I was on Big Brother and had a game plan the whole time, reveals Farida as she opens up on booze rules, ageism and more
NASTY Nick earned himself a nickname for life as Big Brother’s first ever schemer.
Now, 20 years on, the reality show has spawned another housemate with a game plan in first evictee Farida Khalifa — and she doesn’t care who knows it.
In news that will shock purist fans of the social experiment, the make-up artist says her goal was solely to use the ITV programme to promote her business.
And after months of speculation, she’s revealed exactly how much booze bosses are letting housemates guzzle.
Farida said: “They get alcohol most evenings. Cans. Because I don’t drink I don’t really understand amounts you know.
“Olivia was given a bottle of Prosecco.
“But I didn’t look at their aura and think ‘god they’re drunk’. They’re not rolling about.”
It was just one area where Asian Muslim Farida differed from her housemates, having to sip on water while they tucked into booze.
But the 50-year-old doesn’t feel there was any “race card” involved in her early axe – they just couldn’t handle her shameless self-promotion.
She told me: “I didn’t feel like they were disrespectful towards my religion. I just felt that they couldn’t cope with hearing some home truths. I made it very clear to them, I said ‘have you lot not got a strategy while you’re here?’
“For me, I set out what I wanted to achieve and that is to gain my followers to, you know, grow my business, my profile.
“I said to them ‘you should have a purpose’ and it made them feel threatened.”
Asked if she likened herself to the original game player Nick Bateman — who broke the rules by trying to influence nominations — Farida added: “Yeah! Yeah. You have to be smart and I am smart, I’m sorry.
“People might say I was all ‘me, me me.’ Well, absolutely, why shouldn’t I?”
Something tells me we’ll be seeing a lot more of Farida.
PETE AN EAGER BEAVER
PETER Crouch doesn’t do romance, unless beaver emojis are your thing.
His TV host wife ABBEY CLANCY has revealed the former England striker sends her messages containing the animal’s face when he’s in the mood for love.
But he’s been out of luck lately due to building work at their Surrey mansion.
Abbey says: “Pete can send all the beaver emojis he wants, there’s nothing like four kids, an endless stream of builders and my brother staying for months at a time to cool the libido.”
It’s a shame for Peter as he had big plans to “christen” every room in the mansion, which features in his wife’s new ITVBE show Abbey Clancy: Celebrity Homes.
In their new book, The Therapy Crouch, Peter adds: “In eight years we’ve managed two rooms, and one of those is the bedroom. Perhaps by the time we’re 60 we’ll have made it round the whole of the ground floor.”
Nothing wrong with setting targets.
NICOLA Coughlan is a long way from Bridgerton as she’s dresses up as an octopus for a new role.
She stars as Maggie, a woman living with bipolar disorder, in Big Mood.
The new six-part comedy also features LYDIA WEST as Eddie.
Channel 4 say: “As Maggie’s bipolar makes an unwelcome return, Eddie questions whether this friendship is really in their best interests.
“It brings to the surface those all-important questions – could sleeping with your former History teacher be the key to happiness?”
And will Nicola ever live down that octopus costume?