[Amy]

One newspaper revealed she wants a boob job. Another said she now wants to return to Portugal to find a man. A third reported that she once tried to seduce an actor from EastEnders. The new darling of the tabloids yesterday was just that - accepted as a darling, even though she was born a man.
Nadia Almada had just won Big Brother, the blue riband event of reality television, and claimed the £63,500 prize. By the final's climax last week an astounding 3,863,696 people had voted for her, more than double the number polled by runner-up Jason. Unlike Nadia's housemates, viewers knew she was a transsexual woman. Their participation constituted one of the most comprehensive social surveys ever to address the question: how tolerant is Britain today?

Eight million were gripped as the gameshow, already lauded and derided in equal measure as a cultural weather vane, concocted a social experiment unimaginable only a few years ago. By keeping her sex change hidden from the housemates, Nadia set out to be accepted by them on her own terms: as a woman. On live television, the nation watched this difficult, painful, awesome quest for self-identity flower and be fulfilled. When it comes to 'USPs' - unique selling points - Nadia's transsexuality and TV stardom make her one of the most extraordinary human beings alive.

It was small wonder the 50-1 outsider with the squawking voice and grating laugh - whose antics included spanking bare bottoms and licking jam off fellow contestants' cleavages - was almost hysterical after her victory on Friday night. Emerging from the Big Brother house to fireworks and riotous cheers, the Portuguese-born bank clerk was asked by presenter Davina McCall why she had kept her transsexuality hidden from her housemates. 'It wasn't a secret,' she said. 'It was more a reassurance of myself, it was my self-ambition to achieve. It was very hard because there were times that I felt I had to lie a little bit and I didn't want to lie at all.'

Full article The Observer