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Big Brother 2024 hasn’t even been on our screens for a week, and viewers are already rallying for one housemate to be removed after shocking scenes on Friday night.
Fans were left seething after Marcello, a 34-year-old youth mentor, told a bare-faced lie following an interaction with Ali, a 38-year-old forensic psychologist, claiming they shared an intimate moment away from the group.
That couldn’t have been further from the truth, however, with Ali, who has a girlfriend, having been vocal about coming out as a lesbian later in life, visibly uncomfortable as Marcello continued to push the joke.
The drama began when Marcello and Ali headed to the smoking area in last night’s episode, the night before this series’s first eviction.
Typically, the smoking area isn’t shown to viewers, hence the questionable angle and dodgy footage, but ITV made an exception in this scenario to provide full context for what went down.
‘Wanna try that?’, Marcello asked Ali, handing her his vape.
Ali and Marcello were vaping in the smoking area together, an area not usually shown to viewers (Picture: ITV)
After she took a drag and he tried hers, Marcello remarked: ‘We just vape-kissed,’ to which Ali giggled and told him: ‘It’s not a thing!’
‘I’m joking,’ he told her, before telling several other housemates outside the smoking area: ‘We just kissed, innit.’
‘No, we did not,’ Ali stated, to which Marcello laughed: ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry. We didn’t kiss; I’m joking.’
Minutes later, Ali recalled what happened in conversation with Khaled, telling him: ‘In the garden, he said that we kissed.
‘And I’m like… he knows I have a girlfriend.’
‘So long as he says, “I know she has a girlfriend,” it’s fine,’ Ali added, but her facial expression remained unamused.
Later on, after the clock approached 1am, Marcello joined Ali, Segun, and Thomas in the kitchen and was met by awkward silence.
He joked about ‘kissing’ her to the other housemates (Picture: ITV)
Ali, who has a girlfriend, was quick to shut him down (Picture: ITV)
Ali then impersonated Marcello’s earlier comments, making him laugh before reminding him: ‘I have people watching.’
He reached to shake her hand, assuring her that he is a ‘gentleman’ behind the tomfoolery.
‘You’re trying to ruin my life,’ Ali scowled, to which Marcello exclaimed: ‘You came in the smokers’ room! You knew what you were doing.’
Ali scolded Marcello for carrying on the gag, refusing to hug him before striding off.
As the cameras cut to hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best on the live stage ahead of announcing the first evictee, the two presenters simply brushed off Marcello’s comments, saying a vape kiss is ‘not a thing.’
It didn’t take long for viewers to start penning angry social media posts about what went down, also expressing fury at how the matter was seemingly dismissed by the presenters.
‘Marcello literally PREYING on Ali like that is so vile I need him out of that house NOW’, fumed X user txbamxnmicxh_s.
She remained uncomfortable as she told the others what had happened (Picture: ITV)
Ali has spoken openly with her fellow housemates about her sexuality (Picture: ITV)
Marcello proceeded to laugh at her reaction (Picture: ITV)
He told her she ‘knew’ what she was doing by going to vape alone with him (Picture: ITV)
‘Ali is so clearly uncomfortable around Marcello, and I need this man GONE. He’s a literal sex pest, and the producers can clearly see an issue with how he acts based on them showing us the crusty footage from the smoking area, to validate Ali doing nothing wrong’, argued MiichaelKing.
Marcello has made repeated sexualised comments towards other female housemates throughout the week, including repeatedly overcomplimenting Rosie.
AJ, Will, and the panellists on spin-off show Late & Live also failed to see the issue in what happened, arguing ‘that’s just Marcello’, while House Guest David Potts suggested it ‘wasn’t that deep’.
AlfieS12 then posted: ‘AJ, Will, and quite literally everyone in the studio failing to address the fact that the Marcello/Ali thing happened in the one room in the House we’ve never seen before on TV, nor expected to see. As if you can’t understand where Ali’s coming from on this.’
‘No I’m sorry but this is ALSO a dangerous conversation on Late & Live, you cannot excuse Marcello’s behaviour for ‘that’s just Marcello’ & Ali needs to ‘chill out’. expected better from Will but that was disgraceful’, agreed AshGarrod.
Echoing what thousands of others said, ohnocleoo penned: ‘begging we get marcello out next. claiming he kissed ali knowing shes a lesbian with a girlfriend he’s actually vile and its bordering fetishising now. no respect for her or her relationship and that seems to be a theme with men not taking wlw relationships seriously’.
Countless other viewers were left shocked at how Marcello’s behaviour in the house has been allowed to ‘escalate’, implying it could be a ‘matter of days’ before bosses intervene.
Viewers were left raging
They were also unimpressed by AJ Odudu and Will Best’s handling of the matter
Fans want Marcello out of the house
Meanwhile, Ali has proven herself a real hit with viewers and is already a firm favourite to take the £100,000 prize at the end of the series.
She’s spoken on several occasions with her housemates about her sexuality, saying before launch night that she is ‘unashamedly a late-in-life lesbian’.
Living in Leicester, she has been dating her current girlfriend for five months.
Big Brother airs Sunday-Friday at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.
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