30 October 2024
Craig Phillips can’t bring himself to watch his series of 'Big Brother'.
Craig Phillips won the first series of Big Brother when it aired on Channel 4 in 2000
The Liverpool-born builder, 53, became the first-ever winner of the reality TV show in 2000 and despite being given every episode on videotape when he came out, Craig has never had the time or inclination to relive the summer that made him one of the most famous people in the country.
Speaking to BoyleSportsGames, Craig said: “I’ve watched everybody else's but I haven't watched my programme. I didn't get time when I left the house. I was given huge boxes with hundreds of VHS tapes, of all the content, with every single show. I didn't go home for 97 days, so I didn't have a chance to actually watch it, and then when I did come out, because I’d done hundreds of radio interviews and interviews with journalists, etc. I felt as if they told me everything happened. I knew what happened because I was there, but they told me.
" I got a very clear picture of what was used in the entire series from all the questions I was asked at the time, you know.
"So I felt as if after six months or so, when things started to finally ease off a little bit. I didn't actually need to watch this, because I've already seen it in a way. Obviously, I've talked to hundreds of 1000s of people, and they've told me their versions of what they’ve seen and that's mapped out the whole show for me.”
However, Craig - who is now married to Laura Sherriff and has Nelly, five, as well as three-year-old Lennon with her - has seen all of his highlights, including his confrontation with 'Nasty Nick' Bateman, and he has kept all of his memorabilia from his time on the show and afterwards.
He revealed: “I’ve seen a lot of the iconic moments of me like confronting Nasty Nick, or me winning and those moments hundreds of times because I went on every television chat show and they’d show clips before I went on. But I still have all of the tapes and funnily enough, I was going through a big sort out recently and I found hundreds of 1000s of photographs, probably about six or 700 VHS tapes.
"When I used to work with the BBC, again, we would come off all the live shows and give me a recording of it. I don't even know what I'm gonna do with them all. I've kept all those little wristbands you get when you’re invited to awards, or a VIP thing.
"I’ve got about six boxes completely full of all these little memorabilia things. They’re worthless to anyone else, but they’re lovely memorabilia to me of what I've done and where I've gone.
"I brought a video camera which I used to film all these weird and wonderful things for the first year, right? For the first year, when I was doing personal appearances, charity work, TV stuff with celebrities. I've got boxes and boxes and boxes of those tapes still.”
English (US) ·