Friends and celebrities have paid tribute to the reality TV star Nikki Grahame, who has died of anorexia at 38.
Grahame, who appeared on Big Brother in 2006, had been treated privately after a crowdfunding appeal raised £65,000 but died early on Friday.
Pete Bennett, a fellow contestant on series seven of the show, which he won, and Grahame’s former boyfriend, said in a video: “I thought to myself, yeah, we could save her. But we didn’t.” He had “lost a family member”, he said, adding: “It’s OK. She’s in a good place. She’s not suffering any more.”
She documented her experience of anorexia in a book in 2009, detailing how she developed the disorder as a teenager, struggled with it throughout her life and spent time in hospital on several occasions. Her mother, Sue, had recently revealed that Grahame relapsed during lockdown.
Davina McCall, the former Big Brother presenter, wrote on Twitter: “I am so desperately sad to hear about Nikki Grahame. My thoughts are with her friends and family xx she really was the funniest, most bubbly sweetest girl.”
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Paddy McGuinness, the comedian, added: “One of the stars from the glory years of reality TV. I met her a long time ago and she was a lovely girl.”
Channel 4 tweeted: “We are desperately saddened by the tragic news about Nikki Grahame and our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with Nikki’s family and friends.”
A fundraising page was set up last month, asking fans to donate towards her recovery. The page said that she was in “a very bad way” and needed treatment in a rehabilitation centre. Several Big Brother figures including Rylan Clark-Neal, a former winner of the celebrity version of the show, retweeted the appeal.
Grahame is understood to have left the centre a day before her death.
Speaking on television before Grahame’s death, her mother said: “This last year has just about floored her . . . From the first lockdown, it was hellish. She struggled because she couldn’t go to the gym. Then in December she fell down and cracked her pelvis in two places and broke her wrist. The isolation, she couldn’t see anyone. I offered to stay with her but she said, ‘I need to stay in my own home.’ It’s been really hard for her. She had terminal loneliness . . . she was cut off, spending too much time on her own and nothing to think about other than food.
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“I spoke to her and she said, ‘Please stress how overwhelmed I am by people’s kindness, tell everyone I’m going to try my level best to beat this, I’m going to get my life back.’”
Grahame was known for her tantrums in the Big Brother house. She would often complain in the diary room about the conditions in the house or fellow contestants, once shouting, “It’s so cold,” and, on another occasion, asking “who is she?” after a new housemate joined the show.
Grahame was voted back into the house four weeks after she was first evicted. She eventually finished in fifth place. She went on to win a National Television Award for most popular TV contender.