Original Big Brother champ Craig Phillips has appeared on Lorraine to chat about family life, reality TV and becoming a dad at 47.
The scouser, who won the first series of the hit Channel 4 reality series in 2000, introduced his baby daughter Nelly on the programme and said he has found fatherhood “beautiful” but “challenging” so far.
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Appearing on the show alongside his wife, Laura, he said his six-month old daughter “steals the show”.
He explained: “It’s gone really fast. It’s tough, I’ve got to be honest. It really is tough. I would never change it for the world. It’s beautiful but… challenging, to say the least.”
Craig said he knew Laura was “the one” when he met her three-and-a-half years ago.
Describing the moment they met, he said they were in a green room and about to go on air for separate projects when he decided to woo her – with some chicken!
He continued: “She was sitting there all on her own and I had some food, I had some chicken in my bag. So I offered her some chicken. She looked like she needed feeding up.”
Craig said his life seemed to change overnight after his time on Big Brother, during which he famously confronted fellow housemate ‘Nasty’ Nick Bateman over his attempts to manipulate the other contestants.
Speaking with stand-in host Christine Lampard, he said the experience was a “whirlwind” and admitted he was naive when he first went into the house, as he wasn’t expecting “anything to come out from it”.
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He explained: “It was really, really crazy. I don’t think I went home for 97 days. I changed hotel every night, I had bodyguards chaperoning me around. It was life-changing overnight, instantly overnight, and I was the last person to know about it.”
Given his own positive experience with reality TV, the DIY whiz and Love Island fan said he would consider letting daughter Nelly take part in a reality series, admitting it “would be hard to say no”.
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