Big Brother boots out Emily Hewertson 'for being a Tory'

Emily Hewertson, a conservative social media personality and political events organiser, was approached about appearing on Big Brother months ago. Despite her initial reservations about going on the programme as an outspoken, young, Right-wing woman, she spent weeks going through the casting process, and was eventually selected to join 11 other people in the most famous house in reality TV.

Before the new series premiered on Sunday, she spent days sequestered in a hotel room, cut off from the outside world and having her bags scrutinised by producers.

Unfortunately for Hewertson, the amount of time she actually spent in the Big Brother house is better measured in minutes, not hours. She was sent packing from the reality show in a rare opening night eviction, following a public vote, making her one of the shortest-lived housemates in the show's 25-year history. Meanwhile, Carol Vorderman branded 'disgrace' as she makes major Keir Starmer backtrack.

"It has been," the telegenic 25-year-old from Northamptonshire tells me, "a surreal few days, to say the least."

Political views sparked backlash

Hewertson, who has been photographed with Nigel Farage on a night out and once attended Christmas drinks at Boris Johnson's house, reckons her problems started when her introductory video focused mainly on her political beliefs.

"All the public saw was the [pre-recorded interview] of me being a Tory. I got all the hate - I got the most hate of all the contestants - which is understandable. I don't mind being the Tory villain, but then I also got evicted," she says. "As soon as you say you're a Tory, you've got a bit of a target on your back."

The frustration for Hewertson is that by combining the edit of her interview with the twist of a first-night eviction, the show's producers denied audiences the chance to get to know her - and left her vulnerable to being the first sent packing, amid a wave of social media vitriol. Online critics have been quick to describe her as the "Liz Truss of reality TV", so short was her stint, while there were calls for a boycott of the show from social media users who deem her political views unacceptable.

Denied chance to show other side

"I was absolutely expecting that. I caused that storm, but then I didn't get the opportunity to show anything else and counter all of the negative hate that I got," she says. "I really wanted to show that there's so much more to me than being a Tory."

Not that being Right-wing automatically makes a contestant unpopular; Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative minister, was the runner-up in Celebrity Big Brother's 2018 edition. "People keep saying, 'Oh well in the last few series, the Tories have done really well', and they have, but they also got the opportunity to show the other sides of their personality," Hewertson says. "We did speak about loads more than my politics. They selected the Tory bits knowing it was an on-the-night eviction."

Lamenting what might have been

She has been left lamenting what might have been. "It's such a shame that your political beliefs can be the reason that you only get to spend a few hours in the Big Brother house," Hewertson adds. "Most people's whole life isn't politics; that was the thing that was shown about me, my defining factor, and that was my downfall. That was such a shame, because I think it's really important to humanise people."

Hewertson hopes that her experience does not put off other Right-leaning people from entering such programmes, or speaking publicly in general. "Something that I really wanted to get across on the show is that it's really important for young people to be brave enough to talk about their opinions, even if it's opinions I disagree with, as long as it's done in a tolerant and respectful way."

Praise for welfare team despite shock exit

Despite the nasty surprise of getting kicked off the show so early, Hewertson is full of praise for the programme's welfare team, who make sure contestants are OK before, during and after their time in the house, as well as her fellow participants. "Everyone was really, really lovely," she says. "It's hard to know, because I only had a few minutes with some of them."

From viral sensation to GB News regular

Hewertson first shot to online prominence in 2019 when, as a 19-year-old, she went viral for livestreaming coverage of the EU election results on the dancefloor of a Leicester nightclub. She has since amassed almost 170,000 followers on X and is a regular pundit on GB News.

Big Brother was not the first reality programme Hewertson considered joining. She says that she turned down offers to appear on Love Island because she thought that the dating show was not suited to somebody who wore their political heart on their sleeve. "I enjoy an intellectual debate and a whole range of characters; on Love Island, a lot of the characters are quite similar, come from similar walks of life, et cetera," she says, "whereas on Big Brother it's all about different opinions and all about good debate. I thought this would be a good opportunity for me."

Single and looking for love

It was also an opportunity to tell the almost 600,000 live viewers of the ITV2 show that she was single and looking for love. "At least I got that in there, so maybe I'll get a few dates off the back of that."

Despite the Conservative Party's recent woes, Hewertson says she still considers herself a Tory - even if she did draft a letter of resignation after Rishi Sunak's D-Day debacle last summer.

Still fighting for Conservative values

"I am a conservative, I'm in the Conservative Party, I want to fight to make the Conservative Party conservative again," she says. "I feel like I'm in the right party. It's almost like me being stubborn and loyal and wanting to fight for our principles again."

That said, the Brexiteer is also a fan of Farage, and despite false accusations, she is not the individual who assaulted the Reform leader with a milkshake during last summer's election campaign. "I love Nigel, and it's nice to see that Reform has generated this new wave of patriotism, which I think is so important. I have a lot of respect for Reform," Hewertson adds. "Who knows? A few more defections of my favourite Tories and I might have to go too. I always say, if Bobby J [AKA Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary] goes, I go."

Silver lining to brutal eviction

There is one (dubious) upside to Hewertson's early eviction from the programme: she is now able to attend the Conservative Party Conference, which starts in Manchester on Sunday.

"It depends on whether you argue Tory conference is a good time or not," she says. "I'm very happy to be going, but of course I would rather be in the Big Brother house."