Big Brother winner Pete Bennett is now ‘homeless and hooked on drugs’
Pete Bennett won Big Brother in 2006 and £100,000 prize money.
Nine years later he’s been left homeless and battling drug addiction.
Pete had battled an addiction to Ketamine before entering the house, but given 100k to spend and being desperately unhappy with his new found fame meant that he spiralled even further downwards once he hit the public eye.
‘I couldn’t go anywhere without getting fed drugs, ‘ he reveals. ‘As soon as I came out of the house I was led down a golden path.
‘I remember not being allowed to do what I wanted, I was a puppet, I was doing what I was told.’
Pete is now homeless and sleeps on his friends’ sofas.
‘Work dried up because I was to do with BB. I lost it all. It all went wrong. It didn’t go to plan.
‘Having all that money, I didn’t know what to do with it. To be homeless after having too much money, I didn’t mind too much. The fame pushed me in a way I didn’t want to go.’
Pete also grew up with Tourette’s, and at the time was the worst case reported in the country.
‘I was dosed up, I was in hospital. In the end I wasn’t happy being like that, sounds funny because later in life I was. I got into drugs 15 years ago.
‘I was addicted to Ketamine. You don’t know you’re out of control until it hits you. It became a habit. I couldn’t do anything without doing it.’
Pete tells Jeremy Kyle that losing several close friends had been difficult, but that he had no idea the drugs were stopping him from grieving properly.
‘I saw them when I was high and thought “this is nice”. Then when I went to see a drugs worker I started talking about loss and suddenly it all just came out. I hadn’t been dealing with it.
‘I was dealing with my friends’ deaths by disassociating myself.’
But the 33-year-old says his isn’t a tale of woe, but to prove that you can come back from the brink. He’s now working hard to turn his life around and has been clean from drugs for a long time.
‘It would be nice to have my mates here, I’ve lost seven people since BB. But I’m turning things around.
‘I’ve got into acting. I’m doing loads of films and working my way up the ladder. My Tourette’s has calmed down, it’s the beginning. Hollywood, that’s it.’
