Big Brother: Fans divided over first housemate to be evicted
Farida’s eviction has not gone down well with some fans. (ITV)
Farida Khalifa has become the first contestant to be evicted from ITV’s 2023 Big Brother reboot – and some fans are absolutely gutted.
The iconic surveillance reality TV show returned to UK screens on 8 October, five years after it last aired on Channel 5.
After less than a week in the Big Brother house, the public had to vote to send either Kerry Riches, a 40-year-old NHS manager from Essex, or 50-year-old makeup artist Farida, from Wolverhampton.
On Friday (13 October), it was officially confirmed that Farida would be first to exit the BB house after more than 500,000 members of the public cast their votes in the first eviction, according to Big Brother co-host AJ Odudu.
After her eviction, the Midlands makeup artist told the live crowd: “I had the most amazing time. Thank you, everyone, for making the effort and coming today.”
During her time in the Big Brother house, Farida spoke candidly about her choice to wear a hijab as part of her Muslim faith, saying: “A lot of people think that wearing a headscarf might stop you from having opportunities, whereas for me, it’s been completely the opposite.
“I embrace it with confidence and it’s actually given me lots of opportunities.”
Viewers were divided, however, after Farida asked 18-year-old trans contestant and early fan favourite Hallie Clarke questions which some felt were intrusive.
Hallie came out as trans to the housemates with a powerful speech on Monday (9 October), and openly shared her experiences of transphobia. Hallie was then questioned by Farida about some fairly intimate topics, with the makeup artist saying she wanted to educate herself.
In Tuesday’s (10 October) episode, Farida asked Hallie who she would “have relationships with” and whether a man who dated Hallie would be “seen as gay”.
Hallie replied: “I won’t have sex until I have my full transition. There’s men out there who specifically like trans women, and there’s men out there that will just see me as a woman, and just be with me as a woman.”
Some fans felt that Farida’s questions were important and praised her for enquiring and admitting she had knowledge gaps in this area. Others, however, thought it should have been handled more privately.
Speaking on Big Brother Late & Live, Hallie’s mother praised her daughter’s handling of the questions, and said: “She knows when to stop it if a line gets crossed but she also knows that she does have to explain as well. Some people don’t know.”
Farida came up against other contestants when the two nominees for eviction were announced this week, by suggesting that younger cast members were trying to get the older housemates out first.
Both Kerry and Farida also frequently clashed due to them both having strong personalities.
Fans of Farida have taken to X (formerly Twitter), though, to share their disappointment about the eviction news.
“That is an outrageous result, JUSTICE FOR FARIDA,” one viewer shared. “I will never understand how my queen Farida got evicted first,” wrote another.
Big Brother airs at 9pm on ITV2 from Sundays to Fridays, with the live final taking place on 17 November 2023.
