One day into her time in the ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ house, and Stacy Francis has already found herself at the centre of the first controversy of the series.
Towards the end of Wednesday’s (4 January) highlights show, James Jordan, Coleen Nolan and Stacy were all in the garden, discussing which bed Ray J would be sleeping in (ironically, he napped through the rest of the group claiming theirs).
The group explained that Ray J had said he didn’t want to share with Brandon Block, and instead would be bed-buddies with Austin Armacost, which came as something of a surprise to Stacy.
She told the rest of the group: “So, Ray didn’t wanna sleep with Brandon? But he would sleep with a gay boy?”
When James Jordan asked her to repeat her comment, Stacy said: “He wanna sleep with the… the boy that wants to… the gay boy.”
Again, the former ‘Strictly’ pro asked her to repeat herself, to which she responded: “Isn’t Austin gay? So, [Ray J] is OK with that?”
As Colleen and James both insisted that they wouldn’t have a problem with sharing a bed with Austin, Stacy rolled her eyes and added: “I know. I’m being sarcastic, oh my God. Everybody’s so serious, oh my God.”
Stacy was quickly met with a backlash and even accusations of homophobia on social media, with many calling her out for not referring to Austin by his name:
Others have responded to the furore by defending Stacy:
On her first night in the house, Stacy was chosen by the ‘All Stars’ as the first housemate to be “edited out” of the show, which was ironic given that she wound up taking most of the airtime in the first show of the series.
‘Celebrity Big Brother’ airs every night on Channel 5.
