Former police officer Maggie Oliver has said she had a string of conversations about important and serious topics while she was in the Celebrity Big Brother house but that they were not included in the editing of the show.
The detective who helped to end the Rochdale grooming ring said she was true to herself on the reality show.
She told ITV’s Loose Women: “I was myself, I really was myself but when you’re in there you’re in this bubble and you don’t know what is being shown on the outside.
Maggie Oliver on her CBB experience: 'I have not got a single regret – and my kids are still speaking to me!' 🙌 pic.twitter.com/0kSWLY4FbU
— Loose Women (@loosewomen) January 25, 2018
“I did have lots of really serious interesting conversations because it’s the year of the woman, and I really had no right to be in there because I’m not a celebrity, I’m just an ordinary person.
“When I was in there I was talking about the police, about the criminal justice system, about homelessness, zero hours contracts, poverty, minimum wages. Those conversations haven’t been shown. It’s an entertainment show.”
Oliver explained her reasons for going on the show, telling the panel: “I kind of wanted to keep the spotlight on the things I talked about.
“It was nice to get paid for it. I was frightened about going in, that I might get bad press and I might come out and my kids weren’t speaking to me or I might end up in the jacuzzi with no clothes on in the middle of the night but I didn’t do that.
“I just thought life is an adventure, you should learn and grow and experiences are what make you do that.”
Oliver added she was teaming up with Loose Women host Saira Khan to help tackle grooming with the Never Too Late To Tell campaign.
What an inspiration Maggie Oliver is. We're thrilled she's backing our #NeverTooLateToTell campaign with @IamSairaKhan pic.twitter.com/4Tbfet6r0e
— Loose Women (@loosewomen) January 25, 2018
Khan said: “We’re going to take this campaign to the next level where we’re going to help people to understand and really look at the methods of grooming, the signs of grooming and giving people tools, especially parents, of what they can do if they spot it.”
She added: “We’re really going to stop this stigma of people who feel they can’t talk about it and break the taboos and get people really on board and give them the tools.
“For me, talking about this in the Asian community, and giving girls a voice is so, so important. We are doing a very important job.”