CBB in race row as Trisha Goddard accuses housemate of ‘Islamophobia’ in tense scenes
CELEBRITY Big Brother has found itself at the centre of a race row after Trisha Goddard accused one housemate of ‘Islamophobia’.
The legendary talk show host, 67, was quick to throw the term at Michael Fabricant as he gave a speech to their co-stars.
The former Conservative MP, 74, was addressing the housemates after being told to give a ‘speech’ for the latest CBB task.
Michael began by announcing that he would scrapped the controversial HS2 high-speed train serviced that will eventually link Manchester and London.
He was then asked by EastEnders star Patsy Palmer whether the UK should ever rejoin the European Union.
Michael said he does not think it should before the subject moved on to immigration at the request of Chesney Hawkes.
The former MP for Lichfield in Staffordshire told the housemates that he welcomes immigrants, providing they don’t expect to “change everybody’s” way of thinking.
He explained he has a French surname and is of “Jewish extraction”, to which Trisha shouted: “Oi!”
Michael continued: “Jewish people when they usually come to this country believe, do in Rome as the Roman’s do.”
“Do not come to this country if your aim is to change everybody to your way of thinking.”
Trisha immediately piped up and shouted: “Hang on!”
She continued: “Are you slipping into Islamophobia? Because you’re going to have trouble. It’s getting dangerous.”
Michael – who admitted he had no filter before entering the CBB house – looked taken aback and refuted her claim, saying: “Who has mentioned Islam?”
As Daley Thompson got up to leave, Trisha said: “Yeah, it’s getting dangerous.”
Michael continued: “I’m trying to explain this country has benefited from wave upon wave of immigration.”
He later received support from some of his fellow housemates, including Chris Hughes and Chesney.
Chesney told Michael: “I don’t know why Trisha went into the Islamophobia thing. I thought that was a bit weird, because you weren’t talking about that.”
Chris added: “You didn’t say anything Islamophobic. You did good up there, well done.”
Michael was also seen in the Diary Room talking to Big Brother about the incident.
He said: “Trisha was jumping to conclusions about what I was getting at.
“She was stereotyping me as a Conservative and jumped to Islamophobic, which is definitely not me.
“It was a bit simplistic for her to jump to and I didn’t like it.”
Celebrity Big Brother 2025 line-up
Celebrity Big Brother is back for a brand new series, with a whole host of stars set to live it up in the famous compound.
Here’s the FULL line-up of star housemates:
Trisha Goddard – Talk show host
Mickey Rourke – Hollywood actor
Donna Preston – comedian and TV star
JoJo Siwa – influencer and singer
Chris Hughes – Love Island hunk
Jack P. Shepherd – Coronation Street star
Patsy Palmer – EastEnders legend
Daley Thompson – Olympic athlete
Chesney Hawkes – 90s singer
Ella Rae Wise – Towie star
Michael Fabricant – former Tory politician
Angellica Bell – former CBBC presenter
Danny Beard – Drag queen and Britain’s Got Talent
Michael has since become the first housemate to be evicted from Celebrity Big Brother 2025.
When asked by hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best about the incident, he slammed Trisha for “having an agenda”.
“She misunderstands how politics is a broad thing and how you can be a left wing Tory and a right wing Labour guy. They overlap,” he said.
Michael added: “I think only one person took it too seriously but anyway.”