Just hours following his instant eviction from the Big Brother house, Simon Gross has spoken to journalists this morning about how he's feeling, who he connected with immediately in the house and much more. Read on to find out what he had to say.
On how he feels following his eviction
"It's all such a blur, it just feels like I've been asleep and just woken up and it was just all a dream. I was shocked and I am shocked and still shocked - it all just went so fast!"
On whether he'd go back as part of a Timebomb twist
"It has crossed my mind if they're gonna take me back in there. I've still got my suitcase packed so who knows! It would be wonderful because if anything from my short time in there, I met those people and they were really lovely off first impressions. It kind of felt like I'd met a family for the first time and I was taken away from them. So if they do revert the timebomb back and start again, it could possibly happen. I really, really don't know. I have no idea."
On the other housemates
Jack - "I thought he was salt of the earth. I thought he was the complete opposite to me. I thought that he was real. I loved the fact he went straight - we were all drinking champagne - he went and made himself a cup of tea. Talked constantly, the love of his life - I was waiting for him to say there's somebody in his life he said it was "Football!", something like that!"
Amy and Sally - "I thought the twins were beautiful. I bonded really well with them really quickly. I think they'll be great as a double act on television."
Cristian - "I thought he was hot. I thought "Mm, yes dear!" I thought he was good. He didn't know what showbiz was which I thought was a bit strange, and I had to explain in other words just the business really."
Chloe - "Salt of the earth again, just salt of the earth, real, burping and all stuff like that. I don't like things like that. But I thought she was quite good. She put herself down a lot, she kept going on about her weight to me and I thought the trousersuit looked really good."
Harriet - "I thought Harriet was the equivalent to Jade Goody, I thought she could be our new Jade Goody. I love the fact she works in the café, she says she's gonna do fry-ups for everybody. I don't eat fry-ups... but anyway you know she could do a roast dinner or something."
Danny - "I thought Danny was a real geezer, I thought he had a twinkle in the eye."
Kieran - "I thought Kieran was a bit bossy. He tried to upstage me but he didn't get very far even with the jacket. He tried to upstage me! I thought mine was better."
Aaron - "He was really nervous and I could see his hands were shaking but he was quite flamboyant, so I initially thought he was competition but no. He's much younger than me. I noticed the tattoos on his knuckles so I think he's a bit alternative and I wasn't impressed with the zebra thing. I think I would have found him irritating."
Adjoa - "Don't think we would have got on. She didn't like it since she walked down the stairs I called her Sinitta. Don't think that was a very good move. But I noticed the daggers that she was giving everybody straight away. I don't think she liked me because of that comment but I apologised. I just felt that she out of most of them was just gonna turn quite quickly. It'll be quite interesting to see what she's like."
Eileen - "Absolutely, absolutely bonkers. Great fun. I think she will find it really tough in there. She's a little bit older than me and I think we would have probably bonded, but I think I would have probably coped with it a lot better than her. I just think she's gonna find it pretty tough."
Sarah - "She was the girl that wore the Vegas dress, the shiny dress. Didn't really say much to be honest with you. I think she will be a bit mousy, a bit quiet. She did have a sort of a Claire King, Emmerdale thing about her. I dunno, there was something about her that she... I said something to her and she grunted back at me. I think she's quiet but I think she could be the one to watch."
Jade - "Oh the tall girl... I thought she was very gothic to look at. I didn't quite understand the knickers she had on and the tights. That's the outfit. Her personality - she's the only one out of the girls that started looking at herself in the mirror I noticed. I think she's probably quite vain and I found her, some of the things I said to her she didn't really understand, I found her a little bit shallow to talk to straight away. I had to keep repeating myself to her."
Nick - "The posh boy Nick. He said I'm so not his normal type - don't know what he means by that! But he wouldn't leave me alone. He kept sitting on the couch next to me and I think, I think if I would have stayed in the house I would have been the father figure in the house because I'm older than all of them - except Eileen. And they looked up to me. In a way that's great. Maybe that's what I wanted. He was just very, very sheepish, and just warmed to me."
Joel - "He was very nervous about the whole thing, he was literally shaking. He was like wide-eyed about the whole thing. I liked him, I thought he was quite nice. I felt like I was in a creche. Apart from Eileen who was the school teacher who walked in last!"
On who he'd have evicted if given the power
"Who would I have taken out? I think Adjoa, and I think bets on, that she could be the next one to go. I think that she is going to be trouble. I just feel it, that's how I felt about it."
On who he thinks could win
"I think it could be Harriet or it could be Pie Man. Pie Face! Sorry, don't put that in there... I think the reason is, is because they're salt of the earth and they're real, and you saw that straight away. I noticed when Harriet came in she was giving it "Corr Blimey!", but then the models all walked in and she went very quiet. I don't know if you all picked up on that. I think she's gotta stay true to herself. She's gotta be herself, she's beautiful Harriet actually, but there's very beautiful, beautiful people in there! Obviously there were far more when I was in there darling, but now I've gone. But there's very beautiful people in there and I think Harriet is a very good one who could win it, and I think Jack could as well. Just because they're both real, they're not your obvious models, glamour, which is very boring after a while, it really is."
On his reception and whether he could have changed public perception
"I think I did [get a good reception]. People didn't get to know me. I'm talking to you now and you can hear I've got a brain in my head. I'm not just "Showbiz! Showbiz!" I am in showbusiness but I am actually quite real. I lost my father in February this year, I've been through a lot of stuff in my life but my father was obviously a big thing. In a way that's why I wanted to go on Big Brother, because I wanted to sort of in a way not grieve, but try and move on from that, and learn about myself. Yes you walk down the catwalk, you're really nervous and the first thing you wanna do is, for me, is perform, and the showbiz thing comes out. But nobody got to know the real Simon. I wasn't able to show my true colours and be my true self and in a way, that's why I wanted to go on Big Brother for the next journey, and that's one of the things I'm really sad about, because I never got to do that."
On who is the 'real Simon'
"A listener. A friend. A kind person. A loyal person. A real person. An entertainer. A personality. Somebody who's got energy. Somebody that could have brought something special to that show. I'm a really nice guy and I do miss those people already, because they were like a family that were took away from me."
On his mum being angry following Simon's eviction
"My mum is just an older lady that travelled all the way from Cumbria to come and support her son. She doesn't understood Big Brother, she doesn't understand the showbiz thing. She came down, she loves me - my mum has fought for me all my life, my dad was a different situation, it was a different relationship I had with my dad. But my mum has been my rock, she's given me everything and she was defending me, she was upset. I know if she saw Emma [Willis] now she would apologise and explain herself. My mum is a very, very nice, caring lady, and she was just sticking up for her son."
On the Twitter storm and #AbusedBySimonGross
"Basically, I mean I'm laughing because this happened in 2002. I put on a production in Central London and the show didn't work. The reason it didn't work is because July was a really hot month, it was underground in a venue in the Charing Cross area, and people just didn't come and see the show. I put all my money into the venue. The venue wanted me to guarantee it, I guaranteed it, and because the show didn't do anything I had to declare myself bankrupt. Which for somebody - I'm 46 now we're talking 2002, can't remember what age I was - but it was very, very, very hard. I had to go and declare myself bankrupt and people won't leave me alone about it. They just keep going on and on and on about it and just won't let me move on. I would apologise for anything if I had to, but at the end of the day I went bankrupt because I put on a production and it just didn't work, and it just seems that people won't let me move on. Big Brother was the next chapter of my life to try and move on and try and put the past behind me."
On whether he's read Twitter since he's been out
"I haven't, because I don't go on Twitter anymore! I'm off! (laughs)"
On what's next for him
"Showbiz, darling! Showbiz! Maybe I could come and write for you all, I could be a journalist, I could be a showbiz correspondant, why don't you get me in?"
On being the quickest eviction and first male first boot from a civilian series
"I did make Big Brother history. I was the quickest evictee in history. That is something to go out and shout about. That's great! It's not great, but it is great, and I think that's great for me, and I think from now on it's no longer Simon Gross, it's Mr. Showbiz!"
On who he'd like to play him in a biopic
"Matt Lucas. He would have to have a fake tan. Streamlined. I love Matt Lucas, I think he'd be great playing me. Who knows? Maybe the Simon Gross film will be next?"
On being 'Mr Showbiz'
"I think the name Showbiz is gonna catch on from today. Someone did say to me earlier: 'You did say showbiz a lot last night Simon, it could become very annoying!', so I've actually been very good this morning. I think I've said it three times. At the breakfast this morning all the girls were shouting 'Showbiz!' at me, so yeah, I think it could be the new word. Showbiz, and very very bright suits and flower power! Showbiz! I hope you lot have been saying it. We need it. We need a bit of the Gross showbiz in life and what happened last night is just really, really bad luck. But why does the glitter have to end now?"
On whether he feels cheated out of the experience
"Not really, no. I feel disappointed because I was part of a gameshow really, a reality show, a gameshow, and I just hit the wrong buzzer. That's all that happened. That's just the way it goes. I'm not the sort of person that is gonna crawl under the table this morning and just basically crawl under the floor and never come back. Why should I? I've fought all my life, why should I stop now?"
On whether he'll apply for more reality shows
"Whatever comes my way! Yeah, absolutely! We need some more showbiz! Oh, Strictly darling! No, no! Celebrity Big Brother! They should put me in. I'm Mr Showbiz. I've got a bit of profile now haven't I, so why don't they put me in Celebrity Big Brother? Celebrity Big Brother, followed by Strictly, followed by the jungle. Can you imagine me in the jungle? I am just somebody who loves working and meeting people and having new journeys, so bring it on."
On which ex-housemates he would have liked to have seen in the house
"I was really looking forward to seeing Nadia - I'd love to have seen Nadia again, I thought she was great TV. Also Kate Lawler who I know quite well because she's from my neck of the woods. Kat, Cookie, I loved her, she's a lovely lovely person, she really is lovely. She's brilliant. Nikki Grahame! I think she's great. Oh gosh, I could go on and on and on. They are legendary - apart from me darling - they're legendary housemates and they are brilliant."
On Katie Hopkins
"I don't think Katie Hopkins is very happy with me this morning. She's not, is she? No. I don't think me and her would have probably seen eye to eye, I don't think it would have been quite as bad as Perez [Hilton] and her but I think me and her probably would have had World War II. It was just something I said off the cuff last night."
Big Brother: Timebomb continues tonight on Channel 5 at 10pm.
Tagged in Big Brother