Fortune smiles on Big Brother's 'non-celebrity' winner
Celebrity Big Brother winner Chantelle Houghton was today on her way to making her fortune after being signed up by a talent agency within hours of confounding expectations and defeating all of the show’s “real” celebrities.
The previously unknown 22-year-old Essex girl joined the roster of John Noel Management, which already has strong links to Big Brother, representing the show’s presenter Davina McCall and former contestants Jade Goody and Craig Phillips.
PR guru Max Clifford predicted the blonde Paris Hilton lookalike, who won viewers’ hearts with her down-to-earth personality, could “easily” earn £1m (€1.5m) over the coming year.
Entertainer Michael Barrymore, who finished runner-up, said yesterday he would consider any offers of television work but was today keeping his plans a secret.
Chantelle was today planning how she will spend her £25,000 (€36,551) Celebrity Big Brother winnings.
She told a post-show press conference: “First I will be able to pay the debts I owe my mum.
“Once that’s out of the way I don’t know: go shopping, make up, clothes, orange lipstick – I need one of them, I love that. I’ve got to make sure I get a stock of that.
“I would like to take my mum and everyone on holiday because that would be a nice thing to do.”
Mr Clifford said he had decided not to represent Chantelle but paid tribute to her honesty and “natural sparkle“.
“She has got a tremendous amount of opportunities – modelling opportunities, television, presenting, a record deal potentially,” he said.
“The magazines she should be doing are the OK!s and Hello!s and magazines like that. If whoever represents her is selective in what they take on then she’s going to have a much longer shelf life.
“It’s just as important what you say yes to as what you say no to at this stage.”
The publicist told Sky News: “I don’t watch the programme but the girls in my office and people I talk to said she was very natural. What you saw was what you got.
“The place was full of people who were acting, playing up to the cameras, trying to resurrect careers.
“She was just, ’This is me, see me for what I am,’ heart on the sleeve, a breath of fresh air, and that’s the kind of qualities the British public love.
“I just hope that she keeps her feet on the ground and stays the person she’s shown the British public to be over the last few weeks.”
Mr Clifford revealed that magazines had offered hundreds of thousands of pounds for exclusive pictures and interviews of Chantelle with fellow housemate Preston, whose on-screen chemistry sparked speculation about a possible romance.
He added: “But with or without Preston, Chantelle is going to have a wonderful ten minutes. And if the right people are looking after her that could be 15 or maybe even 20 minutes.
“She could easily make £1m in the next 12 months, being selective.”
It is believed that Chantelle’s new career as a celebrity in her own right will start with an appearance on Richard and Judy’s afternoon chat show on Channel 4 on Monday.
Michael Barrymore’s spokeswoman today said she could not confirm rumours he would be a guest on the same programme the next day and refused to comment on his other plans.
A peak audience of 7.5 million viewers tuned in to last night’s Celebrity Big Brother final – up by almost 2 million from last year’s show.
Unofficial overnight viewing figures from the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (Barb) showed that an average of 6.8 million people watched the show’s 10pm finale.
The public cast almost three million votes during the current series of Celebrity Big Brother, raising £480,000 for the 11 charities nominated by the contestants.
By contrast just over one million votes were cast during the 18-day run of last year’s series, won by former Happy Mondays dancer Bez.
Meanwhile bookies, cursing their luck after strong favourite Chantelle’s victory left them facing a huge payout, have offered 6-1 odds on Preston and Chantelle getting married this year.
William Hill also quoted odds of 8-1 on the pair getting engaged in 2006, 33-1 on them getting married and divorced in the next 12 months, and 16-1 on Preston being punched by his French girlfriend Camille Aznar.
The bookmakers offered 2-1 on Chantelle having a UK number one single this year with Kandyfloss, the non-existent girl group of which she pretended to be a member in order to fool the other celebrities in the Big Brother house.
The odds of Barrymore presenting a primetime ITV show in 2006 were given as 8-1 and the odds of former Dead or Alive singer Pete Burns becoming an exhibit in the Science Museum were quoted at 100-1.
The bookmaker also offered 100-1 on Respect MP George Galloway, whose impression of a cat in the house provoked mirth and derision, appearing in a production of Cats or Grease, or playing Dick Whittington’s cat in a pantomime.
William Hill spokesman Graham Sharpe said: “Chantelle cost us a fortune when she was backed from an original 16-1 right down to 1-7.
“However the show was a very successful betting event, and we estimate the the best part of £2 million was gambled in total.”
