Dee free at last as Comic Relief heads for record | Television & radio | The Guardian
Dee free at last as Comic Relief heads for record
Friday 16 March 2001 20.24 EST
First published on Friday 16 March 2001 20.24 EST
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Watching Vanessa Feltz lose her hair extensions in the cooking might not be everyone's idea of quality television, but viewers of the compulsive Celebrity Big Brother helped Comic Relief raise tens of millions, after a week-long ordeal for six contestants.
Big Brother, the surreal centrepiece of this week's events, turned its overwhelmed winner, comedian Jack Dee, into a national sweetheart.
Red Nose Day has become an institution, with this year's slogan of "Say pants to Poverty" adding another twist to the already bizarre spectacle of 4m plastic noses adorning British faces and cars yesterday in aid of the charity.
During the Big Brother contestants' painfully public incarceration in a house full of cameras, Dee made several foiled escape attempts, managing to break free just long enough to give his wife Jane a hug. Last night, allowed to leave the house legitimately after being voted the winner by the viewing public, deadpan Dee finally showed emotion when he was greeted outside by Jane, hugging her tightly and planting a kiss on her lips.
Earlier Keith Duffy, a member of the boy band Boyzone and one of the most jovial members of the house, left after being voted out. He embraced fellow housemates Claire Sweeney, the Brookside actress, and Dee before leaving to a rapturous reception from fans gathered in the rain outside. He shouted: "I need a good drink."
The show has so far raised £500,000 for charity. The houses's first evictee, former boxer Chris Eubank, had been swiftly followed by a crestfallen Feltz, Anthea Turner, then Duffy and finally runner-up Sweeney.
Despite sour grapes from "nasty" Nick Bateman, Big Brother's original celebrity, who dismissed the latest contestants as "a bunch of desperate celebrities trying to advance dwindling careers", the programme raised millions as the public phoned to vote for the latest evictees.
Elsewhere, more than 150,000 fundraising events led up to yesterday's BBC television extravaganza, which also featured a long-awaited interview between Ali G and the Beckhams.
Robbie Williams's personal belongings were auctioned and Billy Connolly performed one of his habitual streaks, this time around Eros in Piccadilly. It was only to be screened last night if television audiences raised £1m in an hour. A special edition of Harry Potter books looks set to raise up to £20m from worldwide sales.
A total of £174m has been raised since Red Nose Day's inception in 1985. Then it was launched from a refugee camp in Sudan in 1985 as an attempt to relieve poverty in Africa.
But more than a quarter of this year's money has come from commercial donors, turning Red Nose into a brand in its own right and posing questions about the spirit of the campaign.
Earlier in the week BT was criticised for taking a hefty portion of money from people calling its Comic Relief premium rate line.
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Useful links
<A HREF=" http://www.theguardian.com/netnotes/article/0,6729,450739,00.html">Net notes: Everything you need to know about the show on the web
<A HREF=" http://www.bigbrother.terra.com/" TARGET="_new">Official Big Brother site