Big Brother viewers have praised contestant Zelah for his 'kind' and 'calm' reaction after he was accidentally outed as transgender during Sunday night's eviction episode. The incident occurred when housemate Jenny referred to Zelah as 'the transgender' in front of others who were unaware of his identity.
As the housemates gathered for the eviction, Zelah said, 'If I do go tonight, don't forget about me,' prompting Jenny to reply, 'I'll say, “where's the transgender?”' Zelah laughed awkwardly, and Charlotte quickly pointed out the blunder. Later, Jenny apologised, saying she thought everyone already knew. Zelah responded, 'I do not think it came from a bad place. I had a feeling you didn't know that people didn't know.'
Viewers took to social media to commend Zelah's handling of the situation. One user wrote, 'Zelah handled that with such kindness and calmness, that's why he's my winner. It would've been SO easy to freak out then.' Another added, 'Huge respect to Zelah for being so kind and generous about it because he really didn't have to be even though Jenny's intentions were definitely not malicious.'
In his introductory video, Zelah had previously joked about his transition, saying, 'Why would I choose to go from the luxury that is the women's toilets, to the horror that is the men's?' He also opened up to fellow housemate Sam, revealing he had been in a 'lesbian relationship' with his girlfriend for a while and identified as a lesbian for eight years before transitioning.
When asked about trans rights, Zelah commented, 'It's scary, it feels like progress is just back rolling. It's crazy how people living their lives bothers people so much because trans people and queer people are always painted by the media as the aggressor when the majority are just trying to get by.'
