The Big Brother winner shunned the spotlight after winning £100,000 on the reality show – but where is she now?
One of Big Brother’s biggest underdog winners has disappeared from the spotlight 18 years after finding fame.
Rachel Rice was just 24 when she entered the reality competition in 2008. It was still a Channel 4 show at the time and the trainee teacher had always wanted to throw her hat in the ring.
So she applied alongside thousands others across the UK, but Rachel “couldn’t believe it” when she actually got a call back. “When I had the phone call to say I was going in I couldn’t believe normal me, plain old Rach, had done it,” she confessed to Wales Online in 2009.
The newfound reality star went on to become the first Welsh contestant to win the series and take home a huge £100,000 prize. But she faced a brutal reception as she left the Big Brother house to a booing crowd.
Although her charm won over the public, with over 51% voting her as the winner, Rachel had gained a harsh reputation for not getting stuck into the show’s drama. “Some people didn’t like me – they said I was boring,” she recalled in a Wales Online interview after the show.
“They said I was boring because I wouldn’t get involved in discussing who’d be out, I wouldn’t b*** and that I sat on the fence. But I knew my friends and family at home knew the real me. I stayed true to myself.”
And she stayed true to herself after the show too. Now aged 42, the former reality star is now teaching performing arts, including music and drama, at a Welsh school.
She actually planned on returning to her teaching career even after becoming a TV star. “Whatever I do, I want to work with young people,” she said at the time.
“My aim is to go back to teaching but if I don’t get a job I’d love to do outreach work with underprivileged children. If TV presenting came up that would be a dream – but realistically I can’t see that happening.”
As for her family life, the former housemate married husband Richard Jenkins in July 2011 and they share two sons, according to her social media. While she opted out of life in the limelight, other Big Brother winners used the competition to launch huge television careers.
Even those who came before Rachel, like the show’s first female winner Kate Lawler are still enjoying the spotlight. Kate claimed the crown in 2002 and recently returned to the Big Brother family.
She is hosting the show’s companion series, The Group Chat, alongside reality star GK Barry.
The latest season of Big Brother continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX
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