Big Brother 2017 - the rise of a winner

And there we have it, folks! Big Brother 2017 is over. (Don't cry! Celebrity Big Brother is back on screens on Tuesday)! As per usual, it's been a tumultuous season filled with tears, laughs, drama and more arguments than I've had hot dinners. But - out of the 22 housemates that have graced the house over the summer - is Isabelle a worthy winner? Is she worthy of carrying the Big Brother legacy on her tanned shoulders?

In short, yes. Yes she is. The fan-dubbed 'Tangerine Queen' showed personality traits that some past winners could only dream of. Humility, hilarity, honesty - Isabelle is the full package. Not only that, but she's the first ever female late entry (day 16, to be precise!) to win the civilian show, so she had even less time to win over our hearts. 

But let's take it back to the beginning. We first saw Isabelle in the Blind Date style challenge, where Lotan, Chanelle and Kieran got to pick two out of three potential housemates to join the cast - Sam, Savannah, and Isabelle. Of course, the boys chose to pick to the two girls - kicking Sam to the curb. (Who later came back later anyway as a second chance housemate, go figure).

If I'm being completely honest, seeing her bright, orange tan and her long, fake, blonde hair extensions left me less than impressed. (Shame on me! It just goes to show that you should never judge a book by its cover). Added to the fact that she'd slept with housemate Kieran in Ibiza before the show, I was hardly excited to see what Issy had to offer.

Boy, was I wrong. Though she wasn't involved in every major drama of the house, and she certainly wasn't the loudest (that award goes to Chanelle, without a doubt), she still made her prescence known.

The first moment that sticks out in my mind for when I began to support Isabelle was when she had to do her 'sexy' dance. Don't get me wrong, Isabelle is beautiful, but you can tell she turned a task that was supposed to be sultry into something utterly side-splitting. Who couldn't laugh watching her stumble around the garden in her wedges?

 Funny and doesn't take herself too seriously? Check.

Then, in a house divide - the likes of which we've never seen before - Issy was seemingly abandoned by Savannah, who chose to hang around with the 'clique'. That left Isabelle with the 'outcasts', where she met some friends (namely Chanelle), though her bonds weren't quite as strong as those already formed. Ah, the curse of being a late-comer. Therefore, she spent a lot of her time observing, watching the drama unfold while she wrapped herself in her bed.

Loveable underdog? Check. 

Tensions were already high in the house; after Lotan placed a fake mouse in Hannah's bed (whom he'd been arguing with previously, who also had a phobia of mice), Isabelle rose up to the alpha male and simply told him it wasn't a very nice thing to do. True. Of course, Lotan didn't take kindly to someone challenging his authority, and proceeded to gossip about Issy behind her back with the rest of the clique, asking what the shortest amount of time anyone had been in the house before, and saying Issy would likely break that record. Ironic, then, that she went on to win. Of course, housemates bitching about housemates is at the very core of what Big Brother is, so it's not to be expected. Still, this season made us feel empathy for those who the "popular kids" were bitching about. The divide was very real.

Then came that night. You know, the one that people were talking about all over Twitter (even the ones who abadoned BB for Love Island). It was during another task when Issy made a comment to Lotan about not being a good role mode to his son. To which, Lotan responded to throwing a bottle which, consequentially, got him removed from the house. Bye Felicia! While all Hell broke out, our Tangerine Queen simply stood and smirked.

Sassy fighter with a backbone? Check, check and double check.

The drama died down a bit over the coming weeks, but the tasks kept on coming. One saw the housemates spend some of the houses' "power" on seeing friends and family (or in Sue's case, her dog). When it came to the last two housemates to have their turn - Queen Is and Charlotte (she was the one that didn't do/say anything until her Mum came back, remember? No?) - they had to choose which one of them got to see their family. Isabelle offered it up to Charlotte, which she accepted (even though she came in with her mother, but whatever).

Later on in the show, there came a choice between her and Sam of who would face eviction that week. Again, Isabelle put her housemate first and said she'd put herself up. Sam obliged (straight away, he basically snatched her hand off), and Issy faced the pubic vote.

Thankfully, she survived, but it showed a selfless side to her that the public obviously appreciated. In a house full of game players and snakes, it was nice to see real, kind people. (Shout out to Deborah here, she was lovely to them all, too!)

As the final approached Isabelle, who usually only reacted to things in her own hilarious way by laughing awkwardly or saying "alright... haha... yeah..." began to open up and show us her vulnerable side. Crying in the diary room about how ugly she thought she was (no girl! You're beautiful!), opening up about how much she missed her family, and saying that she didn't realise what she had until she left it all behind to come into the house.

By this point, the final was looming, and Isabelle's uniqueness, humility and kind soul had seemingly won over the public and became the bookies' favourite to win. And win she did! WIth a whopping 52.71% of the vote, compared to runner-up Raph's 22.02%, she stormed the competition, and walked out of there £65,000 richer!

While the ratings for this season may have been dwindling, I personally had a blast watching this season, and was pleased that (for once!), my favourite won the whole damn show. Good on you, Is, now think about how much fake tan £65k can buy!

What did you think? Was Isabelle a worthy winner? Or would you have preferred an early favourite, like Ellie or Kieran? Let me know in the comments below!