{"id":137639,"date":"2025-11-13T13:51:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T13:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/137639\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T13:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T13:51:08","slug":"itv-big-brother-star-brands-nhs-a-religious-cult-in-frosty-house-debate-as-fans-divided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/137639\/","title":{"rendered":"ITV Big Brother star brands NHS \u2018a religious cult\u2019 in frosty house debate as fans divided"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tensions flared in the Big Brother house last night, after contestants Emily Hewertson and Jenny Baird clashed over Irish identity and the NHS during a late-night discussion, prompting a wave of debate online.<\/p>\n

Ms Baird, 20, who is from Derry, began the conversation by admitting uncertainty about whether she would vote for a United Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo obviously I\u2019m from Derry and I say I\u2019m Irish or whatever”, she explained to Ms Hewertson, 25, \u201cBut say if it actually came down to it and it was like \u2018Vote for United Ireland\u2019, I don\u2019t know if I\u2019d vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her remark was met with applause from her fellow housemate, who responded: \u201cMy kind of woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jenny<\/p>\n

Jenny Baird admitted she is not sure if she would vote for a United Ireland<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

ITV<\/p>\n

Ms Hewertson, who works for a political events company in Westminster and joined the Conservative Party when she was 16, then added: \u201cYou should tell your friends not to vote, too.”<\/p>\n

Ms Baird explained her reasoning, saying: \u201cI\u2019m only young. I don\u2019t know a lot about it, but with the NHS etc., Dublin doesn\u2019t get that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The political influencer replied: \u201cTell me about it, Northern Ireland are very prosperous under the British government, more than they would be otherwise, I\u2019m just saying.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t think the NHS should be the dream. Don\u2019t get me wrong, it\u2019s amazing, but compared to some other European health systems, it\u2019s a bit below par.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Emily<\/p>\n

Emily Hewertson clashed with Jenny Baird over Irish identity and the NHS on last night’s episode<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

ITV<\/p>\n

Ms Baird pushed back, insisting: \u201cSee, I think the NHS is brilliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the events worker doubled down, saying: \u201cIt\u2019s become a religious cult, unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conversation quickly went viral on social media, with some viewers accusing Ms Hewertson of being \u201cpatronising\u201d and \u201cuninformed\u201d about both the Irish political landscape and the state of the NHS.<\/p>\n

“I keep trying to like Emily and then she comes out with these statements and opinions on things that are (in my opinion) outdated,” penned one fan of the reality TV show. <\/p>\n

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/p>\n

There are currently six housemates remaining in the Big Brother UK 2025 house<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

ITV<\/p>\n

Another said: “The NHS has been mismanaged and underfunded, it is still a huge privilege to have, but that\u2019s all Emily has known and she doesn\u2019t appreciate it.”<\/p>\n

A third viewer added: “Wonder how many people who work for the NHS are voting Emily to win?”<\/p>\n

Others defended Ms Hewertson’s comments as \u201chonest\u201d and said the debate reflected what people really think but are too afraid to say.<\/p>\n

“Both of them are correct,” one viewer wrote, while another agreed: “We were all thinking it.”<\/p>\n

Clips of the exchange have now been viewed thousands of times across X and TikTok, reigniting wider discussions around Northern Ireland\u2019s relationship with the UK and the future of the health service under the Labour government.<\/p>\n

This incident echoes previous, politically charged moments between the two contestants.<\/p>\n

In another Big Brother episode this week, Ms Hewertson sparked a heated discussion within the house after arguing that council buildings should only fly the national flag.<\/p>\n

Speaking as housemates prepared food together, the politics enthusiast said: \u201cCouncils and other state-owned institutions should only be allowed to fly the regional and national flag.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Emily<\/p>\n

Emily Hewertson has been outspoken about her political leanings on the show<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

Emily Hewertson\/Instagram<\/p>\n

When asked to clarify, she added: \u201cCouncils shouldn\u2019t be able to fly flags of other countries, or flags for social movements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Baird responded: \u201cSo Derry hangs a Palestine flag, you think it shouldn\u2019t be allowed?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I just think in this country, if it\u2019s a state-owned institution, it should only be our flag,\u201d Ms Hewertson replied.<\/p>\n

Pressed further, she said: \u201cWhat about Ukraine? I think no. We can show our support in other ways. What does a flag show?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just shows you support them, like a Palestine flag,\u201d Ms Baird answered, to which Ms Hewertson countered: \u201cYeah, but councils should be neutral on things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the clip was shared on Big Brother\u2019s official Instagram, viewers were quick to weigh in.<\/p>\n

Some viewers questioned why the influencer \u201ccares so much\u201d, but others agreed with her, saying that \u201cshe didn\u2019t say anything bad\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tensions flared in the Big Brother house last night, after contestants Emily Hewertson and Jenny Baird clashed over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[28857,921,93,61,60,8642,282],"class_list":{"0":"post-137639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-big-brother","9":"tag-celebrity","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-itv","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}