Jimmy Savile pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes – including CBB star Chantelle Houghton.
The prolific paedophile was revealed to be a serial sex offender after his death in 2011. Before then, many of his victims suffered another chilling blow after Savile was given further air-time on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006.
Chantelle, who is now a mum-of-one, was left with “horrific” memories following her “creepy” encounter with the sex offender in the iconic house when she was just 21. Savile’s “sickening” words still live with her until this very day.
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At the time, the blonde model had been selected for the celebrity version of the then-Channel 4 programme as the only non-famous person. Chantelle was on a secret mission to mislead her co-star’s into thinking she was in a girlband.
(Image: Getty Images)
The reality star – who was dubbed to be a Paris Hilton lookalike – didn’t just succeed with the task but also went on to win the show too. During her time on the programme, she rubbed shoulders with the likes of Michael Barrymore, George Galloway, Jodie Marsh, Pete Burns, Samuel Preston, Rula Lenska, Traci Bingham, Margot, Dennis Rodman, Faria Alam, along with guest appearances from Jimmy Savile and Richard and Judy.
Speaking to Daily Star about her experience with Savile, Chantelle told us: “It’s horrific that he was on the programme and if I could go back to that moment knowing who he was and what he was about, it would be a different story.”
(Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
She added: “I can’t imagine how his victims must have felt seeing him on TV. This complete fake persona that he was selling to us all for years, they must have felt sick to their stomachs.”
Savile, who had hosted Top Of The Pops for decades, didn’t land himself a starring role on Big Brother as a usual celebrity contestant. Instead, he swooped into the famous house for a two-day “Jim’ll Fix It!” stint, to tell stories and help with handy-person jobs.
(Image: Channel 4)
Chantelle confessed that she’d actually been a bit starstruck at the time of meeting Savile and now knows she had also been suckered in with believing his deception. Casting her mind back to their brief encounter, she recalled his chilling words.
“It’s actually sickening and he was really creepy. I can’t remember his exact words but he said something along the lines of ‘he would love me more than any bloke would love me,'” explained Chantelle.
The CBB winner added: “He’s an absolute creep but because he’s ‘Jimmy Savile’ and he’s done all of this ‘charity work’ and he was this ‘amazing celebrity’ that you didn’t see. It’s only now that I look back and actually realise the things he said to me were creepy and vile but at that time I was 21, and like ‘omg it’s Jimmy Savile’.”
(Image: Channel 4)
In spite of sex offence rumours swirling in 2000, following a Louis Theroux documentary, When Louis Met Jimmy, the disgraced Jim’ll Fix It star still managed to still convince everyone he had been innocent. Six years later, even his CBB co-stars couldn’t wait to be in his company.
Chantelle revealed: “Everyone in the house was hanging off of his every word and we’d listen to all of his stories. We were all in awe of him. We actually couldn’t wait for him to return the next day, because he didn’t stay the night, he came back the next day.”
Towards the end of Savile’s life and following his death, hundreds of women and children came forward to tell of how he had sexually abused them. He was finally deemed to be one of the most dangerous men in Britain, as a result of his disgusting crimes against children who were alleged to have been as young as five.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
