Ulrika: Winning means nothing
ULRIKA Jonsson has told how winning Celebrity Big Brother meant nothing - compared to the joy of seeing her kids again.
The mum of four, who was desperate to get back to her family throughout the series, said she was proud to have been the last woman standing.
But she insisted appearing on the show was "just a job" and that getting back to her children was far more important than her surprise victory. The former TV weathergirl, who pocketed £175,000 for taking part, said she only did it for the cash and experience.
And even though more than 56 per cent of viewers voted for her she said she never regarded it as a "popularity contest".
Ulrika was stunned herself on Friday night when it was announced she had beaten music journalist Terry Christian, US rapper Coolio and tiny Austin Powers star Verne Troyer.
Bookies called her triumph - after she had been nominated for eviction three times - "the biggest shock in reality TV history".
But she said: "I don't know that I've been misunderstood by the British public in the past. I don't really care.
"If anybody went into the house thinking it was a popularity contest that was not my approach. I never went in there hoping and wishing that I was going to win it because I was very popular.
"It was a job and it was an experience. I'm utterly, to put it in the words of Terry, 'Weirded out'. But I am really proud to have had a woman in the final because it was quite a male-dominated house."
Ulrika's two sons and two daughters were tucked up in bed when she won and threw her arms around third husband Brian Monet. She said: "We had a snog. My children were at home asleep so I didn't want to drag them out.
"Going home will be nice - it will be great just being with the family."
Ulrika would not discuss her earnings from Celeb BB, saying: "I won't be commenting because people wouldn't ask questions of a man if he had been rumoured to have had such a 'massive' fee." Runner-up Terry, 48, joked that Ulrika winning after he had nominated her for the boot was a "travesty".
He had claimed she had the "biggest ego" in the house- but despite rows and accusations about bullying and sexist behaviour he denied there was any real tension.
The former presenter of The Word said: "Everyone was very down to earth and had a great sense of humour. It was fierce in there. You could say anything you wanted.
"You met people like Verne and Coolio, who is mad - but I've got mates like that. Ulrika is dead dry so she is quite sarcastic.
"I just had a really good laugh every day and that's what I went in for."
Meanwhile Gangsta's Paradise rapper Coolio, 45, wasted no time in starting a bender after the show.
He showed no remorse for the bullying and sexist behaviour which sparked fury among female celebs and fans - continuing to drunkenly taunt Ulrika as she gave her first off-camera interview after leaving the house.
And he claimed BB had bullied HIM, saying: "They wouldn't give me my mayonnaise, my peanut butter, my soft mattress. I was like 'Listen, you're disrespecting my parents cos they always had mayonnaise'."
He also defended pint-sized Verne from a fan who suggested he had a disability, fuming: "He ain't disabled, he's vertically challenged."
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This article has 38 comments
Isn't it strange she isn't even known here in her native Sweden?
Did dhe not know she was going to have to leave her children when she took the job?
By Sheila Jones.. Posted March 15 2009 at 10:17 AM.
It is not just here but every other forum and comments section has been almost unanimous in expressing incredulity that Ulrika won. Even Ulrika herself was shocked. I know several man haters who don't need much of an excuse to express their anti-male sexism probably voted for her (for all the wrong reasons of course) but I refuse to contemplate that British women are so easily manipulated by Ulrika's victimist spin.The fact was that the boys this year bonded better than did the women they were also more entertaining to watch. I don't know how Ulrika won but I have my theories - one things for sure though is that she certainly did not win on merit.
By Len Firewood.. Posted January 27 2009 at 11:31 AM.
I am really disgusted by all of the comments claiming that just because a nice normal person won and not some freak or show off that it was a fix!
Get a grip of yourselves - it is only a TV show meant for entertainment why bother to put so much thought into it!!
And i think that it is very unfair to make assumptions about people from the fathers of their children (what year are you living in?!!)
By Laura .. Posted January 25 2009 at 10:50 PM.
what a sad ending if it wasnt for coolio i would have not watched the show i cant understand how ulrika won
By irene.. Posted January 25 2009 at 9:26 PM.
I am utterly shocked that Ulrika won, HOW? it has been a total disgrace, she has been an unwilling particpant from start to finish quoting throughout it is just a job.
By Sharon.. Posted January 25 2009 at 9:08 PM.
If she is in shock can you imagine how we feel!!How this self obsessed ,shallow woman won, is beyond us all!!!her interview with Davina mentioning panty liners ,and then in later interview making out she was only there because she had to !was simply cringing and awful!!and to think we wasted hard earned money to be part of this sham!!
fireworks covered the jeers from crowds ,no one in house liked her so who voted?????she was surly and did nothing in house ?????strange !!!
By mrs pitt .. Posted January 25 2009 at 8:49 PM.
what a travesty ulrika winning
fix or what
terry should of won
By lorraine.. Posted January 25 2009 at 4:22 PM.
Well done for your endurance Ulrika.
Every year we hear this or that person shouldnt have won it fortunately the voting wasnt only down to you people . SHE DID WIN IT by almost 57% of the votes.
By freesias.. Posted January 25 2009 at 4:23 PM.
Totally agree.. it should be investigated... !!!
And yes! We were robbed!!!
By Babsan.. Posted January 25 2009 at 3:41 PM.
Ulrika winning is doing it for the woman in this county, can wait to look like after op
By Graeme Orr.. Posted January 25 2009 at 3:41 PM.
I agree with one of your readers a lot of it was edited and taken out of context with la toya she was´nt being bitchy when she was talking about the ben and michelle thing with tina and coolio she was just observing the situation.Which is something i would of done why was this girl crying one minute and the laughing the next with coolio. Tina was right this girl is thick. Please not lets have her back on our screens. As for her boyfriend goodluck you´re going to need it mate. Yes we were robbed
By jenny spain.. Posted January 25 2009 at 2:57 PM.
I do not watch big brother, i have just been reading this page and it caught my eye, can someone tell me why anyone would want 2 waste there time watchin a group of people in a house, its sad!!!!!!!
By tracey sweeney.. Posted January 25 2009 at 2:54 PM.
what a fix. She should not have won. She is an ignorant person and she was the most boring housemate<apart from Ben>. Terry should have won big brother because he gave us hours of entertainment and he was always up for the laugh. Ulfreaka is the kind of person who makes women look awful. I just couldn't take to her and I hope I won't be seeing much more of her on telly, or I'll crack up!!!!!!!!
By karen pullen.. Posted January 25 2009 at 2:16 PM.
It was a fix, I am not happy that the house mate with the least character won the show and provided me with no entertainment. BB is just becoming a absolute scam now and I am a shamed to have to pay my TV license money to have this on the telly.
By Charmaine.. Posted January 25 2009 at 2:15 PM.
Of course Coolio shouldn't have won - that would have been rediculous - not to mentio just plain wrong ! Showing our youngsters of today that being rude/offensive/intimidating & not to mention sexist , the winning way !!! I DONT THINK SO !!!
I have to admit Ulrika winning was more to do with a woman winning after the guys being soooo anti women . . And not necessarily for Ulrika being soooo great ( BBBM the after show interview proved that ! Ulrika was a sarcastic pain in the backside that even I wished she hadn't won & I had been ecstatic that she had beaten Coolio - albeit briefly !)
I regret my vote already
By Janny.. Posted January 25 2009 at 1:49 PM.
Ulrika won because more woman vote for women - although people would rather believe that a woman is hated by other woman- she stuck up for herself holds her own with the men - remember Ulrika-ka-ka -ka, she was on shooting stars don't think u can be on that show back then and not have a sense of humour, I actually think Ch 4 held back some of her best dry witty moments !, More women can be bothered to vote than men- ashamedley i am not one of those women i just watch for the fun,
By Laura M.. Posted January 25 2009 at 1:38 PM.
Well done Ulrika she was a good housemate i cant believe everyone is saying its a fix its getting a bit repetetive now.I voted along with the other 56 percent for the true winner she didnt deserve it any less than the others!!!
By james.. Posted January 25 2009 at 12:58 PM.
OMG how Verne or Terry did not win is a shambles, I had my suspicions for few years back that this show was all fixed from the start. And how Ulrika won i don't know. She did nothing apart from that song with Verne that was her highlight of the past few weeks. But come on guys i think from now on people should not decide to blank this show and show no interest then CH4 will then dump it where it belongs i used to be a Fan up to a few days ago and "Yes" i did vote for Verne but i will never vote again. To hell with this show. Regards. John
By John.. Posted January 25 2009 at 1:12 PM.
Perhaps it was a group scam. It seemed obvious that the public would not choose Ulrika for her behaviour and popularity within the house and many a true word said in jest 'It's a fix'.
For the price of a few phone calls for each person on the last day a £1,000 bet would give a good dividend. Maybe the fraud squad should check the amount of the bets made on the last day to see if there is a significance or similarities.
By Elaine.. Posted January 25 2009 at 12:32 PM.
Well done Ulrika for winning. why cant people just say things like this a bit more often, why do we have analyse how much she got, or how she won, SHE WON, and well done her for doing it!
By neil wilkes.. Posted January 25 2009 at 11:35 AM.
Ulrika said it herself, it was a fix. The fact that she was the most unpopular amongst her fellow housemates being put up for eviction so many times, I think the fact she escaped was also a fix. The CBB bosses must have been very anxious and thought they weren't getting value for money so, time after time, they 'fixed' her non eviction. (Of course they will vehemently deny this). Fair enough - well not really - but to actually allow her to win just takes the proverbial p... Tommy should have won as he was good humoured, funny, entertaining and honest throughout with no hissy fits - it looks as though the good guys don't win. However, I would like to see him back on tv with his own show - he deserves it - if this happens then he will be a winner. Hope nobody is entertaining the idea of Ulrika having her own show - actually that might not be such a bad idea 'cos the ratings will be so pooor it won't last long!!
carolyn london
By carolyn biddle.. Posted January 25 2009 at 11:43 AM.
There is something certainly not right when the least entertaining housemate wins.
By Tom Fulep.. Posted January 25 2009 at 11:15 AM.
I have followed every BB series since BB2 nearly 24-7 while its showing. Having watched whatever little live streaming was shown, C4's one hour show did not depict life in the CBB house accurately. They edited the show unfairly, leaving out a lot of the comedy that happened after the saddos in the luxury bedroom had gone to bed by 11.00. The boys in the house (excluding Ben) were the best entertainment and one of them should have won. All Ulrika did was bitch and moan in the first week: hardly ever talked with LaToya until the last week when there were no other girls around.
I also didn't like the way Michelle tried to use the bullying ploy with Coolio. She laughed the Ben thing off whenever other HM's said it (once again edited out of the one hour show).
LaToya's perceptiveness was taken out of context to what she was actually saying on the live streaming.
Come the summer when the new BB starts, I shall be looking for the red button live streaming. If this is taken away, I will not watch BB again. The whole object of BB is to follow people 24-7. It is supposed to be a fly-on-the-wall reality show; not a one-hour edited show that the producers focus on who they want to win!
By Loraine.. Posted January 25 2009 at 11:19 AM.
Coolio, Verne, or Terry should have won not that miserable so and so.All she did was moan, and for her little girl friends ugh! Tina was orrible, she shouldent have been allowed on screen, she was scarey.
By caroline webb.. Posted January 25 2009 at 11:24 AM.
Fix?Off course it was.Her attempts at pretending she wanted to be voted out were pathetic and transparent.
Shame on Channel 4 for allowing this to happen
By Alan Connor.. Posted January 25 2009 at 10:35 AM.
wot a complete sham celeb bb was this yr. urrghrika 2 win wot a joke. wot did she actually contribute in2 the house, other than being herself !!. tommy and verne were the only 2 that actually had great personalities. il never 4get verne crashing in2 the diary room and es attempt at chatting up latoya, that has gota be the funniest moments ever on bb in its complete history of the show. ulrika may have been crowned the winner but verne was the clear winner.instead of another celeb bb, channel 4 should think about doing a commedians only bb.
By rachel.. Posted January 25 2009 at 9:50 AM.
The real Ulika was on cbbbm thats the women we all grew to dislike.As most of us didnt have live feed channel 4 could show what they like making sure she stayed in.They decided to pair her up with Vern with endless love when she was up for eviction.Making sure she stayed in.It worked they didnt want their hightest paid celeb going out early.What a farce.
By merryl.. Posted January 25 2009 at 9:14 AM.
Ulrika deserved to win after all the flack she received from fellow housemates. She conducted herself brilliantly. She's a top top chick and I hope we'll be seeing more of her on TV again. WELL DONE URLIKA!!
By Jane.. Posted January 25 2009 at 9:16 AM.
would love to see ulrika in a house on her own and see how much entertainment she manages to provide in order to gain tv ratings.. my thinking is absolute ZERO! also if she is such a great mum, should she really have left a young baby at home!?
By greendog.. Posted January 25 2009 at 9:22 AM.
"Ulrika: Winning means nothing"
If winning meant nothing why were you hysterical when you were nominated in the first week? Don't lie.....winning was EVERYTHING to you.
By Sara.. Posted January 25 2009 at 9:18 AM.
Hah, she only one because people got on a mission to halt the men winning, Coolio is the real winner of the show, he did exactly what he was paid to do. Caused a stir and gave us some laughs.
By clueless.. Posted January 25 2009 at 8:47 AM.
she was so boring she was like little miss perfect but we all know she is not TERRY was the most down to earth bloke and i hope we see more of him on telly betty london
By betty.. Posted January 25 2009 at 8:58 AM.
its quite clear for all to see that ulrika is not botherd about winning based on her comments
yes she was shocked- because she knew that she did not deserve to win, which is why she said it was a fix
she was nice yes but the show was based on entertainment and others provided it and were the deserved winners which is why everyone is so shocked
good housemate but did not warrant in being a winner- thats what the show was about not about how nice or humble a character but who kept the viewers glued to the screens
By fiona.. Posted January 25 2009 at 7:32 AM.
Did not see all of the series. I couldn't bear to watch when that awful Tina was on. I hope they axe the show - it is getting boring now.
By Carol.. Posted January 25 2009 at 7:24 AM.
I guess I'd be one of the 56% who absolutely wanted Ulrika to win after seeing her be the only one to stick up to the possy of men. All intimidated by a strong woman (shame on your Tommy--kind of let your values guard down there, eh?). All the folks in and around the studio were the minority who had bought the media's bias). It's good to see the majority isn't so bigoted. Good on ya Ulrika. Way to go!
By Jer in US.. Posted January 25 2009 at 4:47 AM.
I see Ulrika, after many, many, many men, finally chose this current one for the MONET.
By Trevor Nelson.. Posted January 25 2009 at 1:33 AM.
Still shell shocked Verne came 4th when he was a solid bookies favourite from the get-go. Terry was robbed IMHO but his interview and reception was lovely so all's well I guess. He's a witty, funny man - give him his own TV show. Personally if I were Ulrika, I would not publicly reiterate I did not give a chicken about the experience as I only wanted to get my massive cheque and go home (especially when I knew I was being paid more than everyone in the house!!!). I thought that was incredibly, pompous, arrogant and selfish of her. I also hated the fact that she was so unwilling from start to finish to do anything in the house, moaned, blamed everything on men and played the false victim yet somehow won. Hmmm. Congrats to her....
By Kara.. Posted January 25 2009 at 1:41 AM.
what shock, horror. Ulrika wining the big brother show..It sounds like a real fix! Miss bosy boots to say the least. All she did was sneer - and thought herself a cut above others. I've produced 4 beautiful children she kept saying. Yeah quite right Ulrika, but prouducing 4 beautiful children with 4 different fathers isn't exactly something to be proud of. some role model for her daughters eh.
Those who counted the votes on friday night must have did so with their eyes shut.
Ulrika was not in my opinion the real winner.
Vern or Coolio should have taken the crown.
THEY WERE ROBBED! shan't be watching celeb big bro anymore. IT WAS A SHAM.
Sent by Lilly in Kent
By lLilly.. Posted January 25 2009 at 1:25 AM.