It's the end of the world as we know it. Rylan Clark's been leaving the Big Brother House to rehearse for the X Factor Tour and nobody knew. Except Gillian Taylforth, obvs.
The ex Eastenders star (she was Phil's missus and Ian's ma) was being interviewed on Channel 5's The Wright Stuff on Monday when she let slip that RhyRhy was regularly popping out for a song and dance. And breaking about a billion reality telly rules while he was at it. Because everything that happens on Reality TV is totally and utterly above board. *Cough*
Anyway, 24 hours later and the blood's still pumping, particularly among fans of the show and ex Big Brother contestants. Glamour model turned magazine columnist Nicola McClean (who did both Big Bro and I'm A Celeb) was none to happy. "I am furious" she said, "this defeats the entire point of the show. No exceptions have ever been made before. This is Rylan Clark, not Michael Jackson." Go figure.
Big Brother 2's Narinder Kaur (she was best buds with our Brian Dowling) wasn't too impressed with the news either: "IF its true that £rylan has been leaving the BB house for xfctor rehearsals then there's NO WAY he deserves to win! That's the whole point!!" she tweeted, clearly too flustered to cope with the art of typing. And when Channel 5 confirmed that Rylan had indeed been popping out to rehearse, it was time for round 2 with the keyboard: "Ch 5 have confirmed that Rylan HAS been leavin the house!! BANG out of order & against the no.1 rule of BB! Rylan NOT to win!! Get him out!" she wrote.
Channel 5 confirmed that Rylan's rehearsal breaks were approved prior to the start of the series. His scheduled departures were written into his contract and that's left a few fans with a pretty sour taste in their mouths. It's the lack of transparency y'see, that's what really has them going. Because, like we said, everything that goes on in the world of Reality TV is completely above board...
Grace Dent, on the other hand, saw the funny side of things, dropping Big Brother's Bit on the Side presenter Jamie East a line on Twitter: "@mrjamieeast Is it true Rylan comes to your house every night for Shepherds Pie and Malbec? I heard this... This has made my day #rylan." she tweeted.
We've got three SHAMAZING words for you Channel 5: "No baby, no."