Chantelle Houghton | |
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Houghton in 2011
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Born |
Chantelle Vivien Houghton 21 August 1983 Wickford, Essex, England |
Nationality | English |
Occupation | Television personality, glamour model, media personality, television presenter, columnist, novelist |
Years active | 2006–present |
Television |
Celebrity Big Brother (2006) Ultimate Big Brother (2010) |
Spouse(s) | Samuel Preston (m. 2006; div. 2007) |
Partner(s) | Alex Reid (2011–2012) |
Children | 1 |
Chantelle Vivien Houghton (born 21 August 1983) is an English television personality, glamour model, media personality, television presenter, columnist and novelist. She was the first 'non-celebrity' to feature in the Channel 4 reality television show Celebrity Big Brother in 2006.
She emerged as the winner of series 4, beating 10 celebrities: (Michael Barrymore, Maggot, Samuel Preston, Pete Burns, Traci Bingham, Dennis Rodman, George Galloway, Rula Lenska, Faria Alam and Jodie Marsh), winning a prize of £25,000.
Following a much-publicised on-screen courtship, Houghton married former fellow Celebrity Big Brother 2006 contestant Samuel Preston of The Ordinary Boys in August 2006. The couple announced their separation in a joint statement on 27 June 2007, and divorced on 21 November 2007.
In October 2007, Houghton was named "TV's latest reality millionaire" and experts reported that her wealth easily exceeds £1 million.
Houghton was born in Wickford, Essex, to Allan and Vivien, and has an older brother, Gregg. She has a daughter. She attended Bromfords School in Wickford, the same school that Big Brother 8 winner Brian Belo attended. She left school at 15 with seven GCSEs, then worked in a bank and as an insurance telesales rep. Houghton is a vegetarian.
After various friends suggested she would make a good model, Houghton entered a 2001 competition run by a Motorcycle News magazine, and after winning it became a promotions girl. Wanting to be like her heroine Katie Price, she undertook some glamour modelling, started out by having her mother take some topless shots in a local park. In 2003, she entered a Daily Star competition as a page three girl, which she did not win, but appeared once in the tabloid newspaper.