Big Brother 2024 housemate unrecognisable in reality TV show 10 years ago

A Big Brother star’s past reality TV role has resurfaced, and he certainly looked very different back then.

14 housemates remain on the ITV programme after two faced eviction, with a handful of weeks remaining.

Romance has been brewing between Baked Potato and Nigel Farage-loving pork salesman Nathan, while some contestants have faced immense backlash with Marcello accused of ‘predatory behaviour’.

As the nation gets to know them better, and the housemates make it another day closer to winning, their past brushes with fame have been revealed.

In fact, one housemate has appeared on an ITV soap before, while another took on Bear Grylls’ The Island a decade ago, and a third has a surprising link to Peter Andre.

All the Big Brother 2024 contestants’ links to fame and careers in showbiz

Dean

Barber Dean Smith was the last contestant to enter the house and has now become a Head of House – but he’s previously been on a very different reality show.

Back in 2014, the then-24-year-old appeared on The Island with Bear Grylls, where he opened up about coming out and how difficult that was, having come from a Roma background.

‘It’s so nice to be able to be myself and know who I am,’ he said on the show.

Dean is now a radio DJ too, for Glitter Beam Radio.

Before entering the house, he signed off on air, telling his listeners: ‘It’s now time for me to say my final goodbyes!

‘It’s so sad, isn’t it? It’s sad, but it’s not, because like I said, I’m coming back.

‘But this is the last time you are going to hear from me in a few weeks!’

He added: ‘Don’t miss me too much, you never know, I might never be too far away… that’s all I’m going to say on that one.’

Ahead of his stint on ITV, Dean said being on Big Brother was a life-long ambition.

‘I’ve been a fan for the longest time. I’ve wanted to do it from the age of 11 and never had the confidence to do it. As I got older, I was still obsessed with the show and as soon as it came back it was “this is my time to apply”.

‘I really want to have a great time and experience everything that Big Brother has to offer – the highs, the lows, the good, the bad, the fun, the not-so-fun. I want it all.’

Marcello

Marcello Spooks showed off his rapping skills during the launch show, and has since been leaving fans even more unimpressed, but some may already recognise him.

The 34-year-old’s track True Colours has nearly 2million hits on Spotify, and nearly 50,000 views on YouTube.

The youth mentor from East London described himself as ‘cheeky’ and ‘sarcastic but also loving’ as he entered the house, and now it’s been revealed he has a link to Mysterious Girl singer Peter Andre.

Peter and his wife Emily both follow Marcello on Instagram, and it’s been claimed the I’m A Celebrity star’s son Junior once collaborated with Marcello.

In 2023, Junior followed in his father’s footsteps with his first single Only One, which, according to The Sun, was co-written by Marcello.

Emma

Emma is a former page 3 model, who worked for The Sun throughout the 1990s.

She was a glamour model for 12 years before turning to acting, and has since held roles in Coronation Street and Hollyoaks.

According to iMDB, Emma, who is now the owner of a beautician chain, held roles in TV drama Guilty Pleasure and dark comedy show Men+al: Lockdown.

Big Brother viewers were quick to recognise the 53-year-old, with @BRATTYBARBI taking to X to share: ‘Obsessed with the fact that Emma from Big Brother is a former Page 3 model who’s played a nurse in Coronation Street not once but twice.’

Emma also hit headlines in 2016, when it was revealed she was a former target of the ‘Fake Sheikh’ reporter Mazher Mahmood, and appeared in a 2023 Amazon Prime video focused on the case.

In it, Emma claimed she was ‘encouraged to try cocaine’ by Mahmood and that he pressed her to obtain cocaine from someone else, and thought saying ‘no’ would cost her a modelling job.

In a 2016 interview with the Today programme, Emma said she was bringing forward a civil case against Mahmood for ‘turning a little bit of smoke into a massive fire’.

She said: ‘[He’s] accusing me of being an international drug smuggler and destroying my reputation, my career just ended, page 3 didn’t want me anymore, The Sun, I was evicted from my flat.

‘I was doing some acting work at the time and was due to start a good TV job, that went by the wayside when they did a press check and saw I was this international drug smuggler.’

Emma was never prosecuted for what Mahmood accused her of, with the police saying it was ‘entrapment’.

Throughout his career, Mahmood became known for posing as an Arab businessman as part of his stings, which earned him the infamous moniker ‘The Fake Sheikh’.

Mahmood, one of the most famous tabloid journalists of his time, was once known for spearheading countless investigations that led to criminal convictions and was celebrated by his industry for his work uncovering injustices.

However, he was also heavily criticised for crossing the line and setting up stings that saw lives and careers ruined as he duped A-list celebrities, sports stars, and even royals.

Mahmood was jailed for 15 months in 2016 for tampering with evidence in the collapsed drugs trial of pop star Tulisa Contostavlos.

Khaled

Although he claimed he ‘didn’t know what Big Brother was’ and thought it had to be something about ‘being a carer’, and said that he has ‘no interest in being famous’, Khaled is no stranger to cameras.

The 23-year-old sales manager from Manchester is a model for Nemesis Models.

A post on their Instagram page after the launch read: ‘The secret is out! Our boy Khaled is officially in the Big Brother house.

‘Did you see him on TV last night? Make sure to stay tuned to ITV2 every night, because this is going to be eventful.’

His biography page on their website is also available, revealing his height to be 5’11, though his Instagram page appears to have been taken down.

This article was first published on October 7, 2024.