Big Brother legend Nick Bateman has opened up about a major difference between the original series’ contestants and today’s participants.
The 57-year-old took part in the ground-breaking first series back in 2000 and gained notoriety for his controversial approach to the game.
He earned the nickname ‘Nasty Nick’ following his manipulation of fellow housemates regarding nominations, remarkably managing to avoid being nominated himself during his time on the programme.
Nick’s scheming led to show bosses ejecting him from the house after spending 34 days in the competition.
More than two decades later, the reality television personality can’t believed how quickly the years have passed, reports OK!.
View 2 Images Nick claims newer contestants enter the show in hunt for fame (Image: Channel 4)
In conversation with Heart Bingo, he confessed: “I can’t believe it’s been 25 years. It feels like it never happened.
“It’s only because of things like YouTube, the media, and the internet that it has remained a part of history, but for me, it now seems very unreal. It’s been a long time since.”
Whilst the former London broker entered the social experiment after becoming weary of the corporate “hamster wheel”, he’s certain today’s participants have entirely different reasons for taking part.
Discussing the programme’s profile when he submitted his application, Nick said: “The show was not really known.
“I think it had aired in Holland a few months before our series started, but I wanted to be blind to the whole challenge.
“So our series wasn’t a show that we were thinking would propel us to any kind of stardom or infamy. We did it for fun.”
He went on to explain how new contestants now view the programme differently.
“Now, people join these shows to get followers, because they can get a career by default for doing nothing.”
View 2 Images He argues there was an “innocence” in the original cast that has since vanished from reality TV(Image: Channel 4)
The Channel 4 star believes the original series had an “innocence” that’s now disappeared from reality television.
He said: “We had that innocence. Also, if you do a reality show now, people can look you up. They can see what you had for dinner last week.
“But with us, whatever we said couldn’t be fact-checked, and we didn’t think we’d be that scrutinised.”
Back then, Nick was amongst over 40,000 hopefuls, though he remains uncertain what set him apart from the rest.
“I’m sure the executive producers once told me they weren’t sure about me, though, and I was their last pick,” he admitted.