[Amy]

BIG Brother host Davina McCall has pocketed £40,000 for advertising Vodafone - after fiercely opposing a mobile phone mast near her home.

Last night campaigners accused the Channel 4 star of being "a total hypocrite".

Davina, 37, was paid the fat fee to help launch Vodafone's new range of trendy 3G phones in Dublin.

Dozens more transmitting masts - which critics say can cause cancer and blood clots especially in children - will have to be built in Ireland to cope with the new network.

But only two years earlier Davina was at the front of a campaign to stop a 75ft-high mobile phone mast being placed near her luxury £1 million house in Woldingham, Surrey.

Davina highlighted the possible dangers to her baby Holly in a series of anxious letters to local council chiefs.

She wrote: "We would be horrified to live next to such a monstrosity. The potential health risks are not yet known and we have a ten-month-old baby.

"Please, please find somewhere else to put this mast."

In another letter she said: "My husband and I are worried sick about the perceived health threat to our baby girl.

"I cannot concentrate at work and am having trouble sleeping at night. This may not be your concern but, if this mast goes up, we would rather move than put our child at risk, which according to many websites is a very real danger."

Phone giant O2 eventually abandoned their plan for the mast after the high-profile opposition campaign.

But last November Davina appeared to have pushed her fears to the back of her mind when she flew to Dublin to endorse Vodafone's new mobiles.

The hi-tech 3G - Third Generation - sets allow callers to see each other, look at videos and download the latest games.

In a fanfare of publicity, Davina was full of praise for the phones.

She gushed: "I've got quite good at them, especially the Motorola ones."

But her astonishing U-turn sparked anger among protesters.

Lisa Oldham, spokeswoman for pressure group Mast Sanity, said: "This is totally hypocritical of Davina and a lot of people will be very disappointed in her.

"How can she be such a vociferous campaigner against mobile phone masts near her home and then pick up a big cheque from a firm which is building them everywhere else?

"These masts can hurt children - in Ireland or anywhere."

Irish campaigner Dr Don McCauley said: "I'm shocked. She comes over to Ireland and cashes in by telling us how wonderful 3G phones are.

"And all the time she is complaining about these terrible masts in her back garden. Does she not understand that these new phones need new masts?"

Dutch scientists have claimed that microwave signals from the masts for 3G phones - which operate at a higher frequency than older mobiles - cause headaches and nausea.

It is not the first time Davina - who picks up £550,000 for every series of Big Brother - has been linked to Vodafone.

In July 2002 - at the time she was attacking Vodafone's rival 02 for the mast near her home - she watched the British Grand Prix from the the Vodafone hospitality tent at Silverstone.

Yesterday a Vodafone Ireland spokesman said: "Davina was a pleasure to work with and we were delighted with the resulting coverage."

The People contacted Davina's agent three times for a comment but none was forthcoming.

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