With Big Brother coming to an end tonight, one of the six remaining housemates will walk out £100,000 richer in just a matter of hours, as one of Ali, Emma, Hanah, Marcello, Nathan, Segun will be crowned winner.
And former contestant Orlaith McAllister has offered up her own advice to contestants, as she recalls making huge sums of money overnight after walking out of the show in 2005.
Speaking to BoyleSports Games , official sponsors of Big Brother on Virgin Media, Orlaith reveals she was encouraged to stay by producers, but had already made up her mind, a decision that wasn’t well received.
Sharing advice for this year’s housemates, Orlaith warns contestants to be ‘really smart’ about their next moves, as well as with what they decide to post online following their time on the show.
My parents wanted me to stay on Big Brother, but I’d already made up my mind
I don't have regrets. I would have loved to have had the moment with Davina and the crowd and to look back on and just have that memory of it. My decision to leave came because I was getting very down, and I was crying a lot, and I wasn’t happy. I wasn't happy with who was left in the house either.
They were extremely competitive, the people who were left. They made it just feel really uncomfortable. Looking back on it, it was probably because everyone was going for the win and wanted to get as much publicity. People probably wanted to do something that was going to get in the papers and talked about for a bolstered chance to win. When Kemal was evicted, it was between us. I would have loved to have gone that night, but I said to myself, if I hadn't, I was leaving, that was it. So I went to the diary room, and I asked them. I just wanted to leave.
They asked, what could they do to make my stay better? Little did I know, as my parents were over for the eviction, and they were saying to Big Brother producers, keep her in, she has a chance [of winning]. But obviously, I didn't know any of this. Big Brother was trying to get me to stay, but my final decision was I needed to leave.
I look back at it now, and I suppose I was such a drama queen, I didn’t even have my nails done, because I love having my nails done. One of my reasons I wanted to leave was that I just needed a pamper! I was such a drama queen back then, which is why I was on Big Brother!
*Ali Bromley is the favourite to win Big Brother ahead of the final tonight at odds of 1/3 per the latest entertainment odds at BoyleSports.
‘I went straight into a huge meeting with loads of management, but I was naive’
When I left, I went through the back door, and it was quite nerve wracking, because obviously I didn't have a big crowd. I was going straight into the back rooms, then into a car, then to a hotel. I had a chat with them. They brought me in the room and gave me a folder with all newspaper cuttings.Then, I went straight to a hotel, and there were loads of management that wanted to meet me, and my dad was with me. I remember being told off by my mum and dad when they saw me, because they thought I should have stayed in, and that I would’ve won if I had. We went into the meeting and it was just, pound signs! It was crazy what was being offered for photo shoots. I was a model in Belfast getting maybe £100 for a photo shoot. This was 1000s. I remember when me and my dad looked at each other and we were just like, what?! Instead of thinking and stepping back a bit. But you’re completely in the moment.
‘In a one-hour meeting, I’d already signed £250k worth of deals’
When I came out of that meeting, I had signed for an exclusive for one of the tabloid newspapers, it was a photo shoot. There were a few lads magazines that I had signed up for out of that meeting, and I'd already signed £250k, in a one hour meeting, my dad was white. I didn't invest, I thought, let's just spend, let's have loads of fun. I didn't listen to my dad. I didn't invest in property, just invested in designer shoes and bags. That was again about being naive and not taking advice from my parents.
Part of me now wishes I'd just given my parents the money. There was a bidding war for Nuts and Zoo Magazines, I can't even remember which one it was. I want to say it was Zoo, they bid I think 50 grand. It was actually on TV. Nuts and Zoo magazine together.
There was this show on, and it was a documentary about the lads magazines. My name had popped up, the most they'd paid for a bidding war. I’d get a private taxi to this photo shoot, and that photo shoot, not even asking the question, who’s paying for this? So I then got my bill for the month, it must have been a month of photo shoots.
The taxi was dropping me off and waiting, could have waited a full day, three and a half grand. I was so stupid, and that was 20 years ago. How stupid was I! I wasn't told it was coming out of my wage, and I was so confused. But these things happen, you just get on with it.
‘You need a thick skin to deal with trolls… housemates must be mindful what they post’
Everything's on Google, I can't get away from it, even having a proper nine to five job. I'm very easily found on Google, and every image is there that anyone wants to see. Sometimes it's a little bit cringey.
I suppose for anyone coming out and winning or getting in the top three, anyone who’s left in the house now must be extremely mindful of the decisions that they make now, because it's the rest of their life. At the age of 45, I'm mindful of my 25 year old self and how naive I was. It’s important to be careful about what you say, what you put up on your social media. I don't know if I would have been able to cope with social media, to be honest, at 25.
At this age, I absolutely can deal with trolls. I don't get trolled that much anyway. My husband, he's a solicitor, so he would do a wee bit of research once in a while, just to make sure that everything was nice and nothing out there is put out there that shouldn't be there. He would keep an eye on media stuff. He's been brilliant in that way.
He's very good at being able to read the comments and things that have been said about him too, ‘Oh, she's with him because he has money,’ that's not true. It's about having thick skin and being able to deal with it and not going and reading the trolling comments, you have to kind of feel sorry for people.
If I put myself on Big Brother as a 25 year old in the world as it is now, I don't think I would have been able to cope with that. I didn't protect myself, and I allowed management to decide things for me. It is a scary world at the minute for reality TV contestants, and it's just about really being smart.
I'm proud that I did Big Brother and I'm happy. I'm still alive, so I'm not going to let stupid comments and people's opinions affect me. I have an amazing life. Why am I going to allow stupid trolls I don't even know to put me down?
‘I had to sleep with the light on when I came out the house, I thought I was still in there’
I had a few nightmares when I left the house. I had to sleep with the light on in the hotel room. I also had to stay in a hotel for a while as well. So that was another expense. I stayed up in Islington, and the hotel staff were amazing, but I would have had to sleep with a light on, because I would panic in my sleep.
I kept thinking I was still in the Big Brother house. It was just weird to have to go back to reality in so many ways. It was strange, not gonna lie, it was strange.
‘I wouldn’t change a thing about my Big Brother experience’
Big Brother was an amazing time for me. It's something I wanted to do when Big Brother one came out, and I had a platform, I loved it. I love anything to do with modelling and TV. But also, I was meant to have a family. I was meant to be a wife and have a dog mum, that's what I love. I mean, my life is so simple, but amazing. I go to work. I have a husband. We go out on dates.
I love my family. We're just happy, I'm happy. Life for me now is just, I'm so happy, and as long as we're healthy and happy, that's the main thing. I would never change a thing ever. Everything's meant to be the way it is.
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