When Big Brother came back to our screens for a seventh series in 2006, one of the contestants had a very memorable entrance to the house.
That was Glyn Wise, who, at the time, was an 18-year-old lifeguard wearing only a pair of swimming shorts, hoping to channel the David Hasselhoff look.
As he walked past the crowd and made his way into the house, he had a mixture of cheers and boos, the same as the other 21 participants from that series.
The star, who is now a vicar, befriended iconic housemates on the show including Nikki Grahame, who sadly passed away in 2021. Glyn quickly became popular on the show and went on to come second to Pete Bennett.
Now, 17 years on, Glyn, 35, talks about why he went on the show and why he's had a drastic career change since the series in an exclusive interview with OK!
'It was two weeks before my A level exams'
“I went into Big Brother to change my life and because I was such a massive fan, I thought that if there was any possible way to get in there, I would do it. At the time, I was head boy at school in my home town of Snowdonia and doing my A-levels and I was really scared that life was too predestined for me.
I wanted something to flip everything upside down like a big tornado hit my life so I decided it was time for me to enter Big Brother.
It was two weeks before my A level exams when I told my English teacher I was going on holiday and she thought I was mad. I reassured her and the school that I was taking my books with me but that holiday was a trip to Belgium where I went into hiding before the series with my chaperone. Two weeks later, they saw me going into Big Brother in my lifeguard shorts.
The money
Doing Big Brother was never about winning the money for me and the 100 grand was meaningless because I was working as a lifeguard for £5.50 an hour at the time and I thought that was good.
But I always wanted to try and win the show or get to the top three as I come from an athletic background so it was important for me to stand on the podium and get a gold, silver or bronze.
I absolutely loved my time on the series and it was a dream come true but when I came out of the show after coming second to Pete, life and the fame was completely beyond what I imagined it would be. No matter what the Big Brother producers tell you, you can’t prepare for it properly.
I walked over to Davina when I left the house and said 'hello my name is Glyn' even though I was runner up. I genuinely didn't think anyone was watching the show and I was talking to Davina trying to figure out what she knew about me.
It was absolute madness because I then went to Big Brother's Big Mouth hosted by Russell Brand and was with Jade Goody and Charles Ingram and John McCririck and they were all chanting 'we wanted you to win Glyn' and had Glyn to Win t-shirts on.
'I wanted to cry'
When I was finally reunited with my family, I wanted to cry but I couldn't because we were from a stiff upper lip family where men don't cry but my heart was in my throat.
After Big Brother I didn't get my life back and I was Glyn from Big Brother for a whole year, riding a wave I didn't understand. I was so busy doing things like going on Friday night shows and did 62 appearances at nightclubs-it was a crazy time.
It really starts to hit you when that all dries up as you realise you don't know what to do with yourself because you can't live off the Glyn from Big Brother tag all your life.
I ended up having an identity crisis because I had become Glyn from Big Brother instead of my true self. My mental health suffered too and for a long time I felt like I was waiting for the gun to go off at an 100m race.
Looking back now, I was suffering with anxiety, I didn’t know that at the time. I also felt like I was being looked at and found myself wanting to be in other people's company a lot because I just didn't know how people would react if I was alone.
A new career
Despite the difficulties I faced and the craziness of fame, I look back with fond memories and a golden outlook because not many people can say that they’ve been through Big Brother.
It's a whirlwind experience that I wouldn’t change at all in any way. Now, my life has taken another path completely and I'm a trainee vicar.
In life, I'd wanted to go on Big Brother, be a model, be an athlete, teacher and vicar and travel the world so I have followed my plan. Life is about going out there and getting what you want and knowing there’s someone higher looking out for you.
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