Big Brother’s Pete Bennett got in a taxi and rushed to see Nikki Grahame at treatment centre before she died: ‘I wanted to get her out of the darkness’

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Pete Bennett revealed he got straight in a taxi and rushed to see Nikki Grahame before she died during a visibly difficult appearance on Sky News.

On Friday April 9 Nikki died aged 38 following a life-long battle with anorexia. Before her death, friends set up a fundraiser desperately seeking help to provide the Big Brother star with specialist treatment after options on the NHS failed to work.

Pete and Nikki famously found love in the Borehamwood bungalow in 2006, and once he saw the GoFundMe page, he darted straight to the facility centre where she was being treated.

Through tears, Pete said he was alarmed to see she was ‘really, really ill’.

‘I just got in the cab and went over there with my girlfriend, who is a mental health nurse,’ he recalled. ‘We just tried to give her love and support.

‘Me and Nikki had a great connection. I thought the love I had for her would boost her up and get her out of the darkness.’

Praising Nikki’s friends and family, Pete said: ‘My heart goes out to everyone who was trying to help her.

‘Carly, her best friend, I know is really struggling, my heart goes out to her. I know what it’s like to lose a best friend, especially when you’re trying to save them.

‘I knew she was ill in the last lockdown – she told me not to say. She rang me up and said “Pete I’m ill, come and get me” – I was busy at the time.’

During an appearance on This Morning last month, Nikki’s mum Susan said her daughter’s conditioned worsened due to ‘terminal loneliness’ in lockdown.

‘[Lockdown] has taken one of the best characters that the world has ever seen. This is rubbish, man,’ Pete said.

Following news of Nikki’s death, countless Big Brother stars shared loving tributes while host Davina McCall said she couldn’t ‘find the words’ in a post on Instagram.