Sophie Reade interview - Big Brother 11

Interview with Sophie Reade

As the final line-up of housemates file into the Big Brother house this year, Sophie Reade will be looking on enviously. The 21-year-old won last year's competition and is now itching to go back inside the house.

"I'm really, really jealous of the new housemates - they should let me back in," she says.

Being in Big Brother certainly did wonders for her career. Not only did the glamour model win a lucrative contract with Nuts magazine, but she's also about to head to Hugh Hefner's Playboy HQ to shoot a centrefold spread.

She admits that appearing in the 2009 series has changed her life.

She says: "It's opened more doors for me because before I just did modelling and now I've done a bit of TV work and I've wanted to be in Playboy since I was about 13 so that's a good thing.

Sophie, who confesses to letting her mum do everything for her around the house, adds: "Going in the house also makes you a bit more independent because you're there by yourself. It made me grow up a bit as well."

Another reason she's happy to have taken part in the Channel 4 reality show is that she found a best mate in fun-loving Rodrigo who, despite having moved back to Brazil, is still in regular contact with his former housemate.

"I'd say the best bit about being in the house was meeting Rodrigo because he's a really good friend of mine still so I've made a friend for life there," she says.

One person she's not in touch with is Kris, with whom she had a little fling while in the house.

It came to an abrupt end after Big Brother treated some of the housemates to a pile of magazines and Sophie found an interview with the then-evicted Kris, refusing to deny that the pair had slept together in the house.

She says: "I was so annoyed I could have killed him. He said, 'a gentleman never says' but I was like, 'a gentleman would say'.

"That was the worst moment of being in there. Everyone thought I was pregnant - I only put a bit of weight on, that was all - but, because you don't know what people think of you on the outside, I thought, 'oh no, they hate me, people think I've been doing all sorts' it plays on your mind and you always think about it."

What happened to Sophie should act as a warning to the new batch of housemates ready to surrender to the will of Big Brother this year.

"My relationship with Kris was a bad idea because it ended in disaster," she warns.

"They never last because you're in there and it's not the outside world so it's not really a proper relationship. You're just together in there and when you do go out into the outside world, it never lasts. It's like a holiday romance, it's nice at the time but not afterwards."

However, she does understand why people get themselves into relationships while living in the all-seeing house.

"I used to watch it on TV when people got into relationships I thought, 'God, I'd never do that on telly' but I was really lonely in there and you want a companion so it's just nice to have someone in there for you," she admits.

Having Kris made it easier to deal with what it feels like to be in the house, which she says is almost impossible to describe.

"On telly it looks really easy because when I saw it I thought, 'oh I could do that for 13 weeks', but it's really weird because it's smaller than how it looks on telly and then you're stuck with so many people, like 16 people, and it's a bit surreal, and you can see people behind the mirrors. You feel like animals in the zoo," she says.

If she doesn't make it into the house this year, she has some tips for those who do.

She says: "Just go in there, be yourself and just have fun because it's the last one so you might as well send it out with a bang."

"I'm really, really jealous of the new housemates - they should let me back in," she says.

Being in Big Brother certainly did wonders for her career. Not only did the glamour model win a lucrative contract with Nuts magazine, but she's also about to head to Hugh Hefner's Playboy HQ to shoot a centrefold spread.

She admits that appearing in the 2009 series has changed her life.

She says: "It's opened more doors for me because before I just did modelling and now I've done a bit of TV work and I've wanted to be in Playboy since I was about 13 so that's a good thing.

Sophie, who confesses to letting her mum do everything for her around the house, adds: "Going in the house also makes you a bit more independent because you're there by yourself. It made me grow up a bit as well."

Another reason she's happy to have taken part in the Channel 4 reality show is that she found a best mate in fun-loving Rodrigo who, despite having moved back to Brazil, is still in regular contact with his former housemate.

"I'd say the best bit about being in the house was meeting Rodrigo because he's a really good friend of mine still so I've made a friend for life there," she says.

One person she's not in touch with is Kris, with whom she had a little fling while in the house.

It came to an abrupt end after Big Brother treated some of the housemates to a pile of magazines and Sophie found an interview with the then-evicted Kris, refusing to deny that the pair had slept together in the house.

She says: "I was so annoyed I could have killed him. He said, 'a gentleman never says' but I was like, 'a gentleman would say'.

"That was the worst moment of being in there. Everyone thought I was pregnant - I only put a bit of weight on, that was all - but, because you don't know what people think of you on the outside, I thought, 'oh no, they hate me, people think I've been doing all sorts' it plays on your mind and you always think about it."

What happened to Sophie should act as a warning to the new batch of housemates ready to surrender to the will of Big Brother this year.

"My relationship with Kris was a bad idea because it ended in disaster," she warns.

"They never last because you're in there and it's not the outside world so it's not really a proper relationship. You're just together in there and when you do go out into the outside world, it never lasts. It's like a holiday romance, it's nice at the time but not afterwards."

However, she does understand why people get themselves into relationships while living in the all-seeing house.

"I used to watch it on TV when people got into relationships I thought, 'God, I'd never do that on telly' but I was really lonely in there and you want a companion so it's just nice to have someone in there for you," she admits.

Having Kris made it easier to deal with what it feels like to be in the house, which she says is almost impossible to describe.

"On telly it looks really easy because when I saw it I thought, 'oh I could do that for 13 weeks', but it's really weird because it's smaller than how it looks on telly and then you're stuck with so many people, like 16 people, and it's a bit surreal, and you can see people behind the mirrors. You feel like animals in the zoo," she says.

If she doesn't make it into the house this year, she has some tips for those who do.

She says: "Just go in there, be yourself and just have fun because it's the last one so you might as well send it out with a bang."