Love her or hate her (and don't 'hate' her, 'cause calm down, it's Big Brother), Big Brother 2024 contestant Lily Benson was an exceptional housemate and provided all of us with weeks of quality entertainment.
Okay, fine, she might not have been the easiest person to live with (allegedly), but she was unequivocally and unapologetically herself from start to finish and can you honestly say you would've been like that at 20 years old? Come on.
Naturally, we were very intrigued to see whether the Lily we've been watching on telly night after night for the last few weeks was the Lily we get IRL, and after catching up with her a couple of days after her eviction, we can confirm she absolutely is. Love it or hate it (again, calm down), Lily is Lily, and while it didn't get her to the final, it did bag her a new lifelong bestie in the form of Ali Bromley.
This unlikely duo grew to become thick as thieves in the house, hyping one another up at every occasion and come every brutal Big Brother twist. So, naturally, when heatworld asked Lily who she wanted to win the series, she chose Ali.
And OMG her plans to support her bestie on finale night are SO Lily...
When we asked Lily to name her winner she screamed (loudly, obv), 'THE RED WITCH!'
She continued, 'Oh my God, I'm telling you, I have a whole plan. I'm going to make a sign and before the final I'm going to hold the sign.'
heat then suggested Lily wear a red cloak as a nod to Ali's witchy ways, to which Lily responded, 'Oh my God, stop, you're actually planting sh*t in my head now. I actually don't give a sh*t. I would actually dress up as the Red Witch for the final. Like, I actually don't care if I look good or not. I couldn't give a sh*t.'
When we asked Lily whether she's met Ali's friends, family and partner in person yet, she responded, 'Yes I have. Literally the day after I came out, her girlfriend, her sister and her niece really wanted to meet me. I obviously went to the hotel straight away and they just couldn't wait to meet me.
'It's weird because our families have been to evictions, they've done Late and Live together, so like, our families already knew each other. They'd been speaking the whole time. It was really nice to meet Ali's family. Ali said I was like her girlfriend because her girlfriend is like a golden retriever. She's so nice. I just love her girlfriend. I just love her family. I'm adopted. They've adopted me.'
It's giving Annie - if Annie was blonde, 20 years old and really, REALLY loud.
And after hearing Lily sing Bad Romance, we're in no rush to hear her rendition of Tomorrow...
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Ben Pulsford is a digital writer for Bauer Media, writing for both Closer online and heatworld. When he's not getting paid to gossip about Big Brother, Love Island, and The Real Housewives of Cheshire, he's storming the London LGBTQ+ scene as drag queen, Beary Poppins. Both Ben and Beary are awaiting an invite to join The Real Housewives of Cheshire for series 18. The budget's not there, but the drama is 💅