[Amy]

Ratings triumph for Nadia and Big Brother

Sex, fights and a Portuguese transsexual give TV show that started as a 'harmless little social experiment' a new lease of life

She used to be a he, she's foreign - and not just foreign, but from the country that dumped England out of Euro 2004. Yet Nadia (née Jorge) Almada has triumphed.
And now Britain is feeling quite pleased with itself for being such a tolerant nation and crowning a chain-smoking, cackling, Portuguese transsexual the winner of Big Brother. Some 3.9 million people voted for Nadia.

Even the Sun got behind her, though they couldn't quite accept that she is now a woman, insisting on calling her the "Portu-geezer".

It wasn't a difficult choice in the end. It was either Nadia or the vain Jason, who was still hoping for the housewives' vote. After Dan had left (the best exit: he looked like Yul Brynner in the Magnificent Seven), they sat on the sofa together, waiting for Davina to deliver the verdict. Jason had his arm round Nadia but it looked more like he wanted to break her neck than anything affectionate.

"Oh my God," wailed Nadia, hyperventilating, when she learned she had finally been accepted and was the winner.

Outside, Nadia's mother, over from Madeira, looked puzzled at her daughter's new overseas celebrity status. They hadn't seen each other for a year. Her father didn't make it, which is probably a good thing. The last time he saw Nadia, she was a he. It was all a bit much for Nadia.

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