Rachel Rice
Rachel Jenkins is a British actress, model and reality television star from Pontypool, Wales. She is best known for winning the ninth series of the Channel 4 reality television programme Big Brother UK. Rice became the first Welsh contestant to win the show across its entire run and only Welsh winner during its years on Channel 4.
Acting career
Rice worked as an actress from a young age, her most notable role was alongside Hugh Grant in the 1993 gothic horror, Night Train to Venice, when she was eight years old. She was most active between the years of 1993-1996; also having roles in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes and The Prince and the Pauper. She also took part in multiple television advertisements including Sony Handicam's infamous Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden, in 1991.She has a degree in Drama and English, she began teaching full-time in 2013 at Croesyceiliog Comprehensive School.
Modelling career
Rice was the runner up in the 2003 Miss Wales beauty contest, which was won by Imogen Thomas; who coincidentally appeared as a housemate in series seven of Big Brother UK. She competed for both South and North Wales in Miss Great Britain.In 2004, she won the Wales on Sunday newspaper's Welsh Idol contest, she was also a finalist in the 2005 More magazine's Most Fanciable Girl in the UK contest.
Big Brother UK
In 2008, Rice entered the ninth series of Big Brother UK. She survived two evictions, the first in Week 8, where she and 9 other housemates faced eviction as a punishment for breaking the rules, and the second on Week 10, where she survived over Stuart Pilkington, with 41% of the vote. Rice won the show on Day 93, becoming the shows first Welsh winner. She won with 51.3% of the vote.She revealed on Big Brother's Little Brother, that she planned to spend her £100,000 prize money on paying student debts, buying a new car and donated £10,000 to charity. She confirmed this on a 2009 episode of T4, while discussing her first impressions of the Big Brother series 10 housemates.