14 July 2005
BelfastTelegraph
Maxiumum exposure. That's what Orlaith McAllister is after - and let's face it, she couldn't really be any more exposed.
From the moment the pretty Belfast model entered the Big Brother house, dressed in a skimpy figleaf bikini, she has taken every opportunity to display as much of her surgically-enhanced slim body as possible.
Her frisky frolics and saucy stripteases have not only boosted the show's ratings, but her profile has risen too.
And that's not the only thing rising in the Big Brother house, ahem! So, too, are the temperatures of the male contestants.
Though her x-rated antics have shocked many of her friends and family at home, others believe she is merely playing to the cameras.
Fashion PR and friend, Cathy Martin, says Orlaith has a definite game plan.
"She's not just a very pretty girl, she's smart as well. She's been watching the show for five years now, she knows how it works," she said.
"Orlaith is looking for maximum exposure and is out to gain the male vote. I think she'll be quite successful."
Cathy, former marketing manager of the Irish Linen Guild, says she never witnessed any of the extreme behaviour viewers have been subjected to - flashing her breasts and allowing fellow housemates to fondle her.
"She was always very professional when I booked her, probably one of the most professional I've worked with in Northern Ireland," she said.
"She also had a lot of admirers but, rather than be flirty, I always thought she fended the blokes off more than anything."
But Cathy concedes: "The Orlaith in the Big Brother house is different to the girl I know."
Model boss Alison Campbell is reluctant to discuss Orlaith's actions, pointing out that her decision to enter Big Brother was nothing to do with her modelling work or the agency.
"We didn't even know she was doing it," said Alison. "It came as a complete surprise to us here at the agency.
"All I can say about her is that she's a very good model, whom I would describe as normally quite reserved. Not an exhibitionist."
Orlaith, an ex-convent girl, first began modelling as a student in London, during a gap year from university.
In 1999, she entered Miss Northern Ireland and, despite narrowly missing out on the title (she was runner-up), she became best friends with that year's winner Zoe Salmon.
Last year, Zoe left Northern Ireland to move to London, after landing her dream job as Blue Peter presenter. Orlaith has been a regular visitor to the city to visit her closest friend.
It's possible Zoe's foray into national television influenced Orlaith's decision to enter Big Brother, but friends claim she never really showed any signs of ambition.
One said: "She could have been a top model but was never really that ambitious. So I don't know if Zoe's move to London affected her that much."
However, her penchant for celebrity men, albeit C-listers like Calum Best and Channel 5 presenter Gary McCausland, does show, to some degree, a need to be noticed.
A friend of a former boyfriend commented: "Orlaith loves attention. When she's in a relationship, it's all about her."
One person who knows her very well is her ex of seven years, local rugby player Paul Rodgers.
He was recently quoted in a national magazine describing her as "fun-loving but caring".
"We went to Egypt two years ago and she gave out notepads to underprivileged kids," he told New mag. "She's a lovely girl with a good heart."
But he also admits: "She's very ambitious. She always wanted to do something like Big Brother."
Whether taking part in the reality television show will pay dividends for Orlaith remains to be seen but already there is talk of offers from lads' magazines FHM and Nuts.
A number of former BB housemates have gone on to achieve some form of celebrity status. Just look at Jade Goody, slated in the tabloids for being a "fat pig". She's now a millionaire. Ironically, the woman who famously showed off her "kebab" on national television wrote in her column in Closer magazine that she thinks Orlaith is tacky.
Even BB housemate Makosi has had a go at Orlaith, accusing her of being a "weak woman who uses her body".
Orlaith has done herself no favours in Northern Ireland either, where her less-than-model behaviour has outraged viewers and politicians alike.
She's been accused of degrading women and using sex to promote herself.
But, chances are, Orlaith will not return here after her Big Brother experience.
Her shameless attempts to shock may have won her no fans at home, but may prove lucrative across the water, where women like Abi Titmuss and Rebecca Loos can earn up to £10,000 for personal appearances.
Sex sells - and Orlaith is selling herself. And while her critics cringe at her "appalling antics", the Belfast model may yet have the last laugh.
Better to make love, not war
By Pól Ó Muirí
The only thing old-fashioned about Big Brother's Orlaith McAllister is the way in which she spells her Christian name. Everything else about her is, quite literally, up for grabs. It's quite shocking the way in which this young woman, from north Belfast, has imposed herself on our consciousness.
First, there was Orlaith naked in the shower; then Orlaith in the jacuzzi having her surgically-enhanced breasts fondled gratefully by the show's contestants and then there's Orlaith engaging in a faux lesbian snog with another female contestant.
The reaction to it all varies from: "What must her poor parents be feeling?" to "What a disgraceful thing for a young woman to do!"Her behaviour is, of course, entirely cynical.
She may well let the camera and fellow contestants get an eye-full of her assets - or her "babies" as she refers to her breasts - but don't for a second imagine that if you were to run into Orlaith on Great Victoria Street that a request to "hold her babies" would be met with anything other than a slap in the face and a phone call to the PSNI.
Orlaith is playing the game. Orlaith wants to win the cash, and what better way for the latecomer to get attention from the show's straight viewers other than a little striptease? It's a career move - a cold, calculated career move for a model whose time on the catwalk is fast running out.
But, but, we splutter, it's not us. We don't do things like that in the North. Well, we do - but we don't usually do them on camera. We save it all for the Students' Union and our undergrad days; we save it for the Holyland when our parents are safely tucked away in bed in far-far-away Fermanagh; we save it for the July fortnight in Santa Ponsa or Saturday night in Shaftesbury Square.
Still, the tut-tutting continues: she's letting us down. Well, it's certainly not a 'career' many of us would encourage our daughters to follow and to have the poor girl touted as a local Abi Titmuss is not going to do Orlaith's reputation any good. But it's not as if she has killed anyone.
Compare Orlaith's antics with some of the statements from, and actions of, the cold-eyed youth of loyalism and republicanism. The purtian patriot in us thinks that it is unfortunate (but understandable) when teenagers and young adults spout rubbish about the necessity for "armed struggle" or "protecting our community". It's regrettable that they are out there stoning each other at interfaces but, perversely, we feel ashamed about a young woman in her 20s flashing a bit of flesh.
Perhaps it's a generational thing. Those who grew up through the 1970s and the Hunger Strikes paid more attention to the metaphysics of nationhood than how to court the opposite sex. Defending the Union or the National Question were part and parcel of the day's discourse. We had a couple of generations of sad-b****** teenagers who read political publications rather than Heat or Nuts. Socialising tended to involve drinking and a couple of low rent dives in which to meet, and 'clubbing' was something that the paramilitaries or the police did to you.
Perhaps that is why we are so shocked by Orlaith's narcissistic hedonism; it seems so foreign to most of us. She is the "make love, not war" generation we never really knew. Shouldn't we be proud that this young woman prefers to revel in her body rather than in the body count?
Oh dear 
