15 years on… what are the original Big Brother line-up doing now?
Summer 2015 saw Big Brother 'legends' Brian Belo, Nikki Grahame, and Helen Wood returning to the house to celebrate fifteen years of the hit show.
The show, originally on Channel 4 and now on Channel Five, spawned celebrities such as Jade Goody, Chantelle Houghton, and Chanelle Hayes.
But when it first hit our screens, Big Brother was a low level, experimental series watched by just a few fans until 'Nasty' Nick Bateman's attempt to cheat created front page headlines across the country.
To celebrate the programme’s anniversary on July 18, we traced the original
Series One line-up:
Craig’s story
PRE-SHOW: Craig was working as a building company boss. He was hoping to win the £70,000 prize for Joanne Harris, a childhood friend with Down’s syndrome.
MEMORIES: “When I won, it was terrifying” he says. “I was whisked off and told, ‘The show has succeeded all expectations, it’s broken records, it’s been in every newspaper.”
“I went on tour to do personal appearances and was away from home for 97 days. I’d never been so lonely in my life.”
AFTER: Craig launched a career as a DIY expert and hosted shows such as 60 Minute Makeover. He now has his own production company doing makeover programmes for the British Forces Broadcasting Service.
He is also an ambassador for tradesman website .
He says: “There have been 14 other winners who haven’t been as successful as me. Winning first makes a difference but if you’ve got nothing else to give, you’ll fade away.”
FINAL WORD: “The big story was me falling out with Nasty Nick but we became great friends. We’d walk into a pub and people would cheer me and
abuse him.
“I still watch Big Brother sometimes but it’s lost its edge. They’ve brought in weirder and wackier people desperate for fame, which is an insult to the public.”
Darren Ramsay’s story
PRE-SHOW: Darren was an aspiring model and dancer.
MEMORIES: “I had to restrain my b****y side as I had three kids and I didn’t want to embarrass them.”
AFTER: Darren came third and had various TV jobs for a while. He now works for a research company. He says: “Jade Goody was on the third series and when someone bigger and better than you comes along, it’s hard.
“It’s refreshing to do a nine-to-five job. But I would love to do I’m A Celebrity or Strictly Come Dancing.
“I want to put on some rhinestones and revive my little 15 minutes of fame.”
FINAL WORD: “If I did it again now, the Darren you would see would be gay. I hadn’t had any gay relationships then but in my mind I was wondering at what point I was going to embrace being gay.
“I had a very beautiful, warm reception from friends and family when I toldthem in 2004.”
Claire Strutton’s story
PRE-SHOW: Florist Claire entered the house after Nasty Nick was kicked out for cheating.
MEMORIES: “I had a lovely time,” she says. “I got to be a kid again.”
AFTER: Claire got together with fellow housemate Tom McDermott. They had a baby boy, Pierce, and moved to Spain. But they split up within a year.
Claire remarried and has founded a luxury beach resort in Marbella as well as night spots in Gibraltar and Chigwell, Essex.
FINAL WORD: “Tom and I did our best to make it work but it came to a head.
“Pierce knows he is the first Big Brother baby and got quite a kick out of being famous for the day when he first told his school friends.”
“I do think about some of the other housemates and wonder if they’re OK.
“It was quite an experience and I think you had to be strong to get through it.”
Anna Nolan’s story
PRE-SHOW: Anna was an Irish, lesbian, former nun.
MEMORIES: “I remember persuading everyone to get in the Jacuzzi and do kissing games, but it was like a chaste playground thing compared to the
naughty things they get up now,” she says.
“Our tasks were really boring, like going on an exercise bike for 24 hours or learning Morse code.”
AFTER: Anna finished second. She got a job on BBC3 before returning to Ireland where she had a successful presenting career. Now she is an executive producer and also presents the Great Irish Bake Off.
FINAL WORD: Host Davina McCall took a shine to Anna and got her to sign to her own agent. The pair are still friends. Anna says: “Davina for some reason liked me and was really protective of me.
“I had tons of offers but I felt it was important to turn down certain jobs and make smart decisions.”
Melanie Hill’s story
PRE-SHOW: Melanie worked in marketing and was interested in the technical side of Big Brother.
She says: “I loved the cameras, the live feed, and editing 24 hours down to one show.”
MEMORIES: “It was so tame. We had to grow our veg and look after chickens. I asked Anna if she thought anyone was watching because we were so boring!
“I remember one assault course task. Nick claimed to have been in the Army but it was like he had one leg, he was so uncoordinated. We were killing ourselves laughing.”
AFTER: Melanie has written a magazine column and worked as a marketing director.
She is currently taking a career break to look after her son, Otis, with her boyfriend Glenn.
She says: “I was shell-shocked to have come out from the quiet house to such cacophony. People would follow me down the street. I was kind of demonised because people thought I was quite flirty and they didn’t like that.”
FINAL WORD: “I do love that I was part of the birth of reality television!”
Sada Walkington’s story
Trained actress Sada now lives in Argentina and works as a yoga instructor. She has changed her name to Guru Amrit Dev and is married to Argentinian musician Sat Man Swaraj.
The couple have twins, Indigo and Padma, born in 2005.
’Nasty Nick’ Bateman’s story
Nick was caught trying to influence nominations by writing names on a piece of paper.
He was thrown out and vilified by fans. But the ex-stockbroker bounced back with a media career.
He also wrote a book, Nasty Nick: How To Be A Right B*****d, and trained as a camera director.
Tom McDermott’s story
Tom got together with housemate Claire Strutton. The couple had a baby, but split soon afterwards.
Tom now lives in a village on the coast of Cornwall where he runs his own property company.
He remarried ten years ago, and former wife Claire, a florist, did the flowers for his wedding.
Nichola Holt’s story
Shaved headed artist Nichola was famed on Big Brother for stripping to make clay imprints of her naked body on the walls of the house.
She is currently believed to be a single mother to a four-year-old girl and living in her home town of Bolton, Lancashire.
She was previously married to personal trainer Yas Parr. The couple are said to have married on the island of Huatulco in Mexico, where her wedding dress was composed of a white swimsuit and white silk sarong.
Caroline O’Shea’s story
Former dancer and pop star wannabe Caroline 'Caggie' O'Shea was unemployed when she entered the Big Brother house, and soon began to irritate
housemates with her distinctive laugh.
She was nominated for the first eviction but clung on, eventually being kicked out after three weeks when an incredible 900,000 people voted for her.
Caroline was reportedly depressed after the series, but she was last seen making a brief appearance in Ultimate Big Brother in 2010 to participate in a task.
Andy Davidson’s story
Andy, famed for kissing Melanie Hill in the house, is now working as the head of client strategy at insight and brand consultancy Flamingo, based in
London, and is a father of three.
On Flamingo's website, he says he first applied to work at Flamingo in 2001 but was turned down because of his "murky reality TV past".
After that, he worked at MTV for four years, before creating a $1.5million business conducting research for brands such as Weetabix, McVitie's, Doritos, Idea and Starbucks, before heading back to Flamingo to head up their UK practise.
He is the brother of Formula One racing driver and BBC Radio Five commentator, Anthony Davidson.
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