed to quit Ultimate Big Brother in 2010 after a series of blazing rows with Nadia.
“I don’t like to speak ill of the dead but he was a misogynistic woman oppressor,” she says.
“It was a very traumatic experience for me. He had to leave but the damage was done psychologically.
“This is why the essence of Big Brother and the culture became a bit toxic.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
