Nadia Almada
Nadia Almada (born January 28, 1977) is a Portuguese reality television star, best-known for being the first transsexual winner of the reality show Big Brother UK, in 2004.
She was born on the Portuguese Island of Madeira, under the name of Jorge, but she was known as Carlos. She moved to England in 1996 and worked in a department store in Woking, where she lives. She has also managed a children's bookstore. Before entering the Big Brother house she worked as a cashier in a well-known bank.
She became the first transwoman in the Big Brother house, competing in the 2004 series in the UK. After 71 days in the house she emerged as the winner, securing 74% of the overall vote and winning £63,500.
Winning the programme was of great importance to Almada, not because of the prize money, but for the chance to be accepted by society as a woman. In the house she kept her past a secret from her housemates, although the production team and the audience knew, as did a housemate who entered the house some weeks into the competition. Some housemates suspected it, such as Marco Sabba and Jason Cowan, but said nothing to Almada. She heard people outside the house discussing it, which upset her, but the other housemates said they didn't hear (although Stuart Wilson later claimed he did).
Almada's popularity with the audience possibly came from her dress sense, her gentle but also volatile nature and her humourous side - such as extreme use of brooms - and showering in her 6-inch high heeled sandals. She felt that she would be voted off at the earliest opportunity due to her past, but this too endeared her to the public.
Her father, Luis, didn't know his child was transsexual until The Sun newspaper tracked him down and revealed the story. The Sun also dubbed Nadia the Portugeezer, the "Portuguese Man O' War" and NADS, NADS being a slang term for gonads (testicles) [1]. Her mother hadn't seen her for a year, since before transitioning, but was there to welcome her back into the outside world after the show concluded. Her mother then told Almada how proud she was of her.
Since Big Brother, Almada released a music single called, "A Little Bit Of Action" and made a guest appearance in soap opera Hollyoaks. She entered the Big Brother 2005 Australia House , visiting the three finalists during their final week in the House. Temperamental housemate Vesna had Almada in tears within hours of her entry, by simply asking if she was born a man or a woman, however Almada formed friendly bonds with the housemates.
Almada returned to England, and subsequently admitted herself to a clinic after experiencing depression, but discharged herself the morning after. A report in September 2005 implied that the fact that the Australian housemates had apparently identified her as transsexual within two hours of her entry into the Big Brother house, along with her show business career levelling out, were contributing factors to the depression [2].
Nadia has since made a few British television appearances, one in an advert for Big Brother 7's Golden Tickets, where she was a shop assistant in a supermarket stealing Kit Kat bars as she scanned them, and an appearance in a sketch in June 30 2006's episode of The Friday Night Project, where they parodied another sketch from Little Britain.