Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
The first transgender winner of Big Brother has revealed how the show “broke her”, as she criticised producers for airing “transgressive comments” made by a current contestant.
Nadia Almada proved to be extremely popular when she appeared on the fifth season of the show in 2004, winning a huge 74 per cent of the vote when she was crowned the winner.
However, when she went on to appear on the all-stars version on the show in 2010, she suffered a huge blow as she became what she described as a “victim of a very produced” series.
“It was a very, very distressing time for me actually. It was heartbreaking as well,” she said on the Queerphoria podcast. “ It was very intentional. It broke me.”
She discussed how she felt she was “put in harms way” by the show’s producers who didn’t protect her from the transphobic treatment she suffered from her fellow housemate, the late rapper Coolio.
“Mentally, I was broken by all of his doings and all his beliefs and all his practises,” she said “I guess in essence I was a victim of that very produced series. And I think Channel 4 or even Big Brother will look back and acknowledge some of these things. It was it was very dehumanising, and I think it really took me to a dark place, with that person specifically.”
Her testimony comes as she criticised producers for featuring a current contestant’s “transgressive comments” as this year’s series began.
In his introductory video tape, housemate Ryan Bradshaw mocked the idea of “woke people” using “certain pronouns”
The 28-year-old said: “There’s a lot of woke people out there. It’s all well and good if you want to use certain pronouns and I get that. It gets a bit confusing sometimes when people start identifying as a spoon or whatnot.”
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
In response, Nadia shared her concerns about the comments on her Instagram story writing: “Big Brother made an editorial decision to show Ryan making transgressive comments. The clip was prerecorded - they likely had lots of footage to choose from, but that’s what they went for. They did it to gain publicity for the show and use our outrage for clicks, views and votes.
“BBUK had the opportunity to educate Ryan, instead you’ve let him show himself up. @bbcuk, dear friend and confideant, you have failed me, the #LGBTQIA community and society at large. This is 2024 not 2004 #bbuk.”
She was not the only public figure to express disappointment in the comments. Trans TV presenter India Willoughby also took to social media to condemn the comments, writing on X/Twitter: “Really disappointing @buk. I wonder if this guy would have been allowed in the BB house if he’d been derogatory about Black, Asian or Jewish people in his VT?
“It really is shocking how trans people can now be openly belittled in the UK mainstream @ITV.”
A Big Brother spokesperson said: “Housemates receive Respect and Inclusion training and an extensive briefing from the Big Brother Senior team to prepare them for living in the House and to set out Big Brother’s expectation for appropriate behaviour and language.”
