IT’S 20 years since Nadia Almada’s landslide victory on Big Brother – after she charmed fans with her witticisms, vulnerability and throaty chuckle.
But despite changing her raven mane to bombshell blonde, and using a pseudonym on dating apps, potential suitors still recognise her — a scenario she finds off-putting.
“I can see they get that flash of recognition, and they will say, ‘Oh my God, it’s you! I can’t believe it!’,” she reveals.
“It’s lovely, but the date ends up being about Nadia from Big Brother rather than me as I am now. It’s a real turn off.”
Nadia fondly recalls living her “best life” in 2004 as she took part in series five of Big Brother, surviving ten weeks of cigarette rations — and even the explosive row among contestants dubbed “Fight Night” — to win with a record 74 per cent of the vote.
She describes her life as being split into two parts — “Before Big Brother and After Big Brother, like before and after Christ”. And she hopes the next chapter might involve finding a fella.
Nadia says: “I love men. Men are great, men usually love me most of the time. But would I get married one day? For the tax benefits, yes! And also for the British passport,” she adds with a laugh.
Much as she likes to date, Nadia insists she won’t be looking to win a man’s affection by appearing on today’s reality TV phenomenon, Love Island.
“Also, as an old romantic, I find it abhorrent how love and sex are portrayed. They have become so trivial.
“Maybe I am too old, as I’m Gen X. I was growing up in an era when everything was taboo and we couldn’t talk about it.
“I suppose my own attitude has changed compared to being a young woman. I equated sex with love, but it is not. Sex is great but it is not the same as true intimacy between two people. I value that so much more.”
Nadia, 47, isn’t one for toyboys, either, admitting she prefers middle-aged men she can relate to — as long as they don’t have one particular trait.
“I love a little bit of a dad bod. I’m down with that,” she says with a laugh.
“As long as it’s not a full, hairy back, I’m not into that, although laser removal is an option.
“I like to date men the same age, no more than five years’ difference. If I had the millions, the gated community, three homes abroad and offshore accounts, yes, I’d have a little bit of eye candy.
“I could fly them out for a couple of weeks and then be left by myself. But I don’t have any of that.”
It’s a classic, cheekily candid confession by one of reality TV’s original stars — or, as Nadia calls them, “OGs” — who broke boundaries in series five of the fly-on-the-wall show.
She was the first trans contestant to move into the house, a fact the audience was aware of but fellow housemates were not.
Nadia negotiated the terms of her place with Endemol, who made the programme for Channel 4, stressing it was her story to tell, not theirs. And she didn’t intend to be a role model.
She just wanted to live on her own terms, finally — but her overwhelming popularity made her an idol by default, while allowing her to feel accepted as a woman.
After exiting the house to instant fame, she says she approached dating with trepidation, but “ended up meeting some good people”.
She recalls one man she had a “holiday fling” with on a trip to South Africa later surprising her by flying over to visit her — and arriving at her flat with a huge bouquet of red roses.
“I lived on the top floor and I felt it was like my Pretty Woman moment, where Richard Gere chases after Julia Roberts at the end,” she says, smiling.
But despite her popularity, Nadia isn’t living the celebrity lifestyle today, like 2002 victor Kate Lawler and 2010’s champion, Josie Gibson.
I’d like to be a little bit more vulnerable sometimes, like I was on the show.
Nadia Almada
While she grabbed opportunities that presented themselves after her win, including releasing the single A Little Bit Of Action in 2004, she has mostly lived away from the spotlight.
She trained as a hairdresser with Vidal Sassoon and works for private clients, still living in Woking, Surrey, where she settled after leaving the Portuguese isle of Madeira as a teen.
Nadia is honest about not spending her £63,500 winnings wisely. She splurged the cash on high-end Fendi handbags, designer shoes and five-star holidays. “Sometimes I wish I had been a little bit wiser, taken other avenues and decisions.
“I’d like to be a little bit more vulnerable sometimes, like I was on the show, because it is hard to ask for help.
“But I’ve managed to find a balance and protect my nearest and dearest.”
Dating as a trans woman has never been an issue for Nadia. She reveals: “I will say that I’ve never been in a position where being a trans woman went against me.
“If anything, it has been the other way round and I have broken up with one or two men due to it. I give them honesty. It’s quite awful, they can’t believe it. They say, ‘But it’s OK for me’. And I’m like, ‘I’m not OK’.”
Nadia stresses that, for the most part, dating as a trans woman isn’t much different. “Trans women are in relationships. Trans women get married. Trans women have children. We are the same as everybody else,” she explains.
“We have very, very content, fulfilled lives, in all aspects. Admittedly, I do have the ‘privilege’ of being 5ft 5in, so as not to call attention to me physically.
“But then again, men are attracted to many things. So are trans women. So are cisgender women. So is everybody.”
As for her relationship status, she declares: “I date and I’m happily single. Those things work well for me.
“I’ve met a lot of special men in my life, and they’ve been great contributors to the best version of who I am today.
“But I’m also very happily alone and very comfortable with being at home and in my own company.
“Maybe this is a side effect of all the exposure from 20 years ago.”
While there is nothing stopping Nadia, who moved to the UK at 19, applying for a British passport, she instead muses: “I could live with a man.
“But ideally we’d have our own bedrooms so that I can sleep in my clean sheets and pristine room.
“I’m happy to date men with kids, but I’ll never be called ‘stepmum’. I’d rather be a friend with life experience.
“I was never sure if I wanted to be a mum but, when my friends started families in their thirties, I got my Yorkshire terrier, Bebê. He was my heart child. He passed away. I still miss him.”
As someone with a lifelong complicated relationship with her body, Nadia says she “hates” the physical changes that come with getting older. “I know we should embrace every passage of our body, but I am not. It’s awful,” she sighs.
“I’m not embracing my FUPA (fatty upper pubic area). I have the muffin top, too. Turning 40 and then the pandemic, everything kind of went crazy — my body, my skin and my hair. Ageing sucks.
“I’m very natural with my hairdressing, because I like a style that is classic, traditional and tres chic. But not for me!
“I’ve done a few things already, like the eyes, and I am in talks right now for a full facelift. I need to lose a little bit more weight first.”
She says her blonde look, a world away from her darker style on Big Brother, is here to stay, adding: “I can’t cope with the white. The silver hairs! That’s why I love my blonde.
“As a trans woman, I obviously have suffered from gender identity disorder, dysmorphia, or whatever you call it these days.
“Having said that, I think every 40-plus woman goes through a change. It just affects us all in different ways.
“I’m judged every day by my identity. I’m judged every day about my physicality. I’m judged for my age, especially as a woman.
“Men get away with everything. There’s huge inequality.
Our sexual appeal, our womanhood, doesn’t go anywhere, but it seems to be less attractive.
Nadia Almada
“There is almost like an invisible cloak around middle-aged women and it is a little bit harder to feel desirable to the opposite sex at this time.
“Our sexual appeal, our womanhood, doesn’t go anywhere, but it seems to be less attractive, less demanded, less wanted, certainly to white, cisgender, straight men.”
Despite being out of the spotlight for many years, Nadia’s lasting impression on the public is evident.
Megastar singer Adele even spoke during one of her Las Vegas shows about her love for Nadia and her memories of watching her BB win.
“I was in disbelief,” Nadia says. “But when I saw the video, I became hysterically emotional.
“Because I am a huge fan of hers and for her to acknowledge me, two decades later, this is how symbolic my season was. I am still waiting for that invite to Vegas though.”
She added cheekily: “You know, I don’t need the private jet. I’m happy with the premium economy.
“Maybe we can work on a duet of A Little Bit Of Action while I’m there?”
