EVERYTHING YOU DIDN’T KNOW
Nicola Mclean warns this summer’s stars that it’s not all VIP treatment and luxe-living
They’re used to being fawned over rather than having to live off food rations and take part in humiliating tasks, so it’s safe to say that the newest Celeb BB inmates don’t quite know what they’re letting themselves in for. But, fortunately, we do – as BB alumni Nicola Mclean tells heat all the secrets of life under lock and key. And what a shocker: it turns out that some stars really do get preferential treatment… “Some celebrities can make more demands than others – I know that for a fact,” says Nicola, who first appeared on Celeb BB in 2012 and returned earlier this year for the All Stars version. “I’ve been told Katie Price got a blow-dry a few times a week, and Patsy Kensit got blow-dries and spray tans. Spencer Pratt got special cotton sheets, and insisted on him and Heidi being served food before the rest of us, so that no one else touched it. I think that it depends on how much they want you, or how much they think you want to do the show.”
But despite these exceptions, the glamour model insists that things are as intense as they seem. All celebs are indeed kept under supervision the night before entering the house, there’s no contact with the outside world, and you’re not permitted to leave the premises. Unless, ahem, you’re Chloe Ferry. “Chloe got to leave because she’d already committed to filming Geordie
Shore,” Nicola tells us. “I must admit, after a couple of glasses, a few of us were fuming because, regardless if you tell us you’re not getting anything from the outside world, you are. Even when people go to the dentist, they get a new lease of life.
“They were especially tough on us on All Stars. One minute, it was fun, the next, it was horrible. It takes a very strong character to not get caught up in the mind-f**k of Big Brother.”
But can’t the celebs just lie in bed all day,
knocking back Champers and waiting for their pay cheques to roll in? According to Nicola, not quite. “Big Brother makes sure you don’t go to bed too early,” she tells us. “They’ll put in tasks really late at night, or they won’t turn the lights off. And you’re not allowed to nap. They’ll say on the intercom, ‘Housemates are reminded they are not allowed to sleep in the day.’ Then they’ll call you out by name.” As for alcohol, she warns, “It’s bizarre – I know loads of celebs who say you don’t get much, but I got loads. I think they liked drunk Nicola. But then, on the normal show [which Nicola guest-starred on this summer], the alcohol was shit. I wasn’t drunk once, so I was just being boring.”
Overall, it seems the secret to surviving the Big Brother house is relatively simple: brush up on your cooking and dusting skills, work out your optimum booze intake, and maybe get your agent to renegotiate that contract. Oh, and be more like Jedward.
“The Jedward boys were amazing at cleaning,” Nicola tells us. “They used to wait until three in the morning, then you’d get up in the morning and it would all be clean. Unbelievable.” We always knew they had talent…