Big Brother's Trish Balusa files lawsuit against ITV after Rochelle Rackham's controversial win - alleging double standards over 'racist' tweets scandal left her in 'psychological turmoil'

Big Brother star Trish Balusa has filed a lawsuit against ITV plc, Banijay UK Productions Limited, and Initial TV, alleging she is a victim of negligence, breach of contract, and misrepresentation.

Trish appeared on the ITV reboot of the series in 2023, being evicted from the show by public vote a week before the final. 

Days later, old 'racist and homophobic' social media posts resurfaced online, and she was subsequently removed from the spin-off show Big Brother: Late & Live and was the only housemate not to be invited to the final.

Now Trish, who now works as a keynote speaker and social justice advocate, has accused ITV of double standards following controversial housemate Rochelle Rackham's win on Thursday. 

Rochelle, 57, was declared the winner to a shocked and jeering crowd after past 'racist' posts were uncovered by the Daily Mail during her time in the house. 

Trish, 35, is seeking a six-figure settlement, alleging that there was deliberate misrepresentation of the scope of social media vetting conducted prior to her participation in Big Brother, and she has been left in 'psychological turmoil' as a result. 

Trish said in a statement to Reality Tea: 'What played out on screen shows exactly how race and identity shape the way a person is treated, received and humanised. 

'I faced a brutal narrative over past comments, so relentless that even the support I was offered fell short. 

'Now I’ve watched a contestant face allegations of discriminatory behaviour, past and present, and be protected, defended and, ultimately crowned by the very public that demanded accountability from me.

'Britain needs to be honest about how it treats black women on reality TV. Duty of care training can’t stop at contestants. 

'Producers and production teams must be held to the same standard, or they will keep amplifying the very racism they’re meant to protect us from.

'Accountability isn’t reserved for participants. Production companies have a duty to protect contestants from others who display harmful behaviour; run a properly-informed and adequate vetting process; and apply a structured, consistent disciplinary process. When they fail on any of these, they must be held accountable, too.

'I always knew what happened to me was less about my words and more about who I am. I was gaslit, and three years on, I’ve been proven right. The accountability everyone demanded of me must now apply to others. 

'What has been an ongoing psychological turmoil for me will now be a legal and financial learning point for those responsible, and hopefully can trigger genuine reform in duty of care, race relations, and reality TV.'

The Daily Mail has contacted ITV, Initial/Banijay and Trish's representatives for comment. 

Trish previously escalated an intersectional discrimination complaint to Ofcom in December 2024, alleging she had experienced discrimination both inside and outside of the BBUK house, and accused ITV of failing to provide adequate welfare support. 

ITV denied the claims, with a spokesperson saying it was 'not a version of events we recognise'. 

Trish's 'racist' tweets from 2012 were only discovered following her exit because during their time in the house all contestants set their social media profiles to private.

She then apologised in a public statement, stating: 'There are no excuses for the ignorance that I showed and I am deeply disappointed, embarrassed and ashamed that I once made such comments. 

'I have come a very long way since by educating myself and being educated by others on the impact and harm those views cause.'

After producers did not invite Trish to attend the Big Brother final alongside her other housemates, they revealed they were investigating the third party hired to trawl over housemates' social media before they enter the show to search for problematic posts, to discover why the tweets were not found.

At the time, a spokesperson for Big Brother told The Sun of the investigation: 'This weekend, we have been made aware of concerning historical tweets.

'We are currently looking into why they were not identified by the independent supplier we engage to review the digital footprint of potential Housemates as part of our pre-checks.'

Last month, the Daily Mail revealed that this year's winner Rochelle had shared a 'racist' social media post 11 years ago, when she was working as an unknown nail technician.

The offensive message featured an image of a person bungee jumping, overlaid with the words: ‘Experience bungee jumping only £35 a jump. Muslims go free. No strings attached.’

Rochelle captioned the reshare: ‘Love this’, tagged friends she thought would ‘appreciate’ the joke and added: ‘Lol.’

The post prompted fans, industry insiders and fellow contestants to question why she remained on the show after it emerged.

Sources told the Daily Mail's Molly Clayton that ITV’s production team were aware that Rochelle had ‘shared a meme to her social media account’ which she subsequently removed.

During her time on the show, Rochelle's views on trans rights, feminism and racism caused considerable friction among her fellow housemates, and viewers.

Rochelle was criticised after telling fellow contestant Charlotte Nott, 18, a quadruple amputee from Oxford, that she had ‘a bit of a fear’ of people with ‘no arms’. 

The Big Brother winner also faced backlash over comments about fellow contestants Millie Jarrett and Yasmin's weight.

But it was her heated clash with co-star Johanne Cade that prompted 493 Ofcom complaints from viewers who accused Rochelle of racism and bullying.

In a damning allegation about the confrontation, Johanne claimed Rochelle had repeatedly threatened to physically assault her during their time together.

‘She said to me that she would punch my throat. And then she went on to talk about physically assaulting me multiple times, at least three or four times.’

Rochelle was subsequently filmed in the Diary Room telling cameras: ‘I haven’t said anything insulting to her [Johanne] other than I want to punch her in the mouth now, which I really f****** do.’

Despite Big Brother responding that such threats were ‘unacceptable’, Rochelle later stated: ‘she wanted to ‘f****** club her over the head with a f****** chicken.’

‘I don’t know who’s protecting her [Rochelle]. I don’t know why, I don’t know what’s going on,’ Johanne told the Daily Mail. ‘It made me feel very sad... I don’t think there’s anything people can tell me about this lady that would make me go, “Oh my gosh."

‘If that’s who people feel represents the UK and the Big Brother house, we live in a very sad world.’

In more damning allegations, fellow housemates who left the show alluded to an offensive comment Rochelle allegedly made during their time together.

Last weekend, former contestants Phillip Regan and Rihanna Collins suggested Rochelle had said hurtful and concerning things while in the house, and claimed ITV had ‘covered’ them up and that they were not allowed to speak much more about it. Johanne alluded to the same.

Whatever these alleged comments were, they were not aired, leaving ITV facing further questions this week over what viewers were and were not shown.

An ITV spokesman told the Daily Mail: ‘We have broadcast a fair and accurate depiction of events in the house and audiences will have seen housemates challenged on views and opinions, both by their fellow housemates and by Big Brother.

‘We are transparent on our processes and the rules with regards to language and behaviour, the housemates are monitored at all times and where necessary Big Brother will intervene.

‘Not all of Big Brother’s interventions are broadcast within the programme.’

Despite the controversy, Rochelle was declared the winner of Big Brother during Thursday night's live final. 

Going into the final, Rochelle’s biggest competition was stylist and party-starter Lucy ‘Twinks’ Burnett. The opposite to Rochelle in every way, she is a champion of trans rights and a staunch feminist.

Twinks’ exit was met with cheers and affection from the crowd. ‘You should have won,’ they chanted.

In contrast, Rochelle exited to a chorus of boos, with hosts Will Best and AJ Odudu struggling to contain the crowd, who heckled so loudly during her winner's interview that she couldn't hear the hosts' questions. 

Will was forced to stand up and plead with the crowd to 'quieten down' six times during the barely audible exit interview. 

During Friday night's reunion show, several housemates stated that they did not approve of Rochelle winning the season. 

It later emerged that it was the closest win in Big Brother history, with just 1.3 per cent between Rochelle and runner-up Twinks after a record-breaking 4.9 million votes were cast.