Posh Spice wannabe Chanelle Hayes stormed into Hotlist’s Bubbling Under chart following tabloid tales of her on-again off-again romance with fellow Big Brother housemate Zac “Ziggy” Lichman. The pair have reportedly enjoyed a post-BB reunion and, much like last year’s BB couple Nikki Grahame and Pete Bennett, are giving their relationship a go.
Chanelle, who famously models herself on Victoria Beckham, was one of the few Big Brother contestants to enjoy any online popularity. Even eventual winner Brian Belo failed to make any Hotlist impact. Despite her frequent blow-ups, BB hate figure Charley Uchea also fell short of search success in her time in the house. Aside from Chanelle, only Sam Marchant got you searching consistently while Emily Parr briefly sparked searches after an infamous racist comment led to her eviction.
Former Big Brother Hotlist stars
Does this lack of Hotlist success suggest that Big Brother’s reality TV dominance is finally slackening? Or were this year’s housemates simply blander than in previous years? Twelve months ago, housemates Grace Adams-Short, Nikki Grahame and Imogen Thomas all consistently appeared among your top TV searches and were among Hotlist’s Top 100 most searched women chart published in March 2007 purely on the strength of their time in the Big Brother.
In addition, the likes of Chantelle Houghton, Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Shilpa Shetty soared to search success following their stints in Celebrity Big Brother. Unfortunately for Chanelle, she won’t be able to follow in Jade’s footsteps as a former Big Brother star transported into Celebrity Big Brother as Channel 4 have revealed the show will not return in 2008.