List of Big Brother 2008 housemates (UK)

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The following is a list of housemates in the 2008 series of Big Brother UK.

Contents 1 Housemates 1.1 Alexandra 1.2 Dale 1.3 Darnell 1.4 Dennis 1.5 Jennifer 1.6 Kathreya 1.7 Lisa 1.8 Luke 1.9 Mario 1.10 Michael 1.11 Mohamed 1.12 Rachel 1.13 Rebecca 1.14 Rex 1.15 Stephanie 1.16 Sylvia 2 References

[edit] Housemates

[edit] Alexandra

Alexandra De-Gale (born 4 August 1984) is a 23 year old accounts clerk^[1] from Croydon, London. Alexandra is a single mother who became pregnant when she was 15 years old; her daughter is now seven. She was raised as a Christian but a few years ago converted to Islam. Alexandra describes herself as quirky, outgoing and a go-getter, and hates to be bored.^[2] She told Big Brother in an interview aired during the Launch Show that "I am not an It Girl, I am 'it'." At Mario and Stephanie's "wedding" in week one, Alexandra was the only houseguest to object, believing the marriage to be a sham. She created a large amount of controversy due to her aggressive nature and has been accused of bullying.^[3]

[edit] Dale

Dale Howard (born October 1986) is a 21 year old student and part-time DJ from St Helens, Merseyside.^[4] Although he is a physical education trainee teacher at Liverpool John Moores University, Dale would rather play football and tried out for Manchester United and Wigan Athletic; he failed in his attempts.^[5] In an interview with Big Brother he said "I don't think I'm shallow, but I wouldn't start talking to an ugly person. What's the point in that?", and "I know I'm arrogant. I'll admit that." His perfect day would involve being with Abi Clancy.

[edit] Darnell

Darnell Swallow, an ethnically black albino, is a 26 year old songwriter from London.^[6] He was born in Ipswich but grew up in St. Louis, Missouri until being deported after becoming involved in gang culture.^[7].

[edit] Dennis

Dennis McHugh is a 23 year old dance teacher from Edinburgh.^[8] Dennis says if he could make any law, it would be that everyone must wear fake tan, and his dream job is to be a dancer and then perhaps a personal shopper. He is obsessed with dancing. He describes himself as an "extreme character". In a pre-launch show interview with Big Brother, he said "If someone called me fat, I'd manipulate the little weirdo until they thought they were fat." He would most like to invite Hitler, Mother Theresa and Judy Garland to a dinner party. He says that he would never go out with anyone better looking than him. He says that everyone in Scotland is too serious.

[edit] Jennifer

Jennifer Clark is a 22-year-old model from Chester-le-Street, County Durham.^[9] She says being the mother of her 22-month-old daughter has made her the proudest person in the world and has relatively conservative views on abortion, meat-eating, smoking, immigration, and naked glamour modelling.^[10]

[edit] Kathreya

Kathreya Kasisopa ('Kat') is a 30-year-old Thai massage therapist from Kent.^[11] She relocated from Bangkok, Thailand to the UK seven years ago and she has an obsession with cookies. Kathreya says she’s addicted to them and she carries a cookie jar with her wherever she goes. Kathreya is a Buddhist, believes strongly in karma, and will do anything to avoid an argument. She loves wearing bright clothing, and wears platform boots at all times to give her extra height as she is only 5ft tall. She loves Techno music. She dreams about cookies. She wants her gravestone to be made of cookies so that her relatives can eat it. She is scared of the dark. She wants to be reincarnated as a Pokémon. She says her best feature is her mouth, as it never stops smiling.

[edit] Lisa

Lisa Appleton is a 40-year-old beauty and tanning sales rep from Warrington, Cheshire.^[12] She is also involved in charity fund-raising. Lisa is a former body-builder, a fitness and health fanatic and has an 18-year-old daughter. She once appeared on Gladiators as a contestant. She believes in reincarnation, life after death, clairvoyants, ghosts, spirit guides, and universal dynamics. On Day 1, along with Mario, Stephanie, and Luke, Lisa was given a secret mission to hide her relationship with fellow housemate Mario; failure to do so would result in automatic nomination.^[13] On Day 4, the housemates discovered her relationship and Mario and Lisa was subsequently nominated for failing the task.^[14]

[edit] Luke

Luke Marsden is a 20-year-old student at the University of Central Lancashire and part-time pro-wrestling announcer from Wigan, Greater Manchester. He is a proud supporter of the Conservative Party. He doesn’t smoke, drink, do drugs or swear, and says a typical weekend night out would be going to the wrestling, Pizza Hut, bowling or the cinema.^[15] As the housemates discovered Mario and Lisa's relationship, Luke was nominated for failing the task.^[14]

[edit] Mario

Shaun Astbury (born 9 June 1965), aka Mario Marconi, is a 43-year-old civil servant from Widnes, Cheshire^[16] and was formerly a probation officer, and a post office manager in Liverpool. He was christened Shaun but changed his name to Mario to suit his image. He has appeared with girlfriend Lisa on BBC2's Kitchen Criminals TV show.^[17] Mario entered the house on Day 1 with his partner Lisa; they were the first housemates to enter the House this series.^[18] Mario was nominated in Week 1 because he failed his task to hide his relationship with fellow housemate Lisa.^[14]

[edit] Michael

Michael 'Mikey' Hughes is a 33-year-old radio producer from Ayrshire and is Big Brother's first ever blind housemate. He has a genetic condition called Stickler syndrome which left him partially sighted, and was left completely blind after a cataract operation in 1998 went wrong. He is an amateur stand-up comedian. He likes dressing in women's clothing, especially stockings.

[edit] Mohamed

Mohamed Mohamed is a 23 year old toy demonstrator from London.^[19] Mohamed was born in Somalia and then moved to Kenya, Yemen, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Dubai before moving to the UK with his family.

[edit] Rachel

Rachel Rice (born 7 March 1984)^[20] is a trainee teacher from Torfaen in Wales.^[21] A former child actress, she was 2nd runner up in the 2003 Miss Wales contest, won by Imogen Thomas who appeared in a previous series of Big Brother..^[22] She took part in around 20 television commercials globally - including the Sony Handicam's 'Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden' in 1991 - until she secured her first film role in Night Train to Venice with Hugh Grant in 1992.^[23] She is a devout Catholic. She owns five cats.

[edit] Rebecca

Rebecca Shiner is a 21 year old nursery nurse from Coventry, West Midlands.^[24] She is fond of many former boy bands, especially the American group Hanson.^[25] Upon entering the house on Day 1 wearing an "I ♥ COV" t-shirt, Rebecca screamed and gasped, to the concern of the other housemates.^[26] She was also the first housmate this series go topless, jumping into the pool in a game of truth or dare.

[edit] Rex

Rex Newmark is a 24 year old chef from Hampstead, London.^[27] He claims that his proudest moment was winning a culinary challenge in college.^[28] He still lives at home, where his meals are cooked by the family housekeeper. He says most people don't like him, which he puts down to "a jealousy thing", and he has been thrown out of nine different schools. His father is his idol, and he has a boyfriend. Rex says that his job is to be a professional bully. He took a photograph of himself into the house with him. He says his face is his favourite feature, as "it gets better every day".

[edit] Stephanie

Stephanie Joy McMichael is a 19-year-old student from Calderstones, Liverpool. In 2002, Stephanie was disqualified from Popstars: The Rivals, the show that created Girls Aloud, for being too young.^[29] On Day 1, along with fellow housemates Mario, Lisa, and Luke, Stephanie was given a secret mission to hide the relationship between housemates Mario and Lisa; as part of this task she was required to pretend to be Mario's girlfriend.^[13] Failure to successfully complete this mission would result in an automatic nomination of not only her, but also Mario, Lisa, and Luke.^[13] In her role, she was required to marry Mario thinking that it was a genuine wedding; unbeknownst to her, the marriage was not actually real.^[30] Stephanie was nominated during Week 1 because the housemates discovered Mario and Lisa's relationship, failing in her task to hide it.^[14]

[edit] Sylvia

Sylvia Barrie is a 21-year-old student who fled to the UK from Sierra Leone when she was 11. She describes herself as trendy, and a devout Christian, who prays daily and attends church regularly. She describes herself as having "a very sharp tongue". She regards her mother as her best friend. She says the cruellest thing that she has ever done to another person is cutting up all their clothes. She said that if she could create a law, it would be to keep nightclubs open all night.

[edit] References