A Celebrity Big Brother star has revealed he descended into an intense paranoid spiral after being a housemate.
Steps singer Ian ‘H’ Watkins, 48, finished in fourth place in 2007 when the reality TV show aired on Channel 4.
He appeared on the show alongside stars including the late Jade Goody and Jo O’Meara. Shilpa Shetty was declared the winner.
A decade after he competed on Celebrity Big Brother, H has revealed his mental health was impacted as he feared he was being ‘watched’ through mirrors.
He said: ‘It does affect your mental health because when you’re in there, in the nighttime, people are watching you. And back then, you could watch people sleeping 24 hours.
‘I came out of there – and it was ridiculous because I know it wasn’t sane – but I would think people were watching me through mirrors for weeks afterwards.’
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H said there was ‘no aftercare provided after the show’ in an interview with The Sun.
He continued: ‘Whereas these days, I would imagine there are doctors and psychologists and a team to help afterwards.
‘But we had none of that back then. You did it, and you were left to fend for yourself.’
Metro has contacted Channel 4 for comment.
As he prepared to enter the Celebrity Big Brother house, H famously came out as gay publicly.
H’s season of Celebrity Big Brother was marred by controversy after Goody faced bullying and racism allegations alongside S Club 7 star O’Meara and Danielle Lloyd.
Goody had used offensive language when referring to Bollywood actress Shetty in the house, leading to her eviction. She left without an audience in attendance because of the complaints the show had received.
Shetty forgave Goody, telling host Davina McCall after she was crowned winner: ‘Things happen, people make mistakes and we all learn from them. But I can say one thing for sure. Jade didn’t mean to be racist. She isn’t a racist. I really don’t want to leave England putting anyone in trouble.
‘This country has given me so much. I just want to thank all of Great Britain for giving me this fantastic opportunity to make my country proud.’
Last year, Celebrity Big Brother returned to ITV following the success of the reboot of the original show, which was scrapped by Channel 5 in 2018.
Celebrity Big Brother 2024 was won by David Potts, with other housemates including the likes of Louis Walsh, Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Ferne Britton.
This year, Coronation Street star Jack P Shepherd was announced champion after competing against fellow celebrities including JoJo Siwa and Chris Hughes.
Celebrity Big Brother is available to stream on ITVX.
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