25 years ago (yes, really) 28-year-old builder Craig Phillips from Liverpool became Britain’s favourite housemate, winning the first series of Big Brother. Now living here on the Island, down-to-earth Craig speaks to the Mallorca Bulletin about life after reality TV and how the experience changed everything.
Q.— How did you fight off 40,000 applicants to become one of the ten Big Brother housemates?
A. — “I saw a documentary about Endemol launching Big Brother in Holland with a £70,000 prize. At the time, I was raising money for Joanne Harris who needed a heart-lung transplant but denied it due to Down Syndrome. I thought, “70 grand to live in a house with strangers? Easy”. I sent a handwritten letter to Endemol saying if it came to the UK, I wanted in.”
Q.— So, you applied before applications even opened?
A. — “Yes. Six months later, I was on a roof doing lead flashing when my phone – a big Nokia brick - rang. It was Endemol. I’d forgotten all about it and was like “whose brother, I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about!?”. She mentioned my letter, and the penny dropped. They posted me an application form.”
Q.— What happened next?
A. — “The process lasted nearly a year. After that basic application form, I was invited to a hotel in Birmingham with about 400 others. We did team tasks and, because I ran my own business, I stood out for my problem solving and people management. The cameras tended to focus on me, and I kept getting pulled aside for interviews. I did four or five rounds over several months and then a weighty 70-page application form landed. The questions were highly personal, almost invasive, and one evening, swamped with VAT return paperwork, I tossed the form on the living room floor. I decided to forget Big Brother. A few hours later a producer rang, begging me to send the application. I explained my discomfort. She said, “I shouldn’t tell you this, but you’re in the last 50, just send it - even with one-word answers.” So I did.”
Q.— And then you were selected?
A. — “Not quite. I still had police, medical, and psychiatric checks, and signed a confidentiality agreement. Ten days before the show aired, I still hadn’t heard. I told them I had a business to run - 28 builders, three big projects – and needed to organise things. An hour later, an exec ‘phoned to say I was in. After that, it was a whirlwind of panic and emotion. So yeah, it was longwinded, stressful, but by the time I walked through that door, I already felt like I’d won.
Q.—Fast forward to September 15, after 64 days you’re crowned the winner - how did that feel?
A. — “What you saw on TV - fireworks, screaming crowds, Davina - was thrilling but short-lived. As soon as the live feed ended, I was whisked away by bodyguards and police-escorted to a Park Lane hotel. It felt like being kidnapped. I just wanted to see my loved ones, but instead I was met by the psychiatrist who calmly told me the show had exceeded all expectations and I’d be on the front page of every paper, on every news show. I was just gulping; it still gives me goosebumps now.”
Q.— Sounds daunting.
A. — “I didn’t go home for 97 days, switching hotels each night, with security in the rooms either side. Each morning I’d get an itinerary – TV, radio, charity events, store openings, awards – it was unrelenting. Everyone knew my face and I couldn’t eat in a restaurant without causing a scene. Security had to step in often.”
Q.— Was it worth it?
A. — “I never wanted fame - my sole intention was fundraising for Joanne - and thought I’d leave the house on Friday and be back at work Monday. But I ended up losing the business I’d built over ten years. Staff moved on or took over my projects, so I just let it go and found myself in this new media world.”
Q.— How was life after Big Brother?
A. — I fell into makeover shows, which suited me. The first was Renovation Street with Birds of a Feather’s Linda Robson in December 2000. Then I signed a four-year BBC deal. We filmed around 700 shows including Housecall, Trading Up, and Big Strong Boys. When that ended, I kept going across various channels, presenting over 2,000 shows in 16 or 17 years.”
Q.— What was the next step?
A. — “I met my wife Laura in 2016 and told her within a week, “I’m going to marry you”. We wanted to build a home, settle down, have kids - life on the road wasn’t an option. We married in 2018 and started building our dream house in Liverpool: eight bedrooms, a games room, gym, bar, office, workshop/studio - the works. I stopped TV for about a year to focus on it. Later, I realised TV no longer made sense - I was working long hours away from home, for the same money I could earn filming sponsored brand content from my own studio. That shift from TV to our new joint venture - www.mrandmrsdiy.tv - is what made moving to Spain on a Digital Nomad Visa possible.”
Q.— Why Mallorca?
A. — “I’d visited in my youth but, in October 2023, our dear friends Pam and Rob - founders of Frenchic Paint - invited us to their vow renewal. They live a great life here - country house, yacht, dogs - and Laura and I kept thinking, this is the dream. We’ve got other friends with homes on the Island too, comedian John Bishop for one, and so the idea of moving started to grow. Before long, we found ourselves researching schools for Nelly, now six, and Lennon, now four, and made the call to move full-time. We landed at the end of July 2024.”
Q.— Has it been smooth sailing?
A. — “Not quite. As much as we loved Pam and Rob’s place, we needed cafés, shops, and kids’ activities nearby, so we focused our search on the southwest. Around six months before we relocated, we narrowed down the school, paid registration fees, and went home to plan. The kids were due to start on 4 September - flights booked - but thus far we had nowhere to live. I did several whistle-stop tours, land at 06:30, hire a car, view houses like a madman, take videos for Laura, then fly back late evening. It was exhausting. On about the third trip, I was starting to feel the pressure, when Laura spotted a listing that had gone online 22 minutes earlier. It had six bedrooms, a gym, pool, and was the closest thing we’d seen to our Liverpool home. I scoffed my sandwich, shot off to a viewing, shook hands on a deal and asked the agent for a draft contract. Five days before we fly, I finally get the contract. Surrounded by moving boxes, utterly shattered, I sign it. The next day, the agent asks for his fee. At no point had this been mentioned, he wasn’t my agent, I hadn’t chosen him, neither had I negotiated any fees. Out of principle, I refused to pay. I work hard for our money and I’m not wasting it on people who stitch me up.”
Q.— What next?
A. — “We cancelled the removal van, booked a hotel in Palma and flew across. The kids had been promised the beach dream, but instead we dragged them to banks, solicitors, and school uniform shops – all the things kids hate - constantly telling them to be quiet. Worried we’d have to postpone the whole thing, a friend posted on the infamous I Have A Question Facebook group. That post led us to a detached villa with pool - and zero furniture. I told the German owner we’d take it immediately.
“But where will you sleep?” he asked. “Don’t worry,” I said. We rented a van, marched two kids and two trolleys through IKEA, spent five grand on stuff I didn’t want, and left the hotel a day early. By winter, the house had major damp issues, so we broke the lease and found our current home in Calvia Village - a refurbished old cottage with a saltwater pool. It’s so peaceful and calm up here, I love it.”
Q.— So, are you here for good?
A. — “Yes, we’re here to stay. The kids didn’t settle at their first school - it felt too big and corporate - but they’re now at BIC and blossoming. As a family we certainly feel a lot more relaxed than when we were living in Liverpool. We’ve been warmly welcomed by both locals and expats and, with Laura and I both being chatterboxes, we’ve made friends easily. We’ve only explored about 10% of the Island as we’ve been bombarded by visitors - though we’re told that’ll soon ease.”
Q.— And work?
A. — “I’ve no plans to stop. I love what I do, and now I do it on my own terms. Our 20-plus UK rental properties give us financial flexibility - if we want two months off, we can take them – and it’s a nice position to be in. I’m nearly 54, and I need to ease off a bit. My dad was killed by a drunk driver when I was 13, my mum had Alzheimer’s at 52, Laura lost her mum to cancer at 52. Life’s precious and I want to enjoy it, be with the kids, and Mallorca is the perfect place for that.”
www.craigphillips.co.uk