Big Brother's Rylan opens up about Tiffany Pollard's 'David is dead' breakdown
It undoubtedly became one of the most iconic Big Brother moments ever (if not TV in general), though Rylan Clark-Neal has revealed there was more to 'David is dead'.
In case you remember, in the early 2016 celebrity series, Tiffany Pollard went into hysterics after Angie Bowie informed her that "David's dead", the former mistakenly thinking she was talking about fellow housemate David Gest, who had been ill for a number of days.
However, after a whole lot of confusion – and assurance from fellow housemates that David [Gest] was alive – Angie clarified that she was referring to former husband David Bowie, who she'd just been notified had passed away a few days beforehand.
Recalling the day that the event occurred, former Bit on the Side host Rylan explained that the whole affair actually lasted longer than it was edited down to.
"We were like this is really, really odd and all of us were like: 'F**king hell, Tiffany is a really big David Bowie fan'," he told Metro of how he and the crew reacted as they watched it all unfold live. "And we were like: 'F**king hell, this is a bit much?'
"This went on for about 45 minutes – obviously, you've seen the edited version, and the only time we knew, is when she walked into the garden.
"And we're like, 'That's really out of order of Tiffany, like, she's basically saying that she's going to tell everyone that Angie's ex-husband has died, like? Like we can see she's clearly a big fan, but…".
Recalling the moment "the penny dropped" for the crew that Tiffany was confused, Rylan said: "She thinks it's David Gest. All you could see is just a duvet cover, and a lifeless silhouette of a body. It's three in the afternoon.
"So we're like, 'Oh my God.' So they all run into the bedroom that was all edited in the show. But actually, it was like Silent Witness.
"Darren Day just slowly pulls back the sheet and David Gest isn't fully made up and is quite pale with his very dark hair… He looked dead.
"And then he moved and they were all like, 'He's alive!' And Daniella Westbrook was like, 'Holy mother of Jesus.'
"It was just the most, you couldn't have written it better," Rylan added. "For everything that has happened obviously with David Bowie and stuff, and since with David Gest, it was the best story that we ever wrote. Put it that way. It's unbelievable."
After leaving the CBB house, Gest spoke about what happened to Rylan on Celebrity Big Brother's Bit on the Side, and named the tour he was planning that summer to make reference to the incident.
Sadly, Gest himself died in April 2016, just a few months after appearing on Celebrity Big Brother, at the age of 62.
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