Big Brother pair split

Reality has got too much for the first couple to find love in the Big Brother house - they have split.

Claire Strutton and Tom McDermott set up home in Spain after having a baby son two years ago.

They only fell for each other after leaving the first Big Brother house, and
trying to cope with the pressures of fame.

But McDermott, 35, has now moved out of the couple's luxury Marbella villa.

Strutton, 29, who replaced "nasty Nick" when he was ejected from the reality show halfway through, said their arguments had put too much strain on the four-year romance.

She said: "This is not what I dreamt of when I was a little girl.

"I never dreamt of growing up, having a baby and then being on my own. We just stopped getting on.

"We were arguing and decided it was best to have some time apart.

"We've both been very upset and it started around Christmas which made it even more painful," she told Closer magazine.

The former florist, from Gerrards Cross, Bucks, discovered she was pregnant shortly after the couple began dating.

After they got together, she said: "We were really good friends. He grew on me like a rash, really.

"It wasn't like this sudden realisation of our love. It just happened."

When the couple moved to Spain, McDermott, from Northern Ireland, took up a post as a sales manager for a property company, while she launched a property business with her mother.

But today Strutton said she had no regrets about having the baby: "The timing wasn't great, but I wouldn't change having a baby for anything, otherwise I wouldn't have Pierce and that would just kill me."

This interview appears in the next edition of Closer magazine.