Rylan Clark-Neal has disclosed that he was paid £100,000 to appear on Celebrity Big Brother in 2013, seven years after being removed from the civilian version of the show at age 18. The TV presenter made the revelation during an interview on Louis Theroux's Grounded podcast.
Clark-Neal explained that in 2006, he was set to enter the Big Brother house but was pulled at the last minute due to a story that emerged. He said: 'When I was 18 I was going into the Big Brother house into the civilian version and long story short, I was in hiding, had my suitcases all changed over ready to go in and a story came out, which meant I couldn't go in.'
After his X Factor appearance in 2012, Clark-Neal entered the Celebrity Big Brother house a year later and won the 11th series. He said: 'I got £100,000 to be in Big Brother. So to me, I'd won the lottery.' He added that he had never previously disclosed the fee, noting that some celebrities receive much larger sums, with some being paid half a million pounds and being evicted first.
Clark-Neal also discussed the abuse he faced during X Factor, comparing it to the level of vitriol directed at Jimmy Savile after his paedophile activities were exposed. He said: 'There was two people on the front pages of the papers at the time that I was on X Factor. It was me and Jimmy Savile and six out of seven days I'd get worse press than him.'
Episode 4 of Grounded with Louis Theroux, series 2, is available on BBC Sounds from Monday 14 December.
