WHILE Malvern student Nush Nowak happily carries on with life in the Big Brother house, the Upton father of last year's contestant Tim Culley is only too aware how sharp the double-edged sword of celebrity can be.

Tim was drafted in after another contestant left prematurely. But the former Malvern College pupil was given a hard time in the press after gaining a reputation for vanity in the TV house.

His father Neil appeared as a guest on Big Brother's Little Brother, which analyses the daily action.

A former airline pilot, Mr Culley is a town councillor and owner of The Swan Hotel in Upton. Sitting at the bar, he recalled the events that led up to Tim's entry into the house.

"They were auditioning in Worcester," he said. "Tim called us and said he was down to the last 50, then he said he wasn't on it and Big Brother started."

After a week, Scottish squaddie Sandy escaped from the house without any explanation and Tim was called up as first reserve.

Mr Culley admits he didn't know the first thing about the show, but wasn't totally surprised by the hype surrounding his son.

He said: "They contacted us before Tim went on and asked did we realise there was a great deal of publicity surrounding it and were we happy about Tim going on? I certainly wasn't concerned about anything."

But was it strange seeing his son continuously on television and in the papers?

"It's amusing, of course, to see your son on this major TV show being himself, theoretically," said Mr Culley.

"Then you see the bits that make you cringe, when he's making a fool of himself or having a little tantrum.

"It's a very strange feeling knowing you have no control. When he's at home you can always say 'don't do that'."

Mr Culley admitted he was annoyed at the portrayal of his son on the daily half-hour clip show.

"We were a bit disappointed in that they seemed to show most of Tim's bad points or the parts where he was a bit cocky," he said. "They didn't show the good bits where he was joining in. We did feel that edited highlights produced the show's version of what they wanted people to see of the individual."

Accurate or not, the media latched on to this image of Tim.

"When Tim was on there, Graham Norton was always making fun of him in quite a nasty way," said Mr Culley. "It's strange to hear your son criticised in the national media."

Tim however, seemed unfazed.

"Whilst he was in the house he didn't realise any of this was happening," said Mr Culley. "It was only afterwards that he saw the clippings but he just laughed at it. Very few of the stories were true."

Mr Culley said Tim had hopes of using Big Brother as a basis for a media career but it didn't quite work out that way.

"He gets recognised in the street. He found the constant attention was quite a hassle really. He couldn't walk round by himself," said Mr Culley. Tim now manages a conference centre in Cape Town, South Africa, and is hoping to launch a career in advertising there.

When asked what Tim's view of the experience now is, Mr Culley said: "I don't think Tim thinks it was worth it now. Overall he's probably pleased he did it, but he wouldn't do it again."