The Princess of Wales’s uncle has made his exit from the UK’s revamped Celebrity Big Brother series, after lasting just five days in the house.
Friday evening’s show saw businessman Gary Goldsmith was the first contestant to be evicted from the lineup, following his much-hyped entry into the house last Sunday.
Goldsmith had caused controversy with his appearance, with fans wondering if an extended stay would see him confiding intrigues about his famous in-laws, the British royal family.
During his time in the house, he made only a few fleeting references to his niece Kate Middleton, elder daughter of his sister Carole. He said:
“It’s difficult to get hold of Kate at the best of times, and she’s got children and I love the fact that she’s putting family first.”
And he added another time that Middleton and her husband Prince William were “the saviour of the royal family.”
On his exit from the house, Goldsmith said:
“This is the first television programme that I have ever done, my comfort zone is back in Slough, it took me a while to acclimatise.”
He said he was “self-doubting” when he joined the ITV show, and he should have been “more authentic”.
“I could have been way more gregarious,” he said.
Speaking about his discussions about the royal family, he said: “People were asking me a lot of questions specifically about that because they didn’t know what to ask me. And I did volunteer it a lot.”
Other familiar faces in this year’s revamped series include former The View panellist Sharon Osbourne and American actress Marisha Wallace.
Celebrity Big Brother has been rebooted by ITV, with its launch show last week airing on the broadcaster’s main channel ITV1, followed by daily updates on ITV2.
The non-celebrity version of the reality series made for pioneering TV on its UK debut in 2000. It first aired on Channel 4, before being bought by Channel 5 in 2010. The latter cancelled the show in 2018.