IT’S been a week since Big Brother’s explosive finale and since then the elated housemates have rushed to have their say on the drama that made screens – AND weigh in on all the action from our show mole.
But I couldn’t resist the chance to hear from the series’ gossip queen Yasmin Mahmood and top-placed male Samuel Keen, who added a whole new layer to proceedings.
The duo, who were voted third and fourth by viewers, came for a chinwag on our Showbiz Fix podcast and it was a delight to meet them both after eight weeks reporting on their every move.
I was keen to get to grips, though, with the number of unaired comments and rows that occurred during that time.
Winner Rochelle Rackham, in particular, concerning and beyond – some of which were directed at Yasmin or the duo’s close pals Johanne, Pauline and Lynx.
Yasmin said: “The thing that wasn’t shown was mine and Rochelle’s bed were literally right next to each other.
“We’d literally speak till late at night. We’ve been up all night having a nice conversation.
“And I got really deep with Rochelle. I confided in Rochelle a lot.
“Then I wasn’t there for . So I had no idea. I had no idea what was even aired of it because I’ve not watched any of it back.
“So I didn’t get to see that side of her.”
Samuel and his pals were on the other side of the house hierarchy to Rochelle.
Despite that, he has also offered some perspective about how the housemates dealt with the comments – and said there was a side of Rochelle that wasn’t shown.
He told Showbiz Fix: “Sometimes I was present for them, sometimes I really wasn’t.
“But really, you just get to know someone, you get to live with someone for eight weeks. You just learn to deal with their personality, you learn to deal with what they are.
“And Rochelle, at points she was very sweet, she was very kind, very caring.
“I remember she did the majority of people’s beds half the time. She was always willing to help.
“I think Rochelle was such a polarising, up-down, up-down kind of person. Rochelle was never neutral, she was never middle of the road. And yeah, that’s what you saw in the edit.
“Maybe if the live feeds were present, you would have seen more about Rochelle on the day-to-day.”
with a tiny 1.03% margin against fashion stylist Twinks Burnett.
It meant she emerged to boos.
Samuel – who is a superfan – said: “It did feel extremely surreal. It’s definitely a very, very interesting winner at the end of the day.
“It’s telling as to the audience. Because I think there’s like 40 per cent mums who really, really, really like Rochelle. 40 per cent of the LGBT plus community who really didn’t like Rochelle. There’s like 20 per cent of everyone else in between.”
For almost half the series, Yasmin was the bookies’ favourite to win until she chose to save Philip Regan and Rochelle in a crucial vote during the House of Time week.
At this point, viewers had swung away from supporting the duo.
Yasmin said: “Coming out, I found out that that was the turning point of people not liking me. But there was so much that was like not shown in the house – I voted for Rochelle like three times.
“But I just felt like, first of all, whether I vote for her or don’t vote for her, she’s not going anywhere. She’s been up more times than anyone in the house. So she wasn’t going to go anywhere.
“And also, as I said, we’d literally speak till late at night, and the night before [that vote] we’d had a nice conversation.
“So when we did that the next day, I just thought to myself, well, why would I vote for her? That’s just fake of me.”
Rochelle was by Big Brother for joking about Yasmin’s weight.
But Yasmin said: “I literally went into the show saying that I love a bit of dark humour. I was never bothered about Rochelle calling me fat.
“I feel like people wanted me to be bothered and wanted me to be insecure about it.
“But I’m so sure of myself to the point where I’m like, no, little comments like that do not bother me. I was like, keep going. I found it funny.”
Instead it’s Philip who Yasmin has struggled to find peace with.
She added: “Obviously to my face, lovely, great guy. Behind my back, he obviously didn’t like me.
“That’s what surprised me the most, coming out and realising that he didn’t like me, I was a bit like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
“It’s done now. I can’t keep reliving. But that would be what disappointed me the most.”
One thing that has proved far from disappointing is the reaction that Samuel has found waiting for him.
He’d confessed to housemates that he’d never had a girlfriend and they’d vowed to help on the outside.
But that may not be needed after all – because he’s already landed himself a date.
Samuel revealed: “I came out to see thirst traps of me online, which is very interesting to see!
“It’s very strange. Me!”
Yasmin said: “We did say we’re going to get Sam a girlfriend when he gets out the house.”
Sam chimed in: “And it’s already happened!
“I’ve had DM slides, but I haven’t responded to them yet. But yeah, quite confused.”
I was keen to get the duo to clear up loose , including confusion over whether a row between Johanne Cade and Frankie Carter occurred on the first Friday.
Bov Boys’ creator Tays had shared there was a big bust-up – which wasn’t aired – but – a claim she has repeated since.
Samuel says there were rows almost DAILY.
He spilled: “The arguments that we were having… every single day in the house there was a major argument.
“There were so many arguments, so many of them weren’t even aired.
“There was one on a Friday, which was like Johanne, Frankie, they got into heated argument.
“Joanne pulled out a rule book, slammed it down, opened up the rules, and she said: ‘Says here that you can’t harass people.’
“And Frankie was like ‘oh, talk to Omar about this’. And he starts doing this gesture, and Johanne was just having a go at him.”
Pals Lynx and Yasmin were heading to enjoy lunch together after our record, and I couldn’t resist the chance to rope him in for a fun game.
They also also confirmed the row to me when we played a game of Guess The Housemates.
Yasmin added: “There was two days out of the first three weeks when there was no argument.
“Every day there was something.”
It’s perhaps unsurprising to hear that there is no all-cast chat.
But there’s one more matter I must, ahem, clear up.
I reported halfway through the series how a mystery had erupted over a housemate whilst taken ill in the night.
Samuel said: “We have no idea who it was. We generally have no clue. Like, so many accusations were really thrown around inside the house, outside the house. But ultimately, at the end of the day, we do not know.
“I really honestly just hope someone just goes around and privately DMs it and goes, it was me.”
Yasmin said: “It’s funny, though. If it was me, I’d literally be like, ‘you don’t want to go in there, I promise you.’ Do you know what I mean?
“And I’d tell everyone, but that’s just because I’ve got a big mouth.”
Samuel said: “Poor Philip, he ended up stepping in it.”
Yasmin added: “Yeah, but how do we know it wasn’t him?”
Perhaps I need to call on the mole one last time.
