Jul 29 2005
icSouthLondon
AFTER seven weeks in the Big Brother house and one of the most dramatic exits in the show's history,
Vanessa Layton-McIntosh is back in Croydon.
Reporter Sarah Bailey caught up with her as she met fans at a public appearance in the Whitgift Centre.
VANESSA is an hour-and-a-quarter late and the PR people are looking twitchy. There are three photographers, a video crew and some anxious fans waiting to meet her.
Eventually the message gets through that she's caught in traffic and will be here in 10 minutes' time. Nine minutes later she arrives, pretty in pink, wearing sunglasses and looking every inch the polished celebrity.
Having watched her in the house for the past seven weeks, seeing her in real life is somewhat surreal.
Even in heels she's tiny but as she greets fans, signs autographs and poses for pictures there's finally a glimpse of the bubbly personality we never got to see on the show. "I love being back in Croydon," she says. "It's really helped me get back to being myself, seeing all my family and friends. I can watch TV, read books and listen to music again. It's been great meeting people today and signing autographs. I love it."
Watching Vanessa get ousted by her fellow housemates was painful viewing but the 19-year-old from Thornhill Road seems determined to get on with making the most of her new-found fame. "My eviction was really awful, but now that I have been out this week and doing all the TV and radio I feel much better about it," she said. "I knew once me and Makosi were up it would be me who went but it all happened so fast.
"When the doors opened and I saw the crowd it was a scary experience, but I felt better when I met Davina at the bottom. She whispered in my ear 'Don't worry. This is only a small representation of society and you do have public support'."
Despite having been chosen for eviction by her housemates, she has gained some comfort from the fact more viewers wanted to see her friend Makosi given the boot. "When I found out Makosi got almost double the amount of votes I did it made me feel better because I know I have public backing," Vanessa explained. "I did my interview with Davina and a press conference and then I could finally see my family. I hadn't seen them for nine weeks and I just cried because I had missed them so much."
Like every evictee, Vanessa has taken part in a gruelling round of scheduled interviews and TV appearances since her eviction, but seems to have taken it all in her stride. "So far the thing I have enjoyed most was (Channel 4 programme) Big Brother's Big Mouth because the people on there were brilliant," she said.
"Doing Big Brother's Little Brother with Dermot O'Leary has been good as well. He's really friendly. What has been strange is catching up on all the news. I think it's great we've got the Olympics and obviously finding out about the bombings in London was a shock.
"But I don't have any regrets about going on BB. It's been a life-changing experience. I decided to audition for it because I thought it would be a challenge. I only found out I got in about a week before they took us out of the country and then I went straight into the house."
And despite all the tears as she left, she insists she made some good friends on the show. "Makosi is definitely someone I want to stay in touch with after it's all over," she said.
"Kemal has been very paranoid that she's the mole, but even if she had been it wouldn't bother me because she's such a great person."
Vanessa, who is now hoping to launch herself as a children's TV presenter, also revealed she's taking a year out from her business degree at Brunel University to capitalise on her fame.
But before she graces our TV screens again, the former Croydon High pupil will be looking even trimmer after agreeing to take part in a weight loss programme at Croydon's Fitness First Gym for a magazine.
She says: "They are going to do some before and after shots of me and I'm really looking forward to it. I can get rid of the weight I put on in the house."
