Chantelle Houghton

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Chantelle Vivien Houghton (b. August 21 1983, Brentwood, Essex, England), now known as Chantelle Preston, was billed as the first 'non-celebrity' to feature in the Channel 4 reality TV show Celebrity Big Brother in 2006.

She emerged as the winner of series 4, beating 10 bona fide 'celebrities' (Michael Barrymore, Maggot, Preston, Pete Burns, Traci Bingham, Dennis Rodman, George Galloway, Rula Lenska, Faria Alam and Jodie Marsh), and winning a prize of £25,000.

She now lives in Brighton with her husband, Samuel Preston of The Ordinary Boys.

As a twist to the show, she was instructed to convince the celebrity housemates that she was a member of a (fictional) girl group named Kandy Floss, whose biggest hit was said to be "I Want It Right Now". Had she failed to convince them, she would have been evicted from the house. She successfully fooled her housemates and survived to the end of the show.

In her Big Brother profile page Chantelle described herself as a "bright, blonde bimbo". Chantelle is not a natural blonde however. She said, "I look like Paris Hilton, not on purpose but it's just the way it turned out". She has been nicknamed "Paris Travelodge" (implying a cheap version of Paris Hilton).

Background

Chantelle grew up and lived in Wickford, Essex with her mother and step-father before she got married. She attended (The Bromfords School) in Wickford and finished with 7 GCSEs. After she left, she worked at an office and then a bank, then finally at a Burger King in London.

Chantelle was bullied when she was younger and since then, she helped launch Bullywatch London, which is backed up by Beatbullying.

Career

Modelling

Prior to appearing on Big Brother, Chantelle did some "glamour" modelling. In 2003, she appeared in The Daily Star as a page three "girl" ([1]).

Chantelle Preston is currently represented as a "model" by Faces "Modelling"[1]

She appeared as a Soccerette "model" on Sky TV's Soccer AM show.[2]

Celebrity Big Brother 2006

Chantelle had originally applied to be in Big Brother 6 (shown June-August 2005). However, after some persuasion from Max Clifford, the show's producers put her in the Celebrity Big Brother house instead.

On the first evening, Chantelle reported a potential problem: she had previously met Jodie Marsh's brother while out clubbing.[3] Happily for her, her fears proved unfounded.

On 8 January (day 4), Big Brother set a task to the group to rate themselves by how famous they thought they were. The celebrity they thought was the most famous stood on the #1 podium and the person they considered the least famous stood on the #11 podium. Chantelle had to avoid being put in the #11 podium to prove she had fooled the real celebrities and stay in the house. Chantelle survived the task, being chosen to stand on the #9 podium, ahead of Preston and Maggot. She was then called to the diary room to discuss her identity with Big Brother. This was simultaneously shown on a television screen in the lounge, in front of the other housemates.

Chantelle was nominated for eviction on day 21, but was saved from eviction by the public as the other two nominees George Galloway and Dennis Rodman were both evicted in a double eviction.

While in the house, Chantelle established close bonds with Jodie Marsh and Samuel Preston of The Ordinary Boys. She and Preston were married in August 2006.

Chantelle won the show on 27 January with 29.4%[4] of the public vote, ahead of Michael Barrymore on 22.7%, earning her £25,000 (the celebrities were reportedly paid fees of up to £150,000 each).

Kandy Floss

Before the Show and Tell task on Day 3, Big Brother gave Chantelle her story as member of a fictional band called Kandy Floss.

According to Big Brother, the other fictional members of the band are Michelle, Emma, Natalie and Kelly. Chantelle is the lead singer. Their singles were "I Want It Right Now", "Come Back" and "More More More". "I Want It Right Now" was their biggest hit.

I Want It Right Now

The song I Want It Right Now (originally titled I Want It All) was written by Paul Bell and Colin Campsie, originally with Kylie Minogue in mind. Campsie was a former member of 1980s pop bands The Quick and Giant Steps. The Holy Moly gossip email credited Campsie with being one of the famous members of Go West when discussing the Kandy Floss record, but in fact he only ever provided background vocals on a Go West live album. Peter Cox and Richard Drummie are the famous duo.

Big Brother bosses asked Bill Stonebridge (head of music publishers Dalmatian Songs) for ten songs to be submitted in 2005, and "I Want It Right Now" was chosen for the show. Chantelle made it clear in an appearance on T4 that she will not be releasing any singles as she "can't sing".

Media career

Chantelle's mother said she was to be represented by controversial publicist Max Clifford. However, he stated on TV that she has not signed with him but did 'help out in an advisory position'. She is said to have £500,000 worth of offers for modelling, TV appearances and interviews.[5] Clifford believes that her fame would be brief but explosive: "I think it will be a very exciting five or 10 minutes. Maybe we can stretch it to 15." She is now represented by John Noel Management who represent Big Brother presenters Davina McCall, Dermot O'Leary and Russell Brand and former contestant Jade Goody.

File:Chantelle Living The Dream Book Cover.jpg
Chantelle's Autobiography

Following her rise to "celebrity" status, a look-alike agency she worked for as a Paris Hilton look-alike now offers another model as a "Chantelle Houghton look-alike" and a post-Big Brother show was shown called Chantelle: Living the Dream. Chantelle's first magazine cover was weekly celebrity magazine, Sneak magazine.

Chantelle has appeared as a guest on several TV shows since winning Celebrity Big Brother. These include:

Chantelle also presented her own dating show called Chantelle's Dream Dates, where she gave girls on the street a makeover and got them to date one of three male contestants. The format is similar to Davina McCall's show Streetmate.

In May 2006, she signed a £300,000 deal with Random House to publish her autobiography. It was released in October 2006 called Living the Dream which only sold 5,000, much of the stock is currently being shifted to stores like The Works. Extracts from the book were read out by Simon Amstell on the 14 Feb 2007 edition of Never Mind the Buzzcocks which caused Preston, who was a guest on the show, to walk off the set. She starred in TV Drama Hotel Babylon as the girlfriend of Chris Moyles.[6] Chantelle has a weekly fashion and beauty column in the New magazine. Chantelle came second in the 'Britains Happiest People'.[7]

Chantelle nominated in the Most Popular TV Contender category at the 2006 National Television Awards, but was beaten by Nikki Grahame, herself a former Big Brother contestant ([2]).

Personal life

Chantelle announced her engagement to Samuel Preston on 11 April 2006.[8] They were married on 25 August 2006 at the Dartmouth House in Mayfair, London. Chantelle coloured her hair brunette for the wedding.

Quotes

  • "What's a gynaecologist?"
  • [To George on hearing he was an MP]: "Does that mean you work in that big room with the green seats?'"
  • Chantelle: "Is it funny?"
    Preston: "I dunno, is it? ... It is though. Isn't it? It is."
  • [About George]: "What's the name of his band again... is it Respect? ([3])

References

  1. ^ "Chantelle Houghton". Faces Modelling Agency. Retrieved 2005-01-09.
  2. ^ The Soccerettes Hall Of Fame 2005/06 showing Chantelle at #6
  3. ^ "Chantelle - Celeb or not a Celeb - that is the question…". Special Bets. Retrieved 2005-01-08.
  4. ^ "The Celebrity Big Brother Final - Review Of The Voting". Special Bets. Retrieved 2006-01-30.
  5. ^ "Chantelle is a £1m winner". This is London. 2006-01-27. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Hotel Babylon press pack". BBC Press Office. 2006-12-20. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Britains Happiest People". Happiest People. Retrieved 2007-01-06.
  8. ^ "Chantelle and Preston get engaged". BBC News. 2006-04-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

See also

External links