Big Brother Craig Phillips: 'Rex could be the winner'

With the Big Brother final just weeks away, Craig Phillips, the show's first winner and star of ITV1's 60 Minute Makeover, reckons that the current Head of House could become the star of the show

Do you think that Stuart was the right person to be evicted on Friday night?
"I was very surprised about that - I didn't think he'd be evicted at all. I thought he'd definitely be one of the last three. But for two weeks he'd been saying that he wanted to go and viewers that liked him were probably hearing him saying he was missing his daughter and voted for him.

The interview continues below...



So, do you think Rachel could make it to the final now?
"I don't think Rachel will be in the final three. I think Mohamed will be one of the next ones voted out if he gets nominated and obviously Nicole is expecting it. She doesn't feel like she's been welcomed like a normal housemate. They need to keep Rex and Nicole in because their bickering is becoming part of the show."

Many fans have suggested that this year's Big Brother is becoming The Rex And Nicole Show. Would you agree?
"Well, I wouldn't say it's mainly their show – though they are probably the most entertaining. And people love to see a couple bickering like that. Nicole's only young and I do think she's spoilt - but I can understand her getting paranoid if she's read articles saying that Rex has been with other girls."

Nicole's forbidden from talking about the outside world - but she keeps letting things slip doesn't she?
"I think Big Brother producers are being quite clever. They're letting Nicole drop the odd little word in before telling her off. She was warned in the first few days about talking about the outside world but now they seem to be letting her get away with things because they know it will get round the house and back to Rex. Rex is very insecure too."

Rex insecure? Surely not…
"He didn't seem to like it when Nicole said she would rather have been put with Darnell for the mosaic task. And after Stuart was evicted she told Rex that she'd rather Stu had stayed over Rachel because she got on better with him. He certainly doesn't like to hear she's getting on with any of the guys."

How do you think Rex is getting on as the current Head of House?
"Rex is in his element. Like most of them when they become Head of House, it's a little power trip for them. It showed when he was commenting on the mosaics everyone had made. He liked all the attention being on him and he was in the limelight - and then when someone spoke over him he was like: 'Hang on, shhh'."

There have been suggestions that Big Brother tried to 'ensure' that Rex became Head of House and, as a result, was immune from eviction this week. What do you think?
"Well, it seems like the housemates are going to nominate Nicole and maybe Big Brother didn’t want both Rex and Nicole being up for eviction together. But that would have been really exciting."

Other than Nicole and Mohamed, who else do you think could be nominated this week?
"Probably Mikey actually. He;s irritating quite a few people at the moment. Because he's blind, housemates have made allowances for him but they’re not doing that anymore and certainly Rex and Nicole are having little digs at him for the things he's saying. So he could be up for eviction because he's starting to annoy people."

So, with just a few weeks left, who would you say deserves to win – and who do you think will win?
"I don't think Lisa would make a bad winner. She's hasn't gone out of her way to upset anyone or really try to please anyone. She's kind of been the mum in there, hasn't she? But, although people may love or hate Rex, I think you could see him surprisingly becoming the winner. And I think Channel 4 might think: “We’ve got another celebrity chef here, we can have a good innings out of him for a few years’."

That would be funny, Gordon Ramsay and Rex thrashing it out in the kitchen…
"Yeah – but I'd put my money on Gordon Ramsay to win any battle!"

CLICK here for Craig Phillips' official website.