James
23-07-2004, 11:12 AM
Big Brotherly advice
Jul 21 2004
The Western Mail
They captured the nation's attention with a blossoming romance captured around the clock by the Big Brother cameras. As another love affair gathers pace in the Big Brother house, Helen Adams and Paul Clarke tell Wil Marlow how Michelle and Stuart can keep their relationship going once the cameras stop rolling
BEFORE Stuart and Michelle there was Helen and Paul. This year's Big Brother romance might be hogging many of the headlines - especially with the growing suspicion that they have become the first to have sex on the reality show. But the couple are going to have a hard time eclipsing the romantic fairy tale that unfolded in the Big Brother house three years ago between hairdresser Helen Adams and car designer Paul Clarke.
"Stuart and Michelle are a lot more full on than me and Paul were," giggles 26-year-old Helen, who comes from Cwmbran and now lives in north London with Paul. "They're like the over-18 version of us.
"At the moment they're just living in this little bubble but the test is going to be when they come out, definitely. It's going to be difficult for them."
Helen and Paul's up-and-down romance in the Big Brother house captured the hearts of the nation in 2001.
Viewers were first enthralled by Helen's dilemma - obviously attracted to Paul, she was aware her boyfriend Big G was watching.
Then there was the endless debate about whether Paul's motives were genuine. Making for gripping television, the romance proved Big Brother was more than a one-off curio and cemented its place as a summer staple.
Helen and Paul's was the feel-good story of the summer and when Helen finally left the house as the runner-up to winner Brian Dowling, going straight into the arms of a waiting Paul, the country's eyes were on them. That attention didn't leave them for months to come.
"We didn't have a moment to ourselves," says 28-year-old Paul.
"We had paparazzi camped outside the house for two months. It was a big, big thing. Even me and Helen trying to see each other was a matter of changing cars two or three times just to have a moment alone.
"It was very odd. But we did everything right, we paced things in our own time - we took a good few weeks to say, 'Yes we're definitely together', purely because we had to make sure it was right."
"I knew it would last though because I knew I wanted to be with Paul," adds Helen, who had been working in a Newport hair salon called Classy Cutz, but never returned after the series ended.
"I was just hopeful that he felt the same way because for a while after the show we didn't have chance to speak properly."
Helen and Paul rode the media storm as best they could and did a few interviews to placate the overwhelming demand for information about their relationship.
"But often you'd see the same pictures of us because we didn't do that much," says Reading-born Paul.
"I really tried to stay away from the media because I wanted us to have a relationship in the real world."
While Paul went back to his day job (and what he calls his "dream job") as a car designer, Helen indulged in her fame, doing jobs that played to her interests - she was the hair and beauty correspondent on Lorraine Kelly's Sky One show and filmed a dance workout video. She has also written a column for The Western Mail supplement WM.
But like Paul she wanted to get back to some sort of normality and is in the process of setting up her own salon.
"I also do dancing, and I do a little bit of hair for my friends," says Helen. "My life is quite normal really.
"We live together and there's cleaning to do and all the normal chores. It's a normal life and I like it."
That said, they are back on television in the "couples" episode of Sky One's challenge series Celebrity Fear Factor, alongside Who Wants to be a Millionaire cheat Major Charles Ingram and his wife Diana, from Sully, near Cardiff, and fellow Big Brother contestant Spencer Smith and his girlfriend.
As the three couples compete to win money for charity, we get to see Helen and Paul ride a bike along a plank between two buildings, navigate a pitch-black sewer and a squealing Helen place a tarantula inside Paul's mouth.
"It was the single most horrible thing I've ever done," says Paul. "It was like having a kiwi fruit that was alive in your mouth. Two of its back legs were kicking at the back of my throat. I thought I was going to be sick.
"The feeling afterwards, having done it, was fantastic. But I had to see the paramedics because the spines on its back caught me on the top lip and I had an allergic reaction. For two weeks my top lip was completely numb."
Having avoided the media for so long, the couple's re-appearance on television does beg the question of why they're suddenly heading back in front of the cameras.
"We did Fear Factor purely because it's my favourite show," says Paul.
"We have a lot of bits and pieces that come through and they generally go through Helen. She mentioned Fear Factor because she knows I love it but she wasn't at all keen."
Helen says, "In a funny sort of way I did enjoy it. I proved to Paul that I'm not as scared of things as I make out really. He thinks I'm tough now, I'm a bit of a tough bird. I'm still a bit afraid of the dark though."
People are often surprised that Helen and Paul are still together, considering the odds stacked against them when they began their relationship in the extreme environs of Big Brother. But rather sweetly they seem more in love now than ever.
"Helen's just so honest, innocent and real, that's why I love her," says Paul. "After I left the house she stuck up for me when all the housemates were having a go at me. When a girl does that, you know she's the one for you."
There's been a Big Brother baby (from BB1's Tom and Claire) and a Big Brother marriage (BB3's Lee and Sophie) but ultimate Big Brother couple Helen and Paul are yet to do either.
"We can't get married. Paul's still saving for the pink diamond," laughs Helen. "He's like, 'Shall we wait until we win the Lottery then?'. But really, we're just happy as we are. We don't feel under any pressure to do it. I think in celeb land they get married after like six weeks but that's not us. And I don't get broody at all. Babies are nice but whenever I pick one up they cry. I don't really know how to hold one and I don't like sick. Or pooey nappies. The only thing I'd like about being pregnant is to be able eat whatever I wanted. That's the only thing that appeals."
The couples episode of Celebrity Fear Factor - Sky One on Sunday. Big Brother is on C4 until Friday, August 6.
ic Wales (http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/features/tm_objectid=14445668&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=big-brotherly-advice-name_page.html)
Jul 21 2004
The Western Mail
They captured the nation's attention with a blossoming romance captured around the clock by the Big Brother cameras. As another love affair gathers pace in the Big Brother house, Helen Adams and Paul Clarke tell Wil Marlow how Michelle and Stuart can keep their relationship going once the cameras stop rolling
BEFORE Stuart and Michelle there was Helen and Paul. This year's Big Brother romance might be hogging many of the headlines - especially with the growing suspicion that they have become the first to have sex on the reality show. But the couple are going to have a hard time eclipsing the romantic fairy tale that unfolded in the Big Brother house three years ago between hairdresser Helen Adams and car designer Paul Clarke.
"Stuart and Michelle are a lot more full on than me and Paul were," giggles 26-year-old Helen, who comes from Cwmbran and now lives in north London with Paul. "They're like the over-18 version of us.
"At the moment they're just living in this little bubble but the test is going to be when they come out, definitely. It's going to be difficult for them."
Helen and Paul's up-and-down romance in the Big Brother house captured the hearts of the nation in 2001.
Viewers were first enthralled by Helen's dilemma - obviously attracted to Paul, she was aware her boyfriend Big G was watching.
Then there was the endless debate about whether Paul's motives were genuine. Making for gripping television, the romance proved Big Brother was more than a one-off curio and cemented its place as a summer staple.
Helen and Paul's was the feel-good story of the summer and when Helen finally left the house as the runner-up to winner Brian Dowling, going straight into the arms of a waiting Paul, the country's eyes were on them. That attention didn't leave them for months to come.
"We didn't have a moment to ourselves," says 28-year-old Paul.
"We had paparazzi camped outside the house for two months. It was a big, big thing. Even me and Helen trying to see each other was a matter of changing cars two or three times just to have a moment alone.
"It was very odd. But we did everything right, we paced things in our own time - we took a good few weeks to say, 'Yes we're definitely together', purely because we had to make sure it was right."
"I knew it would last though because I knew I wanted to be with Paul," adds Helen, who had been working in a Newport hair salon called Classy Cutz, but never returned after the series ended.
"I was just hopeful that he felt the same way because for a while after the show we didn't have chance to speak properly."
Helen and Paul rode the media storm as best they could and did a few interviews to placate the overwhelming demand for information about their relationship.
"But often you'd see the same pictures of us because we didn't do that much," says Reading-born Paul.
"I really tried to stay away from the media because I wanted us to have a relationship in the real world."
While Paul went back to his day job (and what he calls his "dream job") as a car designer, Helen indulged in her fame, doing jobs that played to her interests - she was the hair and beauty correspondent on Lorraine Kelly's Sky One show and filmed a dance workout video. She has also written a column for The Western Mail supplement WM.
But like Paul she wanted to get back to some sort of normality and is in the process of setting up her own salon.
"I also do dancing, and I do a little bit of hair for my friends," says Helen. "My life is quite normal really.
"We live together and there's cleaning to do and all the normal chores. It's a normal life and I like it."
That said, they are back on television in the "couples" episode of Sky One's challenge series Celebrity Fear Factor, alongside Who Wants to be a Millionaire cheat Major Charles Ingram and his wife Diana, from Sully, near Cardiff, and fellow Big Brother contestant Spencer Smith and his girlfriend.
As the three couples compete to win money for charity, we get to see Helen and Paul ride a bike along a plank between two buildings, navigate a pitch-black sewer and a squealing Helen place a tarantula inside Paul's mouth.
"It was the single most horrible thing I've ever done," says Paul. "It was like having a kiwi fruit that was alive in your mouth. Two of its back legs were kicking at the back of my throat. I thought I was going to be sick.
"The feeling afterwards, having done it, was fantastic. But I had to see the paramedics because the spines on its back caught me on the top lip and I had an allergic reaction. For two weeks my top lip was completely numb."
Having avoided the media for so long, the couple's re-appearance on television does beg the question of why they're suddenly heading back in front of the cameras.
"We did Fear Factor purely because it's my favourite show," says Paul.
"We have a lot of bits and pieces that come through and they generally go through Helen. She mentioned Fear Factor because she knows I love it but she wasn't at all keen."
Helen says, "In a funny sort of way I did enjoy it. I proved to Paul that I'm not as scared of things as I make out really. He thinks I'm tough now, I'm a bit of a tough bird. I'm still a bit afraid of the dark though."
People are often surprised that Helen and Paul are still together, considering the odds stacked against them when they began their relationship in the extreme environs of Big Brother. But rather sweetly they seem more in love now than ever.
"Helen's just so honest, innocent and real, that's why I love her," says Paul. "After I left the house she stuck up for me when all the housemates were having a go at me. When a girl does that, you know she's the one for you."
There's been a Big Brother baby (from BB1's Tom and Claire) and a Big Brother marriage (BB3's Lee and Sophie) but ultimate Big Brother couple Helen and Paul are yet to do either.
"We can't get married. Paul's still saving for the pink diamond," laughs Helen. "He's like, 'Shall we wait until we win the Lottery then?'. But really, we're just happy as we are. We don't feel under any pressure to do it. I think in celeb land they get married after like six weeks but that's not us. And I don't get broody at all. Babies are nice but whenever I pick one up they cry. I don't really know how to hold one and I don't like sick. Or pooey nappies. The only thing I'd like about being pregnant is to be able eat whatever I wanted. That's the only thing that appeals."
The couples episode of Celebrity Fear Factor - Sky One on Sunday. Big Brother is on C4 until Friday, August 6.
ic Wales (http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/features/tm_objectid=14445668&method=full&siteid=50082&headline=big-brotherly-advice-name_page.html)