Courtney Act / Shane Jenek wins Celebrity Big Brother
The drag artist pipped former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe to win CBB
Courtney Act / Shane Jenek has won Celebrity Big Brother.
The former RuPaul's Drag Race star beat former politician Ann Widdecombe to be crowned the winner of CBB, with presenter Emma Willis revealing that Courtney had taken 49% of the total vote in the final.
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Courtney said she thought it was "slightly ironic" to win Celebrity Big Brother: Year of the Woman before thanking the eight female housemates who were on the show this year.
"It's amazing to think that the public have chosen me. I guess it's validation - the things that I came in here believing in," she said.
"My inspiration coming into the house was that teenage boy who didn't quite know where he belonged or how he fit in and feeling inspired by the Spice Girls and not knowing what that meant, but knowing that if it was OK for them to be different then it was OK to be different too.
"And I guess coming to the house is validation that it's OK to be different," Courtney added.
Speaking about her relationship with Andrew Brady, Courtney said she respected his boundaries and that she revelled in the friendship "more than anything".
Ann meanwhile said that she was "thoroughly bemused" to finish in second place and that she was "dying" to get back to living alone.
"Do you know how many times I've turned this programme down?" noted Ann, who added that she'd never seen any of Celebrity Big Brother but also admitted to having a soft spot for fellow housemate Jonny Mitchell.
"It was fine while I was in there," reflected Ann on her experience and said there was "noise all the time" in the house and she didn't like being woken up by pop music first thing in the morning.
In a RadioTimes.com poll that asked 5,000 Celebrity Big Brother fans who they wanted to win before the final, Shane J overwhelmingly came out on top with a huge 48% of the total vote, while Ann took second place with 26.7%.
Celebrity Big Brother: Year of the Woman has been the longest in CBB history with a total run length of 32 days.
Starting with eight female housemates on day one, eight male celebrities joined just three days into the four and a half week show.
Shane and Ann beat Shane Lynch, Jess Impiazzi and Wayne Sleep to take first and second place in the 21st series of the celebrity show.
Celebrity Big Brother returns to Channel 5 in the summer.
