This Morning presenter Alison Hammond has been on TV screens for almost 25 years – but many fans have no idea how she got her big break on Big Brother’s third season

She’s been on TV screens for nearly 25 years – but many fans have no idea how she got her big break. Alison Hammond shot to fame in 2002 after stepping into the Big Brother house for its third series – and subsequently became a household name on television.

The now-50-year-old has won over UK and international viewers with her vibrant personality and infectious laugh. Since entering the Big Brother house at just 26 years old, she has presented ITV’s This Morning, Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off alongside Noel Fielding, and ITV’s For the Love of Dogs.

But that’s not all, as she has also featured on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, Strictly Come Dancing, Celebrity Coach Trip, Celebrity MasterChef, I Can See Your Voice, amongst numerous other programmes.

It wasn’t until her Big Brother audition tape resurfaced on social media that viewers began to recognise her “true colours”, with many praising her for “staying the same” despite the fame.

In the footage, a 26-year-old Alison discusses her passion for bandanas and her obsession with Vaseline before she enters the Big Brother house, laughing and beaming with delight.

She reshared the clip on Facebook with the caption: “Wow, this is where it all started! 23 years ago. My audition tape for Big Brother.”

Commenting on the video, one user said: “This is when I first saw Alison and have been a fan ever since. On another note, BB [Big Brother] when ordinary people entered… how things change.”

Another user chimed in: “The table absolutely made me howl! Loved you from then onwards. That’s when BB was good.”

A third user commented: “The best year for Big Brother, and everyone on that one did well for themselves.

“Glad to see you’ve not changed since before you entered the BB house – it just shows you’re not fake, but 100 per cent genuine and a lovely human being.”

Another user remarked: “One of the best people to enter Big Brother, and how you got voted out second is beyond me. You were a laugh from the second you got in there.

“That table incident, though – that was hilarious. I was pregnant with my first son then, and I laughed so hard my grandma told me to calm down. She didn’t want my waters breaking there and then.”

Sharing a personal memory, one more user revealed: “Still remember seeing you at sixth form with your bandana and shouting in the common room, and we both had John McDonough for English – best teacher ever.”

Another user recalled: “I remember you as the kids’ rep at a hotel in Tunisia! Then you turned up on BB!”.

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT The bull elephant charged at the man, who is in his 60s, grabbing him by its trunk and slamming him to the ground at the Khao Yai National Park

A wild bull elephant has killed a third tourist at a national park in Thailand this week, according to multiple news outlets.

The man, identified as Jirathachai Jiraphatboonyathorn from Muang district of Lop Buri, was exercising metres away from his camp at the Khao Yai National Park with his wife at about 5.30am on Monday February 2 when tragedy struck. He was attacked by the elephant, Agence France-Presse, the Bangkok Post and Khaosod English reported.

Jirathachai, who is in his 60s, encountered Phlai Oiwan, a bull elephant feeding outside his forest boundary. The elephant charged at the man, grabbing him by its trunk and slamming him to the ground and stomped on him according to the Post. He was examined by rescue workers and a doctor, who found that he suffered broken limbs and other injuries, the paper reported.

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Wanchai Kaenchantuek, the head of the Khao Yai 4 (Khlong Pla Kang) park protection unit, said he heard the elephant and cries for help. When he rushed to check, he found the victim and alerted the relevant officials, reported The Nation.

The horror attack took place as the other campers watched in horror. Jiraphatboonyathorn’s wife, who was with him at the time of the incident, managed to escape after rangers scared the creature away, national park official Chaiya Huayhongthong told AFP.

Chaiya Huayhongthong told AFP that the officials will meet on Friday to decide what to do with the animal. “We will probably decide to relocate him or change his behaviour,” he told the news agency. The forest officials have ordered an increase in patrolling and monitoring activity, as they urged the tourists to exercise caution.

He is the third reported victim to be killed by the same elephant, according to the reports, though Huayhongthong told AFP that the animal could have killed more people.

More than 220 people, including tourists, have been killed by wild elephants since 2012, Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said, the AFP reported.

Sir Robert Goodwill, owner of Mowthorpe Garden of Rest, near Terrington, said there has been no evidence of claims Middleton Hunt had been on the land last week.

Footage captured by national animal welfare charity the League Against Cruel Sports appears to show the hunt’s hounds running through the Garden of Rest within the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The League has condemned the action of the hunt.

However Sir Robert, a former Conservative MP for Scarborough and Whitby, said if  this was the case, there was no sign that they have been in the cemetery.

He said: “None of the families that visit have mentioned it.  We do not ban dogs from the cemetery in any case.

“The hunt is very much part of rural life and am more than happy for them to use our land. I am sorry that I wasn’t around to view the wonderful spectacle of the riders and hounds.”

The League Against Cruel Sports chief executive, Emma Slawinksi, has criticised the hunt.

Emma added: “I would urge the public who are sick and tired of the behaviour of hunts to take part in the government’s hunting consultation.

“The time for change is now. We want to see trail hunting banned.”

Sky’s coverage of the downfall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has won best news programme at the Broadcast Awards.

The hour-long special, fronted by lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim, aired in December 2024 following the sudden ousting of the dictator.

Featuring on-the-ground reporting and interviews from chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay and international affairs editor Dominic Waghorn, as well as analysis from Alistair Bunkall, Alex Rossi, and Ivor Bennett, the programme covered the aftermath of Assad’s toppling across prisons, hospital morgues, and his ransacked villa.

It was praised by judges for its outstanding storytelling and “commitment to painting a global picture”, including Assad’s role as a key ally of Vladimir Putin.

One judge praised the “strong, knowledgeable journalists who provided nuanced insights” throughout, while another commended its “excellent editorial clarity and insightful, even-handed journalistic analysis”.

Judges also cited how widely it was shared across social media, as well as praise from human rights organisations, Syrian refuges in the UK, and industry peers.

You can watch the programme in full at the top of this page.

MPs discussed making further changes to legislation

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has issued an update following queries about its data sharing practices with local authorities. The update came after policy advocates addressed the Work and Pensions Committee on potential reforms to the DWP benefits system, to ensure people receive the support they’re entitled to.

Fabian Chessell, central government lead at Policy in Practice, made the case for increased data sharing to improve “employment support” for claimants. He criticised the Government’s devolution bill, introduced in July 2025, for having nothing to say about data sharing.

The proposed legislation would empower mayors with new authorities and pave the way for Strategic Authorities in each English region, overseeing areas like housing, skills, and employment support. The bill is currently under scrutiny in the House of Lords.

Regarding the devolution plans, Mr Chessell said: “If we’re giving them power, we need to give them data.” He also highlighted existing laws that could be tweaked to boost data sharing.

Section 72 of the Welfare and Pensions Reform Act 1999 allows for the “exchange of information” between Government departments and employers concerning a person claiming working-age benefits. According to Mr Chessell, this legislation “creates the gateways for sharing employment data with councils today from DWP and HMRC” and could be amended to facilitate more data sharing.

He urged the committee: “Let’s do the simple thing. There’s a lot of complex questions in front of us, this isn’t one of those.” The DWP was approached for comment.

A spokesperson said: “Millions of people rely on our welfare system every year and it is vital that it can be accessed by all who need it. We already share income and earnings data with local authorities to help ensure people receive the Housing Benefit and council tax support they’re entitled to.

“We’re now exploring ways to expand this data sharing with Local Authorities and Mayoral Strategic Authorities, so they can better connect people with employment support.”

The DWP also said it makes regular efforts to promote awareness of available benefits through initiatives like the Help for Households campaign. If you think you could be missing out on benefits, the Government website offers a benefits calculator tool to check what benefits you may be eligible for.

Darrington Quarries Ltd has applied to North Yorkshire Council to extract sand and gravel from land near the village of Hensall.

The plan would see 90,000 tonnes extracted from the 20-hectare site every year for 14 years.

The site would then be turned back into use for agricultural and nature conservation.

The planning application was deferred by the council’s strategic planning committee at a meeting in December.

The decision was taken after hearing from local resident Richard Kendall, whose home lies next to the proposed quarry site.

He told the committee he did not oppose the application but asked for a number of measures to ensure the development did not affect his quality of life.

The pensioner asked for the proposed location of soil heaps to be moved away from the border with his property to reduce dust.

The resident also said he was worried the heap would block out sunlight.

The application will be considered again by the committee next week, when it is again recommended for approval.

A report for the meeting states that a five-metre-high mound of topsoil would be moved around 20 metres further into the site and away from Mr Kendall’s property.

The resident also asked the quarry owners for help to create a new access from his property onto the A645 by creating a dropped kerb.

But the council said this was not a material planning consideration and should not be given weight in the consideration of the application.

Although the quarry is a standalone site, council officers say it is effectively a continuation of the quarrying operations that are currently being restored at the nearby Hensall Quarry.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it wants to create a critical minerals trading bloc with its allies and partners, using tariffs to maintain minimum prices and defend against China’s stranglehold on the key elements needed for everything from fighter jets to smartphones.

Vice President JD Vance said the U.S.-China trade war over the past year exposed how dependent most countries are on the critical minerals that Beijing largely dominates, so collective action is needed now to give the West self-reliance.

“We want members to form a trading bloc among allies and partners, one that guarantees American access to American industrial might while also expanding production across the entire zone,” Vance said at the opening of a meeting that Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted with officials from several dozen European, Asian and African nations.

The Republican administration is making bold moves to shore up supplies of critical minerals needed for electric vehicles, missiles and other high-tech products after China choked off their flow in response to President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs last year. While the two global powers reached a truce to pull back on the high import taxes and stepped-up rare earth restrictions, China’s limits remain tighter than they were before Trump took office.

The critical minerals meeting comes at a time of significant tensions between Washington and major allies over President Donald Trump’s territorial ambitions, including Greenland, and his moves to exert control over Venezuela and other nations. His bellicose and insulting rhetoric directed at U.S. partners has led to frustration and anger.

The conference, however, is an indication that the United States is seeking to build relationships when it comes to issues it deems key national security priorities.

While major allies like France and the United Kingdom attended the meeting in Washington, Greenland and Denmark, the NATO ally with oversight of the mineral-rich Arctic island, did not.

A new approach to countering China on critical minerals

Vance said some countries have signed on to the trading bloc, which is designed to ensure stable prices and will provide members access to financing and the critical minerals. Administration officials said the plan will help the West move beyond complaining about the problem of access to critical minerals to actually solving it.

“Everyone here has a role to play, and that’s why we’re so grateful for you coming and being a part of this gathering that I hope will lead to not just more gatherings, but action,” Rubio said.

Vance said that for too long, China has used the tactic of unloading materials at cheap prices to undermine potential competitors, then ratcheting up prices later after keeping new mines from being built in other countries.

Prices within the preferential trade zone will remain consistent over time, the vice president said.

“Our goal within that zone is to create diverse centers of production, stable investment conditions and supply chains that are immune to the kind of external disruptions that we’ve already talked about,” he said.

To make the new trading group work, it will be important to have ways to keep countries from buying cheap Chinese materials on the side and to encourage companies from getting the critical minerals they need from China, said Ian Lange, an economics professor who focuses on rare earths at the Colorado School of Mines.

“Let’s just say it’s standard economics or standard behavior. If I can cheat and get away with it, I will,” he said.

At least for defense contractors, Lange said the Pentagon can enforce where those companies get their critical minerals, but it may be harder with electric vehicle makers and other manufacturers.

US turns to a strategic stockpile and investments

Trump this week also announced Project Vault, a plan for a strategic U.S. stockpile of rare earth elements to be funded with a $10 billion loan from the U.S. Export-Import Bank and nearly $1.67 billion in private capital.

In addition, the government recently made its fourth direct investment in an American critical minerals producer, extending $1.6 billion to USA Rare Earth in exchange for stock and a repayment deal. The Pentagon has shelled out nearly $5 billion over the past year to spur mining.

The administration has prioritized the moves because China controls 70% of the world’s rare earths mining and 90% of the processing. Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by phone Wednesday, including about trade. A social media post from Trump did not specifically mention critical minerals.

Heidi Crebo-Rediker, a senior fellow in the Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the meeting was “the most ambitious multilateral gathering of the Trump administration.”

“The rocks are where the rocks are, so when it comes to securing supply chains for both defense and commercial industries, we need trusted partners,” she said.

Japan’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Iwao Horii, said Tokyo was fully on board with the U.S. initiative and would work with as many countries as possible to ensure its success.

“Critical minerals and (their) stable supply is indispensable to the sustainable development of the global economy,” he said.

Agreements and legislation move forward

The European Union and Japan together as well as Mexico announced agreements to work with the United States to develop coordinated trade policies and price floors to support the development of a critical minerals supply chain outside of China. The countries said they would develop an agreement about what steps they will take and explore ways to expand the effort to include additional like-minded nations.

Also Wednesday, the Republican-controlled House approved a bill to accelerate mining on federal land despite objections from Democrats and conservation groups that it amounted to a blank check to foreign-owned mining corporations.

The bill, which next heads to the Senate, would codify Trump’s executive orders to boost domestic mining and processing of minerals important to energy, defense and other applications.

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Associated Press writer Matthew Daly contributed to this report.

Arsenal XI: Kepa; White, Mosquera, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly; Norgaard, Eze, Havertz; Madueke, Gyokeres, Martinelli

Subs: Setford, Porter, Gabriel, Salmon, Hincapie, Zubimendi, Ibrahim, Ødegaard, Bailey-Joseph, Saka, Trossard, Jesus

Mikel Arteta makes 11 changes from the defeat against Manchester United, with Kai Havertz making his first start for a year. He will be playing in a more withdrawn role with Gyokeres up front.

ATLANTA (AP) — Officials in Georgia’s Fulton County said Wednesday they have asked a federal court to order the FBI to return ballots and other documents from the 2020 election that it seized last week, escalating a voting battle as President Donald Trump says he wants to “take over” elections from Democratic-run areas with the November midterms on the horizon.

The FBI had searched a warehouse near Atlanta where those records were stored, a move taken after Trump’s persistent demands for retribution over claims, without evidence, that fraud cost him victory in Georgia. Trump’s election comment came in an interview Monday with a conservative podcaster and the Republican president reaffirmed his position in Oval Office remarks the next day, citing f raud allegations that numerous audits, investigations and courts have debunked.

Officials in heavily Democratic Fulton County referenced those statements in announcing their legal action at a time of increasing anxiety over Trump’s plans for the fall elections that will determine control of Congress.

“This case is not only about Fulton County,” said the county chairman, Robb Pitts. “This is about elections across Georgia and across the nation.”

In a sign of that broader concern, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said this week that he once doubted Trump would intervene in the midterms but now “the notional idea that he will ask his loyalists to do something inappropriate, beyond the Constitution, scares the heck out of me.”

The White House has scoffed at such fears, noting that Trump did not intervene in the 2025 off-year elections despite some Democratic predictions he would. But the president’s party usually loses ground in midterm elections and Trump has already tried to tilt the fall races in his direction.

During an interview with NBC News that aired Wednesday, the president said he will trust Republican losses in the midterms “if the results are honest.” It’s a strategy Trump has regularly used ahead of elections, suggesting that a loss would only be due to some type of fraud.

Democratic election officials plan for interference in the midterms

Democratic state election officials have reacted to Trump’s statements, the seizure of the Georgia election materials and his aggressive deployment of federal officers into Democratic-leaning cities by planning for a wide range of possible scenarios this fall. That includes how they would respond if Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were stationed outside polling places.

They also have raised concerns about U.S. Department of Justice lawsuits, mostly targeting Democratic states, seeking detailed voter data that includes dates of birth and partial Social Security numbers. Secretaries of state have raised concerns that the administration is building a database it can use to potentially disenfranchise voters in future elections.

Trump and his allies have long fixated on Fulton County, Georgia’s most populous, since he narrowly lost the state to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. In the weeks after that election, Trump called Georgia’s secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensperger, urged him to help “find” the 11,780 ballots that would enable Trump to be declared the Georgia winner of the state and raised the prospect of a “criminal offense” if the official failed to comply.

Raffensperger did not change the vote tally, and Biden won Georgia’s 16 electoral votes. Days later, rioters swarmed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and tried to prevent the official certification of Biden’s victory. When Trump returned to the presidency in January 2025, he pardoned more than 1,000 charged in that siege.

“The president himself and his allies, they refuse to accept the fact that they lost,” Pitts said. “And even if he had won Georgia, he would still have lost the presidency.”

Pitts defended the county’s election practices and said Fulton has conducted 17 elections since 2020 without any issues.

‘The results will be the same,’ says Georgia election official

A warrant cover sheet provided to the county includes a list of items that the agents were seeking related to the 2020 general election: all ballots, tabulator tapes from the scanners that tally the votes, electronic ballot images created when the ballots were counted and then recounted, and all voter rolls.

The FBI drove away with hundreds of boxes of ballots and other documents. County officials say they were not told why the federal government wanted the documents.

The county is also asking the court to unseal the sworn statement from a law enforcement agent that was presented to the judge who approved the search warrant.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the county’s motion.

“What they’re doing with the ballots that they have now, we don’t know, but if they’re counted fairly and honestly, the results will be the same,” Pitts said.

Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s director of national intelligence, was at the Fulton search last week, and Democrats in Congress have questioned the propriety of her presence because the search was a law enforcement, not intelligence, action.

In a letter to top Democrats on the House and Senate Intelligence committees Monday, Gabbard said Trump asked her to be there “under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security.”

During the NBC News interview, Trump said he didn’t know why Gabbard was in Fulton County, but suggested without providing evidence that other countries were meddling in elections: “A lot of the cheating, it’s international cheating.”

Trump pushes for federal control of elections

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that the president’s “take over” remarks, which included a vague reference to “15 places” that should be targeted, were a reference to the SAVE Act, legislation that would tighten proof of citizenship requirements. Republicans want to bring it up for a vote in Congress.

But in his remarks that day, Trump did not cite the proposal. Instead, he claimed that Democratic-controlled places such as Atlanta, which falls mainly in Fulton County, have “horrible corruption on elections. And the federal government should not allow that.”

The Constitution vests states with the ability to administer elections. Congress can add rules for federal races. One of Trump’s earliest second-term actions was an executive order that tried to rewrite voting rules nationwide. Judges have largely blocked it because it violates the Constitution.

Trump contended that states were “agents of the federal government to count the votes. If they can’t count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said Wednesday said he supported the SAVE Act but not Trump’s desire for a federal takeover. “Nationalizing elections and picking 15 states seems a little off strategy,” Tillis told reporters.

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Associated Press video journalist Nathan Ellgren in Washington contributed to this report.

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Riccardi reported from Denver.