Big Brother star Rebecca Jane says she fears for this year’s contestants after her own stint on the show left her suicidal.
Rebecca, 33, claims bosses did not support her emotionally when she got death threats.
And she warned them to take extra care of Corrie star Ryan Thomas , 34, and ex-Emmerdale actress Roxanne Pallett , 35, in the wake of their controversial bust-up.
Rebecca said: “Roxanne may have done something stupid but she still needs protecting.
“I worry how much of Ryan’s distress we haven’t seen either. Are show bosses editing out his lowest moments to make themselves look better?”
Roxanne sensationally accused Ryan of punching her last month – later apologising when footage showed he was just play-fighting.
She was bombarded with death threats from trolls and traumatised Ryan has been in tears on the programme.
Rebecca told how she suffered anxiety after coming under a barrage of abuse when she was evicted from last year’s show.
Pal and Love Island star Sophie Gradon helped her through her breakdown.
But Rebecca was left devastated when Sophie killed herself in June aged 32 after battling her own demons.
Rebecca said: “I know Sophie’s anxiety was 100 per cent heightened by appearing on reality TV and she really struggled with trolls.
“I’m one of very few people who understands just how anxious an experience it is.
“I should have been stopped from going into the house. I’ve never known anxiety like it. I was a complete and utter state. I could barely leave the house when I got home.
“It wasn’t until I spoke to other people who’d been in the house that I realised it’s normal to feel like this when taking part in a reality TV show.
“Ryan is going to struggle when he comes out. He is going to have a real big problem with trusting people, too.
“Reality TV clouds your judgment of people and messes with your head.
“I talked to the producers openly and they sold me the programme almost on the fact they were going to look after my mental health.
“They say their aftercare system is fantastic and how proud they are of it. It’s nonsense.
“They told me I’d be under private mental health care for a year.”
Mum-of-two Rebecca, from Clitheroe, Lancs, got death threats following a feud with model Chanelle McCleary during her stint on the Channel 5 show.
She claims producers failed to show footage of Chanelle befriending her before slating her to other contestants.
The pair were sent back to the house to have it out in front of the cameras after they were evicted.
Rebecca says she received more than 35,000 abusive tweets in one night as a result.
She said: “The people I trusted and liked the most in the house turned out to be the people who were saying stuff about me behind my back. The producers put Chanelle and me back in the house on purpose because they knew we’d kick off.
“I had a lot of people on my side but also had people telling me I should die, sending me death threats and calling me every name under the sun.”
Rebecca was so upset she almost missed the show’s final. And she needed the help of the show’s psychiatrist to go on stage.
She said: “I was told I’d been put in a separate hotel from my housemates because no one liked me. I was devastated.
“My faith in people had been lost. I spent a solid 24 hours crying my eyes out.
“My agent told the care team I wouldn’t go to the final because I’d been affected so badly mentally by the whole thing. They weren’t interested and they didn’t ring me. When I got there, they put me in the same green room as Chanelle. It was a horrific experience.”
A worried friend called police to her house because he was so scared she would kill herself.
She said: “I didn’t sleep for five days. I had to move friends in because I couldn’t be on my own.
“I remember walking into a road and not caring if someone knocked me down – and I have two young girls.
“I’d just cry and I wouldn’t be able to tell you why I was crying. I sent an email to the producers and said I needed to speak to the psychiatrist I’d seen.”
She claims they refused her request despite being told she would have aftercare for a year. Rebecca was eventually prescribed antidepressants and has arranged her own therapy.
“Because of my experience on the show, I always think people are going to hurt me, mentally and emotionally. My therapist has helped me see that it isn’t right,” she said.
But she was dealt a further crushing blow in June when pal Sophie, who was on Love Island in 2016, took her own life.
Rebecca, famed for founding an all-women detective agency to nab love rats, refused to believe the tragic news at first.
“I found out through Twitter . I’d typed out a message to her saying, ‘Sophie, guess what? There’s a fake news story going round that you’re dead’. Something stopped myself from sending it. I thought I’d better check and it was true.
“I was in massive, massive shock. I still can’t believe it. I spoke to her two days before she died. She seemed happy.
“I cursed myself. When my mental health was bad, she said she was sorry it had been so bad for me.
“That’s what really upset me afterwards. She knew I’d struggled and she still didn’t say anything when she knew she could. You always think, ‘What if she’d picked up the phone?’ I’d have gone straight up to be with her.
“It’s not weak to speak about how you feel. I tried to cover it up at first and for a long time I didn’t realise how ill I was.”
A CBB spokeswoman said: “Big Brother takes contributor welfare extremely seriously and has robust assessment and welfare systems in place.
“All potential contributors are thoroughly assessed by psychologists and a team dedicated to contributor welfare is on hand to support housemates both during and after the series.”
A Love Island spokesman said: “All of our islanders are offered psychological support before, during and after their time in the villa.
“We take our duty of care very seriously.”
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