We were given the Big Brother boot..
...but Leeds housemates have lived to tell the tale
By Richard Edwards and Vicky Turton
EVERYONE swears they won't watch it this year – and then millions find themselves unable to look away from the ever-bizarre behaviour in the Big Brother house.
Appetites whetted by last winter's surreal celebrity version, the main event starts tonight – and Channel 4 producers claim it will be "more twisted than ever."
It's hard, perhaps, to imagine how things could get more twisted than last year's antics by clearly-vulnerable housemate Kinga.
But apparently Big Brother 7 will see contestants forced to share beds, with privacy stripped away by the glass walls in the house's bathroom and one bedroom.
Despite the humiliation heaped on those taking part, there has never been a shortage of people willing to volunteer – about 25,000 hopefuls are reported to have applied this year.
Leeds has always been well represented on Big Brother, with three Loiners having appeared since the programme was first screened back in 2000.
And all three have managed to come through the experience, and the media frenzy that follows eviction from the house, pretty much unscathed.
Justine Sellman was the first Leeds resident to appear, on Big Brother 4.
Since then, Justine, now Justine Keenan after her wedding last year, seems to have gone on to pursue a happy and relatively low-profile life.
After the inevitable money-spinning tabloid revelations about her sex life, Justine, who was brought up in Alwoodley, threw herself into charitable fundraising.
By the time she appeared on the show, she had already raised more than £31,000 for Cancer Research UK after best friend Hayley Hyman died from a rare kidney cancer.
Following her eviction, Justine raised more big money by organising celebrity events for Marie Curie Cancer Care and Martin House Hospices.
She also tried to carve out a media career, volunteering for a stint on Leeds Infirmary's hospital radio and landing a spot on ITV1 Yorkshire show Late Attitude.
Eight months after her eviction, she claimed she would turn down a second chance to enter the Big Brother house.
"I don't think I was portrayed particularly well.
"I didn't have any control over the editing and most viewers saw me as a quiet bore," she said.
Last September, the 30-year-old married Jason Keenan and the couple now live in Leeds city centre.
Justine, who now works as an IT consultant, said, "I'm definitely planning to watch the new series."
She said she believes BB bosses will restrict the amount of clothes contestants are allowed to wear, as the show goes head to head for ratings with Celebrity Love Island.
Street poet
Science came to the show from an entirely different angle to Justine.
Born and raised in Chapeltown, Science his real name was Kieran Harvey.
"Science is science," is how his mother Marie described his intense approach to BB life, shortly before he was evicted last July.
Now, he divides his time between London and Leeds.
A less well remembered BB Loiner was series 5's
Vanessa Nimmo.
Student Vanessa, who was originally from South Africa but lived in Shadwell, stunned viewers with her blonde hair and good looks.
But her personality failed to impress and the show's fans booted her off early on.
Shortly after her eviction, Vanessa had a boob job to boost the size of her chest from an AA cup to a C. She later left Leeds and has since appeared in a variety of steamy spreads in lads mags.
Last September she released an adult DVD with fellow BB5 contestant Shell Jubin called Laid Bare.
A month after that, her relationship with TV Presenter Ben Fogle ended on apparently "mutual" terms.
Big Brother 7 starts on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight.
richard.edwards@ypn.co.uk
18 May 2006
Leedstoday
