Pete Bennett
| Pete Bennett | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Peter Alexander Bennett 22 March 1982 London, United Kingdom |
| Residence | London and Brighton |
| Occupation | Media personality, singer |
| Years active | 2006-present |
| Television | Big Brother 2006 |
| Spouse(s) | Gemma Costin (2010–present, filed for divorce) |
Peter "Pete" Alexander Bennett (born 22 March 1982) is a British media personality, who won the seventh series of the Channel 4 (now Channel 5) reality television series Big Brother in 2006. He has Tourette syndrome. He divides his time between Brighton and London.
After unsuccessfully auditioning for the fifth series of Big Brother in 2004 (as seen in Vanessa Nimmo from Big Brother 5's tape on launch night), Bennett was selected as one of the original housemates for the seventh series in 2006. He was the bookmakers' favourite throughout and eventually won with 61.2% of the final vote. The show was accused of exploiting Bennett's Tourette's syndrome: The Tourette Syndrome Association of the UK said "the broadcaster had deliberately cast someone with relatively strong symptoms in order to make him a 'figure of fun'." Some viewers expressed concern that the show had exploited Tourette's, while others felt it was educational and criticised the hypocrisy of UK TS organization for wanting the syndrome brought to the public consciousness but complaining when it was. Bennett was nominated for a National Television Award in 2006 for "Most Popular TV Contender"; however, the former Big Brother contestant Nikki Grahame won the award.
Bennett's autobiography, Pete: My Story, was published in hardback in November 2006 and reissued in paperback in 2007 as My Journey With Tourettes.
Bennett was lead singer in a band called Daddy Fantastic, but he left the band after agreeing with a record label that he should become a solo artist. He wrote music with songwriter and record producer Guy Chambers, but failed to gain commercial success with any releases. Bennett went on to form another band, Pete Bennett And The Love Dogs, which played at Glastonbury 2007 and venues such as IndigO2 (The O2) London and The Cavern Club in Liverpool.
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