Former Big Brother winner Brian Belo has been defending current housemate Alex Reid, saying that he is not as bad as people think.

“I like the fact that he makes fun out of himself and all the publicity surrounding him,” Belo told Heat. “So far, he does not appear to be anywhere near as big-headed as the public perception of him seems to be.

“The Big Brother house is a place of simplicity, and can either bring out the best or worst in people. The real world, with all its superficial importance on things such as status, money and reputation have little place inside a BB house; it can bring out rare qualities about a person’s inner core that they may have long forgotten about.

“This may happen to Alex. His chat with Steve Baldwin about his cross-dressing antics and how it is literally a joke that has been blown out of proportion was quite insightful. If he carries on giving us genuine moments with his fellow housemates and shows no sign of an over-inflated ego, then he could well be there until the end.”

Belo also expressed his admiration for Nicola T saying:

“We as a nation need to accept the fact that as long as we have teenage boys alive, then there are going to be glamour models,” he said.

“We should embrace the ying and yang; there is going to be intelligence and there’s going to be people who aren’t as well educated, like Nicola T. But we shouldn’t judge her for lack of knowledge, but how she treats others.”