Entertainment
Big Brother legend is doing a completely different job 17 years after finding fame-Pierra Willix-Entertainment – Metro
She was just a teenager when she appeared on the series in 2007.
![Big Brother legend is doing a completely different job 17 years after finding fame-Pierra Willix-Entertainment – Metro](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/SEI_207497165-751b-e1717611448483.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1024)
A Big Brother star has had a massive career change (Picture: UK Press via Getty Images)
A former Big Brother star who was once voted viewers’ favourite housemate of all time has now revealed she’s pursued a career far from the spotlight.
In 2007 a then 19-year-old Chanelle Hayes from Wakefield signed up for the reality series.
Although she ended up walking away from the show just over two months after entering the house, she became one of the most recognisable faces from her season, which was eventually won by Brian Belo.
After her stint on reality TV, Chanelle was voted the Favourite Big Brother Housemate Ever and went on to pursue a career in showbiz, releasing music, judging the VH1 UK show Wannabe and being followed by cameras again for Chanelle: Wannabe Popstar, which charted her progress as she attempted to make a debut single and music video.
She also appeared on This Morning, Celebrity Scissorhands and Ready Steady Cook.
Then, in 2011, Chanelle went on to open a cake making business.
Chanelle Hayes appeared on the reality series in 2007 (Picture: UK Press via Getty Images)
She struck up a relationship with Ziggy Lichman while in the house (Picture: FilmMagic)
But now, 17 years after appearing on Big Brother, the 36-year-old mum-of-two has now retrained as a nurse.
Chanelle recently undertook a Q&A on Instagram for her 128,000 followers, with one asking what type of nursing she was hoping to do after graduating.
‘I already have my job lined up!! Can’t wait!!,’ she responded.
Adding that she would be ‘hospital based’, Chanelle said she wanted to keep her work location private because ‘it’s not really about me, it’s about the patients and their wellbeing’.
The mum-of-two is now working towards her nursing qualifications (Picture: Chanelle Hayes/ Instagram)
This week she also revealed she was due to get married to her partner and she would then be handing in her dissertation next month and doing her final nursing placement soon after.
During her time in the Big Brother house, Chanelle was compared to Victoria Beckham and struck up a relationship with fellow housemate Ziggy Lichman.
Their relationship briefly continued outside of the house, and they were labelled the ‘Posh and Becks’ of reality TV, but broke up six months later.
When the show returned to screens last year, Chanelle reflected on her time in the house and confessed she’d been a ‘bratty, spoiled, fame-seeking, unaware, needy person’ at the time, but that the show taught her ‘how to reflect on myself to be a better person’.
Big Brother is streaming on ITVX.
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