Big Brother’s Lily Benson has cleared up a misconception about her relationship with her mum after fans shared their concern over a viral video.
The 20-year-old from Warrington was evicted from the house last week alongside model Khaled, but she certainly made a mark on the ITV reality programme.
From constantly screaming, causing mayhem and chaotic rule breaks over Haribo sweets, and being caught more than once picking her nose and shoving her disgusting socks in people’s faces, Lily truly let loose while in the house.
She had vowed to get away with whatever she wanted without her parents with her, but some viewers have shared their concerns after she was reunited with her mum.
On Friday, the Chinese takeaway worker – who previously admitted her mum regards her as a ’cause for concern’ and would be ‘taking advantage’ of not having a parent in the house – was seen excitedly screaming to meet her mum as she ran off the stage from a Late and Live interview with hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best.
After giving her a huge hug, her mum was then seen pointing at her about something, though it was unclear what they were saying.
Later in the episode, during Khaled’s Late and Live interview, Lily turned to tell her mum something, only to be told to stay quiet.
The background movement didn’t go unnoticed by viewers, with @GoziOkolo writing on X: ‘Is it just me or does #Lily seem to have dulled down her vibrant personality since coming out of the #BBHouse. She seems a shadow of her former self that we saw in the house. After being shushed by her Mum she looked so sad.’
@bencrawford93 added: ‘Nah I actually feel so sorry for Lily here – look at her face afterwards.’
‘I actually feel bad for her. This brief glimpse is telling a bigger picture about her home life,’ @DrewOfBorg said.
However, Lily has now clarified what was really going on, and silenced any concern from viewers.
Speaking to Metro, she said: ‘She was trying to calm me down, because I was like [screaming], so she was like, “Lily, it’s okay, just stay with us now, it’s okay, you’ve got to do the interview now, you’re fine”.’
She recalled her mum telling her to calm down and ‘breathe’, and said her mum knows what she’s like and was just trying to ground her.
During Khaled’s interview, Lily also said she’d been ‘overwhelmed’ and had been bombarding her mum with questions about the outside world.
She said: ‘I was going, “So what’s happened?! What’s happened!” and she was saying, “Listen to Khalid, listen to Khalid,” that’s what she was saying, like, “Lily Khaled’s speaking”.
‘And I was like, “Oh my god, what’s happened, what’s happened,” because I couldn’t wait to know, and she was like, “Lily, Khaled’s speaking, I’ll tell you in a second.”
‘I was like, “okay, okay, okay.” I was just so overwhelmed and I was so nervous for the outside and how people would perceive me because I knowa lot of people had stuff to say about me in the house, I was nominated every time.
‘So in my head, I just built up this thing, like, is everyone going to hate me?
‘Because I know I wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea in the house, and I thought, what if it’s like that on the outside.
‘So as soon as I sat down, I was like, “Mum, what’s everyone said?” and she was like, “I’ll tell you after, Khalid is speaking”.’
Lily also revealed the support she’d received from not only her family and friends but also her old boss at the Chinese takeaway.
She said: ‘I had a video sent from my boss and all the workers being like, “Congratulations!”
‘My boss was really upset how hungry I was, and she said that it made her and the chef cry when I ate the salt and pepper chicken, because I was deprived from a Chinese for so long.’
Still undecided about whether she’ll be returning there for work, she added: ‘This was a once in a lifetime experience, so obviously I’m going to take the opportunities, but I know that opportunities don’t last forever, so I think like during the end of December when it gets busy at Christmas, I’m going to start back and rep the Chinese and help over Christmas.’
Speaking in her exit interview, Lily said she was at peace with being booted out just one week before the final, having been saved from eviction several times already.
‘I’ve been up for [eviction] three weeks, so to be saved twice, I’m so grateful.’
Lily added: ‘I thought I was going to be out in the first week so to be here in week five, I can’t complain.’
She went on to joke that it ‘wouldn’t have been ethical’ if she won anyway because she would have ‘wasted all [her] money’.
