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From Exclusive Brethren to Big Brother

Daily Telegraph, via the Mercury News, Australia
Apr. 28, 2008
www.news.com.au

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Monday April 28, 2008

An “escaped” member of the religious sect Exclusive Brethren and a tomboy abattoir worker will join Big Brother’s first grandmother and a high-pitched virgin as the NSW housemates in the new reality series.

Already in the line of fire for plans to reignite One Nation-style race issues, producers have added further fuel to the debate – releasing details of the first 14 contestants to be sent into the Gold Coast compound tonight.

In his bio, 32-year-old firefighter, David (pictured), claims the Exclusive Brethren “denied him the real world” until he fled the sect at the age of 19.

Until then, he had never eaten at a restaurant and never kissed a girl.

He has joined the police force and fire service since his “escape”.

Abattoir worker, Renee, 22, is described as a “rugby-playing tom boy who earns a living as a deboner.”

Despite claims producers would not agree to new host Kyle Sandilands’ demands to turn the latest series into a “freak show,” other housemates include a vertically-challenged belly-dancer, a Plato-reading buxom brunette and a tattooed truck driver.

While Sandilands told Confidential last week many of this year’s contestants were intelligent, we wonder whether he was referring to bricklayer, Rory, 21, who says his favourite “book” is lads mag, FHM.

Religious groups are preparing to battle with BB, after a Muslim housemate packed his bags and left the show before it hit the screens. Producers said his departure was for “family” reasons