After winning the hearts of the nation as an innocent youngster in Big Brother, fame took its toll on one of the reality show’s much-loved stars so he decided to commit himself to God and train to be a priest
He shot to stardom after making up a song about cooking an egg for the first time in his life in the Big Brother house when he was just 18 - now he’s now determined to "spread the good word" as a priest and help people in their everyday lives.
In 2006 a young lad was waiting to go into the Big Brother house dressed as a lifeguard. As a superfan of the show he’d studied all the series and was determined to win over producers at the auditions where he decided he would pretend to be a bit nasty. It worked and he landed himself a spot in one of the most watched reality shows of all time. However he was anything but the infamous 'Nasty' Nick Bateman and was instead the very innocent 18 year old Glyn Wise from Wales who was studying for his A’ levels. He got so excited as he was about to enter the house live on TV that he wet himself - in his ‘wacky’ lifeguard outfit.
Glyn, now 36, recalled the embarrassing incident, telling the Sun: "I went to the toilet and managed to sneak a look through the window and could see somebody going into the house. So then I got really excited, forgot what I was doing and I peed my pants." He managed to get dried off under a hand dryer and went on to charm viewers with his genuine wide-eyed nature and naivety. He became firm friends with his fellow housemates including Pete Bennett, who he’s still pals with now and who eventually won the show, the late Nikki Grahame and fellow Welsh native Imogen Thomas.
When he left the house, he was stunned by the level of fame he had achieved. People had his song about his first experience of cooking an egg as their ringtones and he ended up singing it at nightclub appearances, where he was earning around £2,500 a time. But the bright lights soon began to dim and as his popularity faded, his anxiety increased. He decided to return to studying and attended university, eventually going on to become a teacher.
However Glyn remained unfulfilled with “"real life" in comparison to the high life he’d experienced as a new celebrity so he packed his bags and went travelling. He ended up using his qualifications to teach in Shanghai, China, which is where his passion for faith was reignited. Glyn has been a practising Christian since attending Sunday school as a child.
Speaking to Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary on This Morning in 2022, he revealed why working as a teacher in China had a big impact on his faith. He said: "Christianity is growing on a massive scale in South East Asia, so I went to church there, and even other teachers were like, 'do you want to come to Bible study class'. I grew in faith as I went along with that. The pastor or priest was talking and I felt like everything he was saying was directly to me, and what was amazing was they were bringing the Bible into 2022, making relevance to every walk of life and that's what I'd like to bring forward."
Since then Glyn has been in training to become a priest at university in Wrexham. He said: "I’m learning theology, going into depth about the Bible and learning how to cope with people, because you’re not only the vicar, you’re someone to listen, you’re a psychiatrist, you have to help sort people’s lives out and spread the good word. So there’s a concoction of stuff that you need to learn before you become a vicar."
Once his studies are complete, Glyn will become a curate and then has to wait until he is ordained as a priest by the bishop. He shared his excitement at his progression with fans on social media, writing: "Done it! I've been accepted for Ordained Ministry with the Church in Wales." In a recent post he also revealed that he got to meet the King when he was on a placement at a church in Wrexham.
Despite looking totally different these days and being a lot more mature, Glyn is still recognised by the public and he even includes snippets of his past in some of his sermons. "I’ve got a beard now, I’ve shaved my head, I’m a man not a boy, but yeah, there’s conversations about Big Brother that still come up," he admits. "People come to church and are like, ‘I really loved you when you cooked that egg’. And I’m like, ‘Can we talk about Jesus Christ now, the Saviour?" But I feel like when you’ve lived a good life, you’ve got a lot to talk about when you’re up in the pulpit doing a sermon."
