Big Brother Craig Phillips: 'Rex is on his high horse'

Craig Phillips, the first Big Brother winner and star of ITV1's 60 Minute Makeover, reckons that Rex is being a bit of a bully...

Are you pleased that Rebecca got the boot on Friday night?
"I did find Bex a bit annoying. Everyone's saying how you either love her or hate her – I didn't hate her but I did find her annoying and I did think she would go. But it's broke little Luke’s heart hasn't it?"

How do you think Luke will cope without Bex?
"He seems to be struggling a lot really and I think for the rest of this week he'll really be on a downer. The fact he's in hell isn't helping and because he's so upset about Bex, everything around him is multiplied."

Rex said that Luke is 'half a person' without Bex. What do you think?
"I'll have to agree with him on that. What we've seen of Luke over the last five or six weeks has been this jokey little character, but if Bex has taken the wind out of his sails and you don't see that side of him anymore, it could affect his popularity with the public, unfortunately."

The interview continues below...



The mood in the house was quite low following Bex's departure. Do you think the nominations pod has spiced things up a bit?
"The nominations booth really caused a stink didn't it? It's turned up the heat – but not in a good way for the housemates. But the name of the game is that you ARE two-faced; you go in it to win it. Stuart genuinely seemed to feel quite bad about discussing nominations. Any decent person would feel bad about discussing nominations - but there's no difference in talking in the diary room and talking to another person."

How did you feel about the nomination process when you were in Big Brother?
"For the first two or three times we nominated, everybody in the house was saying how awful it was. I just thought: 'We were all made aware of this, we were all explained the rules.' So for the first few weeks it didn't bother me, I just nominated. What's hard is when you get down to the last few weeks and you've bonded with people."

Rex seemed to enjoy revealing who he would put up for the chop…
"I reckon he felt like he was in powerful position. What with that and then the audition tapes, it's probably got Rex on his high horse a bit."

That's right, Rex blasted Rachel for being 'fake' in her audition tape...
"He gave young Rachel quite a hard time, didn't he? I did think he was being a bit unfair. It's alright saying: 'We saw a completely different side to you' but he just grilled her and grilled her, which was bordering on bullying, in my opinion."

Do you think any of what he said was justified?
"At the end of the day, you've got three minutes to sell yourself. So, she's tried to make out she's a little bit of something she's not. So what! Wouldn't anybody do that? Anyone who really wants to get onto the show pulls out all the stops. Rachel is not one of the strongest characters in there - but if you remember, in the beginning, she was on the receiving end of Alex's abuse, and that could have taken the wind out of her sails a bit."

Given that discussing nominations and audition is forbidden, do you think Big Brother was right to effectively break its own rules?
"Well, it's really naughty for the housemates – but for us to watch, it's great! It's hilarious and it's going to cause sparks between the housemates. Big Brother makes the rules and it's made very clear to housemates that it can – and will – change them at any point. The housemates have got to expect Big Brother to be hard on them. It's what makes the show."

CLICK here for Craig Phillips' official website.