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I haven’t been following Big Brother for the last few years. Got bored of the concept, and it stopped giving me an entertainment value. The only reason I decided to watch its 2010 launch programme was because it's been announced to be the last ever Big Brother on British TV. So I thought I'd have a glance at housemates. Needless to say, I did not expect seeing any Armenian housemate there. And imagine the expression of my face when they announced that a Londoner Shabby Katchadourian was selected to be one of this year's housemates. Not only she has Armenian roots (surname), but she is also a lesbian Armenian. I put a triple WOW when tweeted about the news.
Btw, she got booed by the crowd when entering the house. No, it's not because of her ethnic roots (I do not think anyone out there was aware of her being Armenian) or sexual orientation. I assume it might have something to do with her background and the very straightforward behaviour. Also, may be people did follow her during the pre-selection period, and she did something weird or whatever. Anyway, she seems pretty cool. Will definitely keep an eye on developments.
Here is how a friend of mine described her: “A rich girl gone hippie - the English eccentric with an added twist - hye!!! :)”
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via Channel 4
Age: 24
Home: London
Job: Filmmaker
Starsign: Taurus
Status: In a relationship
Former child actor turned rebel girl Shabby (real name Keeley) describes herself as 'a walking contradiction with a love of poetry and giant boobs'. A squatter, Shabby lives in a squat in a Victorian house in south London.
Keen to transform people's opinions of squatters, Shabby believes she is a citizen of the world. She can not spend more than six months in one place so has to move on. Despite wanting to portray squatters in a new light (she has a shoot planned with Italian Vogue) she admits she eats food discarded by supermarkets.
Her film career as a child star saw her appear in Black Beauty and lose out to Lindsay Lohan for the lead role in The Parent Trap. She's now returned to filmmaking from the other side of the camera and thinks 'films shouldn't be escapist; they should hold a mirror up to the world and show it what it's really like'.
A country girl in her childhood, she moved to London aged 17. She always knew she was gay and at school all the girls who wanted to experiment with their sexuality used to kiss her to test the waters. Her mum found out she was a lesbian when she was caught Shabby with her first girlfriend.
She dislikes public transport, authority figures and strawberries - her fear of mould means she refuses to eat fruit at all. She hates being told no and has an inner spoilt brat waiting to get out. Oppression and Keira Knightley make her angry and she was once regressed and learnt she was an elf in a former life.
Katchadourian isn't her real surname, either. She's not Armenian at all.
ReplyDeleteReally? And what is her real surname?
ReplyDeleteher surname is flanders
ReplyDeleteher real name is Keeley-Jade Flanders
ReplyDeletehttp://www.imdb.com/name/nm0281136/
Thanks. This is so bizarre. IMDB says she has four alternate names: "Keeley Flanders | Keeley Katchadourian | Shabby Eliot Katchadourian | Shabby Katchadourian"
ReplyDeleteWhy would anyone without Armenian roots 'choose' Armenian surname is beyond me.
Will update my blog post to reflect this info.
I don't know if this has anything to do with it, but Katchadourian, is a surname featured by the main characters in a book called 'We Need To Talk About Kevin' (great book) maybe Shabby read this and liked the darkness of the story.
ReplyDeleteInteresting possibility. It's a popular surname in Armenia, well, its original version - Khachatryan or Khachatrian.
ReplyDeleteShe also went by the name of Shabby Johnson in the band - Headless Prom Queens
ReplyDeleteNow that Shabby quit Big Brother house, I wonder if the mystery of her Armenian surname will be uncovered...
ReplyDeleteShame re Shabby, really. Big Brother is no longer interesting without her. She was a character.
Live chatting on Channel 4 website, Shabby confirmed that "my birth name is Keylee-Jade". Unfortunately my question about her surname did not go through. Will try asking via her newly launched twitter account too.
ReplyDeleteOkay, let's get this sorted.
ReplyDeleteHer birth name is Keeley-Jade Flanders, but she has legally changed her name to Shabby Eliot-Katchadourian.
Easy.
Maybe she is four characters, so four different names. I say this cos she's bipolar, and bipolars can have many persona's. I know cos one of my friends is bipolar.
ReplyDelete