Julie Burchill Julie Burchill

The joy of sex

Big Brother heroine Isabelle Warburton shows that chastity and decency are not to be confused

issue 12 August 2017

Your typical Trollope-loving, Brahms-bothering Spectator reader probably won’t be aware that the most recent winner of Big Brother was a girl called Isabelle Warburton, but her victory was a joy to behold — and a lesson to be learned. The unemployed 21-year-old had a tan so orange it made Oompa-Loompas look pale and interesting, and on her first night in the house she was already wisecracking about how she’d caught an STD in Ibiza from a fellow contestant. Everyone presumed she was an air-headed bimbo, but she went on to display the most extraordinary decency — the only word for it — with her honesty, self-sacrifice and boldness. She took on and saw off the strutting alpha male of the house and volunteered herself for eviction to save a rival. Unlikely as it may sound, Isabelle Warburton is a striking example of how excellent the often sneered-at young women of today really are.

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