Does anyone remember the furore when it was discovered an agency had billed Endemol for Makosi? Just to refresh your memories this is from a DS news article at the time:

Makosi actress claims denied

Well it looks as if they've been at it again with Chantelle . This is from tonight's London Evening Standard

she's been a soccerette on soccer AM as well.

Someone ought to tell the Standard that being a look-a-like does not equal fame. I mean, is that fat bloke who looks like Elton John famous? Not really, I bet no-one can name him.

She has had a lot of work though to say she is a non-celebrity. She has appeared on TV and in national newspapers so I would say she has had too much media attention to claim she is not a celebrity.

I was more interested that Endemol had contacted an agency for lookalike celebs, when we've been told Chantelle had been earmarked for CBB4 during the BB6 auditions

Endemol, BB producers and Channel4 are outrageously corrupt but what can you do?

I've just googled her and come up with this link

http://www.facesmodelling.com/model_detail.asp?ID=29

Its possible she could have been hired but I quite like her so I don't mind either way.

well how can any one complane because it is celebrity big brother

Davina introduced her as a promos girl from essex, did she not?

Here she is again:

http://www.curvedfx.com/girliepreviews/chantelle.html

Something about Superbikes???

Someone said that she was there on the last night of bb6 with the other standbys. I got the feeling she may have been in the dry run last year as last night when she was talking about the lights going on in the morning it seemed strange that she was describing how bright it would be in the bedroom. she seemed to know exactly what was talking about. It makes sense to use someone they know will be good in the house as well

i cant believe this.

People on this thread arguing that Chantelle IS a celebrity while on another thread people are arguing that Preston ISN'T???

mad.

take a deep breath and count to 10

sorry but because she's done a few appearances in mags andis a paris hilton lookalike, shes a celeb? i bet three people knew her name because of her work.

And what a surprise, she does a job which had her in the spotlight. all BB contestants these days are attention seeking wannabes, and most have dabbled with media in one way or another. most people have.

Yes I agree with you. The issue isn't whether she has a level of celebrity or not, the issue is whether she was hired or not.

And like you imply, it becomes apparent that Chantelle's agency wasn't approached to hire somebody for this Celebrity Big Brother.....no, the agency appears to have been contacted with a view to hiring somebody for the normal BB that was shown last summer...which is even worse.

Way back during BB3 some of us suggested that Endemol were hiring people for BB due to nearly all of the contestants working in the media, holding equity cards, and even a couple of them having appeared as extras on mainstream television drama shows like 'Casualty' and 'The Bill'.

Thankyou AM, at last someone has got this thread back on topic

It's not so much a matter of whether she's a celeb or not, it's more of a matter of whether she's directly been hired from an agency.

Technically Endemol can deny she's there as an actress, because it doesn't necessarily mean that's her job title.

You misunderstood the subject of the thread because that's not what the original post is saying.

It's the paying agencies to get their contestants who we are led to believe are the average man or woman who applied and got lucky.

Sorry, ALrightmate, but the above post implies that she is a celeb, which was the point i was trying to make.

Of course its wrong for Endemol to hire, i agree. But wasn't Derek fast tracked for BB6?

Fair dos, but that's just one post.
The subject of the the thread is about her possibly being chosen and hired to appear by means of a media agency.

And you're right, if it's wrong for one contestant it would be equally wrong for Derek Laud to have been chosen this way too.

It makes a complete mockery of them making out that your average boy or girl next door applies the conventional way. It also gives a false illusion that you or I could apply and get on if we wanted to and get lucky.
It makes a mockery of the show telling us one thing, but basically lying through their teeth to us.

If they are hiring in paid work, they should be honest with the viewers about it.

Indeed. If anything, lookalikes are anti-famous.

SInce virtaully no one had heard of her before or knows who she is, it is stretching it more than a bit to say she is a celebrity!

That is by far my favourite DS post this year. (You can throw in most of last year's too.)

But 'The London Evening Standard' didn't even say that Chantelle was famous.

In fact they reported that the agency in question said that they were glad that Endemol had given Chantelle her big break.

The average man or woman has never applied for BB.

That tabloid article doesn't say she was directly hired.

The C4 site describes her as an "unknown model" (which seems about right) and says:

Chantelle is different from the other housemates in the House. And that's because she's never presented a TV show, never had a hit record and she certainly hasn't won any seats in Parliament.