Helen Adams
Encyclopedia
Helen Adams rose to fame in the UK
when she was chosen to be a contestant on the second series of the reality television
show Big Brother
, in 2001.
for Classy Cutz, Newport
, and part time dance instructor, Adams gained celebrity
status in the UK due to her on-screen relationship with fellow Big Brother contestant Paul Clarke, a car designer from Reading
. During their time in the Big Brother house, their relationship captivated the nation's interest, with millions of viewers tuning in to see the latest development in their soap opera
-like romance. Adams was noted for her spontaneous tendency to blurt out whatever came into her head, which often tended to be bizarrely illogical and were referred to as "Helenisms" by fans and the tabloid press. Despite being the bookies' early favourite for eviction, she went on to take second place in the contest, losing to Brian Dowling
in the final. Dowling polled 4,231,660 votes (58%) out of a total 7,255,094, while 2,680,463 viewers (37%) voted for Adams.
's topical chat show on Sky television
, Lorraine. However, she was dropped from the line-up a few months later.
In 2001, she released a fitness DVD
called Dance Workout with Helen, which was tailored to include humour and a sense of fun in the work-out, much in keeping with Helen's ditzy personality.
Since this time she has appeared as a guest panelist on the topical chat-show Loose Women
(2003); several times as a Big Brother reporter for the breakfast show GMTV
; as a celebrity chef on Ready, Steady, Cook, as well as featuring in several other Big Brother related documentaries.
In 2003, Adams appeared in the comedy gambling gameshow Banzai and in 2004 she was a contestant on Celebrity Fear Factor UK
, along with Paul Clarke and Big Brother 3 contestant, Spencer Smith.
A report in the Daily Mirror in 2009 claimed that Adams had earned £350,000 from media deals since appearing on Big Brother.
In 2008, she guest starred as herself along with several other Big Brother housemates on E4's spin off from Big Brother, Dead Set
.
For the 2011 Red Nose Day Helen appeared along side many other famous Welsh celebrities in a parody song called Newport State of Mind.
. She has since lent her support to a government literacy campaign.
Before entering the Big Brother house, Adams was romantically involved with a Welsh sales engineer, Gavin Cox; however, he publicly dumped her after watching her antics with her fellow housemate, Paul Clarke. Adams and Clarke began a relationship shortly after the Big Brother final in July 2001. The couple lived together in Barnet
, north London
, and their relationship was periodically featured in celebrity based magazines, particularly Heat
, which interviewed the couple every few years to see how their relationship had developed.
During her time as a panelist on Loose Women, Adams indicated that she was approached about the possibility of filming a fly-on-the-wall documentary
series about her life together with Clarke. The couple turned down the offer, opting to stay out of the limelight and concentrate on a normal life together.
However, in June 2006, Adams and Clarke confirmed they have split up after a five-year relationship. The couple told Heat magazine that they realised they got on better as friends and also blamed the pressure of fame for the break-up. Clarke claimed the last few months had been "hell" and Adams commented that they would stay close friends.
Following her split from Clarke, Adams decided to leave London and move to Portishead
near Bristol
, where she works as a stylist for Saks. In May 2007, it was reported that Adams accidentally set fire to the balcony of her rented £300,000 fourth-floor apartment, after putting a disposable tin foil barbecue
onto its wooden flooring.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
when she was chosen to be a contestant on the second series of the reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
show Big Brother
Big Brother (UK)
Big Brother UK is the British version of the Dutch Big Brother television format, which takes its name from the character in George Orwell's 1948 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four...
, in 2001.
Big Brother
Originally a hairdresserHairdresser
Hairdresser is a term referring to anyone whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques...
for Classy Cutz, Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
, and part time dance instructor, Adams gained celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
status in the UK due to her on-screen relationship with fellow Big Brother contestant Paul Clarke, a car designer from Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
. During their time in the Big Brother house, their relationship captivated the nation's interest, with millions of viewers tuning in to see the latest development in their soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
-like romance. Adams was noted for her spontaneous tendency to blurt out whatever came into her head, which often tended to be bizarrely illogical and were referred to as "Helenisms" by fans and the tabloid press. Despite being the bookies' early favourite for eviction, she went on to take second place in the contest, losing to Brian Dowling
Brian Dowling
Brian Patrick Robert Dowling is an Irish television presenter who rose to fame after being crowned the winner of the second series of UK reality television show Big Brother in 2001. He also won Ultimate Big Brother in 2010, making him the ultimate Big Brother housemate...
in the final. Dowling polled 4,231,660 votes (58%) out of a total 7,255,094, while 2,680,463 viewers (37%) voted for Adams.
Media career
After leaving the Big Brother house Adams was employed as a beauty advisor for Lorraine KellyLorraine Kelly
Lorraine Kelly is a Scottish television presenter, journalist and actress, best known as a presenter for TV-am, and later GMTV and ITV Breakfast, on Lorraine.-Early life:...
's topical chat show on Sky television
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
, Lorraine. However, she was dropped from the line-up a few months later.
In 2001, she released a fitness DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
called Dance Workout with Helen, which was tailored to include humour and a sense of fun in the work-out, much in keeping with Helen's ditzy personality.
Since this time she has appeared as a guest panelist on the topical chat-show Loose Women
Loose Women
Loose Women is a British lunchtime television programme, first broadcast in 1999 on ITV. It consists of a panel of four women who interview celebrities and discuss topical issues, ranging from daily politics and current affairs, to celebrity gossip...
(2003); several times as a Big Brother reporter for the breakfast show GMTV
GMTV
GMTV was the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 to 3 September 2010. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of ITV plc. in November 2009. Shortly after, ITV plc announced the programme would end...
; as a celebrity chef on Ready, Steady, Cook, as well as featuring in several other Big Brother related documentaries.
In 2003, Adams appeared in the comedy gambling gameshow Banzai and in 2004 she was a contestant on Celebrity Fear Factor UK
Fear Factor
Fear Factor is an American stunt/dare reality game show. The original Dutch version was called Now or Neverland. When Endemol USA and NBC adapted it to the American market in 2001, they changed the name to Fear Factor. The show pits contestants against each other in a variety of stunts for a...
, along with Paul Clarke and Big Brother 3 contestant, Spencer Smith.
A report in the Daily Mirror in 2009 claimed that Adams had earned £350,000 from media deals since appearing on Big Brother.
In 2008, she guest starred as herself along with several other Big Brother housemates on E4's spin off from Big Brother, Dead Set
Dead Set (TV series)
Dead Set is a critically acclaimed BAFTA-nominated horror drama created by English writer Charlie Brooker.The series takes place primarily on the set of a fictional season of the real television show Big Brother...
.
For the 2011 Red Nose Day Helen appeared along side many other famous Welsh celebrities in a parody song called Newport State of Mind.
Personal life
Adams has revealed that she has dyslexiaDyslexia
Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
. She has since lent her support to a government literacy campaign.
Before entering the Big Brother house, Adams was romantically involved with a Welsh sales engineer, Gavin Cox; however, he publicly dumped her after watching her antics with her fellow housemate, Paul Clarke. Adams and Clarke began a relationship shortly after the Big Brother final in July 2001. The couple lived together in Barnet
Barnet
High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet, North London, England. It is a suburban development built around a twelfth-century settlement and is located north north-west of Charing Cross. Its name is often abbreviated to Barnet, which is also the name of the London...
, north London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
, and their relationship was periodically featured in celebrity based magazines, particularly Heat
Heat (magazine)
Heat is a British entertainment magazine published by German company Bauer Media Group. it is one of the biggest selling magazines in the UK, with a regular circulation over half a million. Its mix of celebrity news, gossip and fashion is primarily aimed at women, although not as directly as in...
, which interviewed the couple every few years to see how their relationship had developed.
During her time as a panelist on Loose Women, Adams indicated that she was approached about the possibility of filming a fly-on-the-wall documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
series about her life together with Clarke. The couple turned down the offer, opting to stay out of the limelight and concentrate on a normal life together.
However, in June 2006, Adams and Clarke confirmed they have split up after a five-year relationship. The couple told Heat magazine that they realised they got on better as friends and also blamed the pressure of fame for the break-up. Clarke claimed the last few months had been "hell" and Adams commented that they would stay close friends.
Following her split from Clarke, Adams decided to leave London and move to Portishead
Portishead, Somerset
Portishead is a coastal town on the Severn Estuary within the unitary authority of North Somerset, which falls within the ceremonial county of Somerset England. It has a population of 22,000, an increase of over 3,000 since the 2001 census, with a growth rate of 40 per cent, considerably in excess...
near Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, where she works as a stylist for Saks. In May 2007, it was reported that Adams accidentally set fire to the balcony of her rented £300,000 fourth-floor apartment, after putting a disposable tin foil barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
onto its wooden flooring.