Following last night’s uncomfortable episode of Big Brother UK, fans and the queer community have rallied behind Zelah.
On Tuesday’s episode (7 October), 56-year-old Caroline — who previously revealed she’s a friend of Reform UK’s Nigel Farage — misgendered Zelah, a trans man.
The first uncomfortable interaction occurred during a game of spin-the-bottle, when Caroline asked Zelah: “If you had a c**k, what would you do with it?”
The tension continued to escalate when Caroline turned to Nancy: “If you could shag anyone in this house on a desert island, there’s only one person left, and you’re able to make babies to start a new civilisation, who would you shag?”
Nancy, who has previously shared her pansexuality with her housemates, fired back: “So it has to be a guy?” After being reminded of Nancy’s sexuality, Caroline replied: “You like pans?”
Nancy revealed that her answer to Caroline’s question would be Zelah, prompting the Farage ally to misgender him: “She’s a girl.”
Although the other housemates turned away in horror and tried to stop the game, Caroline continued to spew transphobic rhetoric by asking: “But you haven’t got a willy, have you? Is that really bad?”
Zelah understandably removed himself from the situation and visited the Diary Room, telling Big Brother: “I just got called a girl. It’s been a while […] I genuinely didn’t think it would affect me that much.”
The personal trainer from South London went on to explain that transphobic interactions with people such as Caroline is what he didn’t “want to tell anyone” about his gender identity “from the get-go”, because “once people know, their true perceptions of you come out”.
“I think I have quite thick skin. I’m so down to have open conversations about things, I’m so down for people asking questions. It’s really important because, I think with silence comes divisiveness,” he continued.
“But sometimes my openness can come at the expense of my own feelings. That really hit… I can’t remember the last time I was that, ‘Oof,’ like words hurt me like that. Bit wounded, right now, I guess.”
Later, Big Brother reminded Caroline of “the rules regarding unacceptable language and behaviour” and issued her a formal warning for her “offensive and unacceptable” comments.
“Sorry. It was a horrible thing I said, horrible,” she said. “I will make sure I apologise profusely to everyone because I can see the disappointment in everyone’s eyes.”
Big Brother shared the clip on Instagram following the episode, which saw thousands of fans and queer stars flooding the comments section with messages of support.
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“King Zelah will rise to the top girls gay n theys!” wrote Drag Race UK season four winner Danny Beard, while season one runner-up Divina De Campo said: “Zelah for the win. What an absolute joy he is to watch.”
Street-walker and queer-talker Tiara Skye commented, “Oh how grateful we are for your representation [Zelah]. I love you baby.”
Kate Lawler, who memorably became the series’ first female winner in 2002, called it a “tough watch” and praised Zelah for how he handled the incident.
“The housemates reactions also gave me hope because so many of them instantly recognised what Caroline said was offensive (even if she didn’t realise it at the time),” she continued.
“Sharing this on social media will hopefully educate others (like Caroline) to understand what language is acceptable to use when it comes to those who are Trans. Thanks Big Brother.”
Before entering the house, Zelah explained that he signed up for the series because he’s “in this weird in-between where I’ve recently left the corporate world into having a bit of a looser schedule while I get qualified and build my business.
“So it felt like a ‘why not’ situation. I’m someone who doesn’t have much of a social battery that runs out, so I’m very intrigued to see how far that goes in the house.”
He also addressed the onslaught of attacks in mainstream media aimed at the trans community, saying it “will be nice to re-centre that and retake control.”
Having crowned two trans winners in previous seasons — Nadia Almada in 2004 and Luke Anderson in 2012 — Big Brother UK earned praise from Zelah the series for showing “the normality of people. You can’t get more personal than watching someone 24/7.”
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