The new season of Celebrity Big Brother has started with a bang – and not the good kind. One week in and actor Mickey Rourke has already been given a formal warning for homophobic comments towards dancer JoJo Siwa, while Chesney Hawkes faced backlash for continuously shushing reality star Ella Rae Wise just minutes into entering the house.
Now, attentions have turned to markedly less scandalous scenes: Michael Fabricant’s hair. The 74-year-old former MP was quizzed about his hair piece on last night’s episode by EastEnders star Patsy Palmer.
‘Michael is there a reason that you wear that? That you wear a wig?’ she asked. 'I just have always had long blonde hair, so I just feel comfortable,’ he replied. 'Yeah, so not because you are bald?' Patsy continued, to which Michael said: 'No not particularly no, just because I'm... I don't particularly like talking about it but it's just how I want to be. It's part of me.'
The encounter was undoubtedly awkward to watch, with Michael going on to insist that he’s always had long blonde – not ginger – hair, which he also reiterated in his opening monologue, insisting his hair is fully his own. Now, viewers are seemingly eager to investigate. ‘Michael Fabricant bald’ is a breakout search term on Google, as is ‘Michael Fabricant without his wig’ and ‘young Michael Fabricant’.
A peruse on the search engine will show you no young pictures of Michael Fabricant, but rather only images of him as an MP when he has always sported the same blonde haircut.
It all begs the question, should we be focusing so much attention on investigating whether Michael Fabricant wears a wig or not? Exposing a potentially bald man for being bald doesn’t feel quite right for now.
But seriously, the topic is clearly an uncomfortable one for Fabricant, who went on to vote Patsy Palmer out of the house during the first round of evictions because of her line of questioning.
'She asked me something about "Why do I wear a wig?" and you know, I'm not saying it is a wig, actually, but what I am saying is I found it slightly awkward being asked about it. I just don't like my hair being raised,’ he said. 'People have, you know, sensitivities and that's my sensitivity. Look, we're all human. I'm more human than most.'
It comes days after drag queen Danny Beard playfully jibed at Fabricant about his hair, saying ‘Who's getting in the hot tub? Come on, Michael, we'll take our hair off!' as he explored the house.
It was just one wig accusation too many for Fabricant, it seems…