Viewers have praised Big Brother star Zelah for his ‘kind’ and ‘calm’ reaction after he was accidentally ‘outed’ as trans in Sunday night’s episode of the show.
As the reality television show began, contestants were gathered for that night’s eviction, during which Gani became the second housemate to leave.
However, events were derailed when an over-excited Jenny described Zelah as ‘the transgender’ in front of the other housemates – some of whom were unaware that Zelah, 25, is a transgender man.
‘If I do go tonight, don’t forget about me,’ said Zelah as he addressed his housemates before the eviction – prompting a cry of ‘I’ll say, “where’s the transgender?”‘ from an oblivious Jenny.
As Zelah giggled awkwardly, some looked confused, while Charlotte took the opportunity to point out the blunder Jenny had just made.
And, in the calm after the storm (bye, Gani), Jenny took the moment to apologise to Zelah for her actions.
Taking a seat afterwards, Derry girl Jenny apologised, telling Zelah: ‘I’m really sorry. I did not mean to say it. I thought everyone knew.’
‘I do not think it came from a bad place,’ Zelah responded. ‘I had a feeling you didn’t know that people didn’t know.’
‘And therefore that’s fine,’ he continued.
Those not in the know included self-professed ‘old soul’ Cameron B, who could be heard to whisper ‘is he trans?’ as Jenny blurted out Zelah’s truth.
Viewers of the show have taken to social media to praise Zelah’s handling of the situation.
‘Zelah handled that with such kindness and calmness, that’s why he’s my winner. It would’ve been SO easy to freak out then,’ wrote slinehan1 on X.
Nicolelouisee added: ‘huge respect to Zelah for being so kind and generous about it because he really didn’t have to be even though Jenny’s intentions were definitely not malicious.’
‘Zelah handed the situation so well such massive respect to him,’ said MitchellWebb85.
‘Bless him for how he handled being outed on eviction night he dealt with it wonderfully,’ agreed ManCalledDan.
‘Jenny outing zelah was not on my bingo card, I feel so bad for them both,’ said FelicityRepudia.
In his introductory VT, Zelah previously joked about his transition, saying: ‘Why would I choose to go from the luxury that is the women’s toilets, to the horror that is the men’s?’
And in last week’s episodes, he opened up to Sam, revealing that he had been in a ‘lesbian relationship’ with his girlfriend for a while
‘My girlfriend and I were in a lesbian relationship for a while and that was her first ever relationship… I was a lesbian for eight years,’ he said.
‘I went from a lesbian to a man, like, downgrade.’
When asked whether he always knew that he was a man, Zelah continued: ‘When I was six years old, if you looked at me then and look at me now, then you’d think I went from A to B.
‘When I realised I was queer around 16, things started to get a bit better because I started to be a bit more masculine, went through my toxic masculinity phase.
‘Got a motorbike and my tattoos. Time went on, I just started to realise I don’t see myself getting old in this body no matter how masculine I am as a woman. I was never going to be that satisified.’
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Asked what he thought about trans rights today, Zelah added: ‘It’s scary, it feels like progress is just back rolling.’
‘It’s crazy how people living their lives bothers people so much because trans people and queer people are always painted by the media as the aggressor when the majority are just trying to get by,’ he added.
Big Brother airs Sunday-Friday at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.
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