Famous big brother has given the nation many memorable moments – the whole 'David's Death' Debacle immediately comes to mind, and Ann WiddecombeThe inability to use a straightening iron is a major problem.
We've had love stories that have warmed hearts – Chantelle Houghton and Samuel Preston were Molly-Mae Hague and Tommy Fury from one generation – but it’s precisely the disagreements that give the series its much-needed spice, and that will remain etched in the memory long after the flashy finale. (Who could ever forget Gemma Collins versus Tiffany Pollard or Nicola McLean versus Kim Woodburn?).
Exactly twelve years ago, on August 15, 2012, it took only a few minutes for the first discussion about the previous 'history' to break out, but not all was as it seemed.
Cheryl Fergison and Julie Goodyear were already working on it before the bubbly ran out on Season 10 launch night, but it was later revealed to their housemates that it was part of the secret mission of 'Drama Queens'. When I say secret, you say mission… right?
The soap stars were tasked with bringing their experience as George Michael superfan Heather Trott in EastEnders and feisty leopard-print housewife Bet Lynch in Coronation Street to bear on the ultimate showdown, and they delivered with flying colours.
To make it real, an irritated Cheryl, 58, accused Julie of giving her angry looks from across the room.
“These guys don't know the history, and you're looking at me from the other side,” she fumed. “I don't like it. You know the situation and you know what you did.”
Julie responded defensively: “I didn't do anything.”
When their housemates, including So Solid Crew member MC Harvey, Loose Women star Coleen Nolan, Spandau Ballet singer Martin Kemp and model Rhian Sugden, didn't pay much attention to their feud, they took it a step further.
While role-playing, Julie uttered three words, which she didn't know at the time but which would become endlessly memed. “Don't talk shit,” she yelled, giving us a glimpse into what soap operas would look like post-watershed.
“I knew they were going to be a problem the minute you walked in. I knew they were,” an agitated Cheryl replied.
To make matters even more dramatic, Julie threw water on Cheryl and told her, “Leave it. Leave it the fuck alone,” before adding, “I don't give a damn about anyone.”
As Cheryl began to cry, eventual winner Julian Clary couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
Luckily for the housemates, they didn't have to live next door to the feuding actresses, because the truth was revealed. For their trouble, they got a soap party in the garden.
Despite her Bafta-worthy performance, Cheryl became the second celebrity to be evicted from the Big Brother house.
Since her appearance, she has continued to act, with a brief cameo in EastEnders, where she voiced a message for Dot Branning (June Brown), which she found on her last day at the launderette.
In 2022, she played a fictionalized version of herself in a Netflix mockumentary sitcom created by Catherine Tate called Hard Cell. She filmed a cameo for former EastEnders star Danny Dyer's series Mr Bigstuff.
Julie survived a little longer and left the house on Day 22, becoming the sixth person to be evicted.
Last July it was revealed that Julie was diagnosed with dementia.
Mark Llewellin, the partner of the late Coronation Street icon Roy Barraclough, recently said:: 'It is wrong to say [Julie is] suffering from dementia, [she is] Living with dementia. It changes what you do and how you look at life.
'Julie has been very brave and strong in this, and it has changed my life. her husband Scott [Brand]. But I have to take my hat off to Scott, he's phenomenal.'
He continued: 'They always wanted to make it public [her] dementia, on the basis that it might help people who were going through something similar, and to see Julie in the same position. It brought in thousands of letters from people.'
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