Jul 31 2005
By Emma Pryer
People
Exclusive: Hunky hairdresser tells how camp housemate kept up crush for a year
A HAIRDRESSER has told how Big Brother's Craig Coates made his life a misery when he refused to have a gay affair with him - and warned that housemate Anthony Hutton could suffer the same fate.
Handsome salon boss Vinny Sant said he spent a year fending off Craig's advances - even though the camp crimper knew he was straight.
Vinny claimed: "When I turned him down he acted like a PSYCHO." In an exclusive interview with The People, 28-year-old Vinny said: "Anthony really needs to be careful.
"Craig has a crush on him and refuses to accept that he is not gay and not interested in him.
"But what Anthony is going through I've seen before - because it happened to me with Craig.
"He has this scary ability to just not let up on his obsessions."
Vinny claimed that "bunny boiler" Craig's desperate attempts to attract him could have damaged his love life with his girlfriend and his business. He said that 20-year-old Craig...
-REFUSED to accept straight men didn't want him.
-INDULGED in lewd suggestions and crude comments.
-TRIED to seduce him with a bottle of hair gel.
-THREW a hissy fit when he met Vinny's beautiful girlfriend.
Vinny says his "nightmare" began when he hired Craig as a junior at Pasha, his salon in Norwich, in November 2003.
Italian-born Vinny began training Craig to be a stylist, but it seemed the youngster was more fascinated by his rippling muscles. "He would be doing someone's hair and point over to me and say 'Don't you think he's a fox?'
"It was 'funny Craig'. He definitely gave the salon an atmosphere. Other days he'd pinch my bum and say 'Oh you're a bitch. You're evil'."
Vinny added: "At first I didn't mind much but then it started playing on my mind. I felt uncomfortable because I'm straight.
"But Craig just wouldn't take no for an answer. He just behaved so inappropriately. He'd be making crude comments constantly.
"It was really filthy innuendoes, like 'I want to give you a blow... dry' and thrusting the dryer near his crotch.
"He'd also want to massage my scalp. Anything to get his hands on me. I knew he liked my body.
"Once he started pumping the gel bottle and saying 'Look Vinny, it's all creamy'.
"The product is called Bed Head and it has the slogan 'After Party' on it. Craig used to flirt, 'That's like me Vinny. I want a bed head after a party'. He was clearly trying to tease me. It was meant to be a laugh but it wore thin after a while and got really too much.
"He'd say, 'You know Vinny, I can stay back late tonight if you want me to?' Then he'd put his hands in the air like cat's claws and go 'r-o-a-r'."
Vinny said: "Sometimes he'd get really weepy and just cry and cry in the salon.
"He got upset if he liked a guy and they didn't like him back. He could act really intense. He was a nightmare at times and could be very sharp, also manipulative. He'd get frustrated when he didn't get things his way."
Vinny added: "He could be a bit scary. A bit bunny boiler. I had no idea what was going on inside that head of his.
"One day he was flirting, the next he seemed to me to be trying to wreck my life."
When Vinny's stunning girlfriend showed up at the salon in February 2004, the atmosphere turned especially sour. "My girlfriend was very beautiful and it was the first time Craig had seen her," recalled Vinny.
"He hated her at first sight and gave her a really dirty look when she kissed me hello.
"We'd been together for a while and were serious but Craig just couldn't bare to watch us.
"He went all quiet and stropped off to the back room."
After 10 months in all, Vinny and Craig parted company. There had been rows over Craig's time off and Vinny believed his business was suffering.
Craig has been chasing housemate Anthony, 23, for several weeks, even though the Geordie has told him he is straight and is uncomfortable with the advances.
Vinny said: "I just hope that Anthony doesn't get the same treatment I had.
"And frankly I am surprised how much patience Anthony is showing towards the guy.
"I hope Anthony can get away from him once the show is over."
