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  • HIV death rates halved since 1999

    HIV-positive adults in high-income countries face a substantially reduced risk of death from AIDS-related causes, cardiovascular disease, and liver disease compared with a decade ago, according to a large international study published in The Lancet.

    The study which involved nearly 50 000 HIV-positive adults receiving care and antiretroviral therapy (ART) at more than 200 clinics across Europe, USA, and Australia found that overall death rates have almost halved since 1999.

    The development in the mid-1990s of antiretroviral treatment for the management of HIV infections is one of medicine’s greatest success stories. For individuals who can access and adhere to treatment at early stages of the infection, the risk of developing an AIDS-defining complication is vanishingly small. Treatment, however, does not fully restore health. Treated adults have a higher than expected risk of developing many non-AIDS complications including cardiovascular disease and cancer. The excess risk has been attributed to antiretroviral drug toxicity, traditional risk factors, immune dysfunction, or chronic inflammation. With the advent of effective antiretroviral treatment, the life expectancy for people with HIV is now approaching that seen in the general population. Consequently, the relative importance of other traditionally non-AIDS-related morbidities has increased. The team behind the study investigated trends over time in all-cause mortality and for specific causes of death in people with HIV from 1999 to 2011.

    The team behind the study noted that their findings suggest that death rates in HIV-positive individuals with access to care and antiretroviral therapy have decreased since 1999-2000. They can detect no indication of an increase in risk of death from any specific cause as a potential result of long-term adverse effects of ART, and the risk of death from other causes – ie, those other than AIDs-related disease, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, and non-AIDS cancers – is low.

    Rates of death from non-AIDS-related cancers have remained stable over time, and these types of cancers are now the most common cause of non-AIDS deaths in people with HIV. The finding of a stable rate of death from non-AIDS cancer in the study is of concern when compared with the experience in the general population, in which death rates have decreased over the same time period.

    However a potential limitation to the study is that the investigators could only report on the outcomes of HIV-infected individuals who were followed up regularly in clinic, and thus excluded a large population of HIV-infected individuals who remain untreated because they are unaware of their infected status or not engaged in care.

    Steven Deeks and Peter Hunt from the University of California in San Francisco, USA, say, ‘The benefits of ART are unquestioned, and their beneficial effect on the HIV epidemic continues to grow. Still, clear limitations exist because many patients are not accessing treatment, and some problems persist even in those on ART, including a higher than expected risk of non-AIDS cancers and other morbidities. Finally, it needs to be emphasised that we are still early in the ART era. In the absence of a cure, most patients will need to continue on ART for decades. Continued monitoring for unexpected consequences of treatment will be needed indefinitely.’

    To read the article, see below:
    http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)60604-8/abstract

  • Theory: What causes the loss of CD4 T cells in people infected with HIV?

    A Theory for HIV infection: What causes the loss of CD4 T cells in people infected with HIV?

    HIV infection causes dysfunction and destruction of CD4 T cells that, without antiretroviral therapy (ART: a cocktail of drugs that interrupts the HIV life cycle), result in AIDS and eventual death within 7 to 10 years).
    Scientists believe that most CD4 T cells die, not because of direct infection by HIV of these cells, but through a process called inflammation, by which immune cells secrete toxic molecules to get rid of the virus.

    However, the logic behind how inflammation causes cell death has been a mystery for decades.

    But now, research conducted by scientists at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, Australia, and published in the premiere HIV/AIDS Journal, AIDS in 2014, shows for the first time that HIV infection not only disturbs the functions of CD4 T cells but affects how these cells use energy (1). The team, led by chief investigator Dr Clovis Palmer, proposed a new model of how CD4 T cells are destroyed in people infected with HIV.

    In healthy persons, immune cells such as CD4 T cells take up low levels of glucose through a protein known as Glucose transporter 1 (Glut1). By a series of steps the glucose is broken down to produce pockets of energy called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to maintain the general wellbeing of the cells

    The Burnet team showed that the Glucose transporter (Glut1) level is increased on CD4 T cells in people infected with HIV, and that this causes more glucose to enter the cells. This is a survival mechanism because the CD4 T cells need more energy to divide and manufacture antiviral and inflammatory molecules to fight the infection. This is what is called CD4 T cell activation or immune activation.
    In this activated state, instead of breaking down glucose to form energy pockets (ATP), glucose is broken down into a substance called lactic acid through a process called aerobic glycolysis. Glycolysis is only moderately efficient in energy production and, as a result, the CD4 T cells die of exhaustion. The researchers called this process ‘metabolic exhaustion’

    Dr Palmer believes that this finding could lead to new drugs that delay the start of anti-retroviral therapy and will strengthen the immune systems of HIV-positive people.

    Healthy adults have between 600 to 1,200 CD4 T cells in their blood but up to 30 percent of HIV infected adults have a CD4 cell count consistently less than 350, well below the normal range despite being on ART and having undetectable viral load. The team showed that glycolysis remains elevated in CD4 T cells from these persons and that this could explain why they are unable to reconstitute their normal CD4 T cell levels. These low levels of CD4 T cells put HIV-positive people on ART at higher risk of cardiovascular disease, liver disease, kidney failure and other life-threatening diseases.

    The results from this study suggest that CD4 T cells in HIV infected people cannot replenish themselves because they exhaust their energy reserves through their high metabolic activity. What’s exciting about this is a very real scenario where, by returning metabolic activity to normal, these cells could be re-energised to fight the infection by themselves.

    Dr Clovis Palmer heads the immunometabolism group at the world renowned Burnet Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, Australia. Dr Palmer is a reviewer for several top-ranked international journals including Hepatology, AIDS and Antioxidants and Redox Signalling. He is the chief scientific editor for Natural Immunity-Health, Australia (www.naturalimmunity.com.au).

    by Doctor Clovis Palmer

     

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • Simon Cowell’s rep responds to gay claim

    Yesterday, Jurors in the Tulisa Drug Trial heard claims from Tulia’s manager that the record exec was gay, today Simon Cowell’s camp responds.

    Yesterday an undercover, secret recording emerged in which Tulisa’s manager Gareth Varey, speaking to Mr Mahmood stated that X Factor boss Simon Cowell was gay.

    In an undercover and off camera recording Mr Mahmood asked Mr Varey whether Cowell was gay, in which the manager replied ‘Yes’.

    Mr Mahmood then asked,‘Have you slept with him?’, Mr Varey replied: ‘No’.

    When questioned on why he hadn’t slept with Mr. Cowell Mr Varey replied, ‘One day I will when I make my move’. Mr Mahmood said: ‘Do you fancy him or not?’

    Mr Varey answered: ‘No’. Mr Mahmood then questioned: ‘How do you know he’s gay?’

    Mr Varey replied: ‘I know people who have’.

    Cowell’s camp has since stated: ‘We are bound by contempt of court rules so cannot respond to these claims in the manner we wish to.

    ‘We are speaking to the Attorney General’s office – and we intend to make a statement in court as soon as possible.’

  • FILM REVIEW | Five Dances

    ★★★★ | Five Dances

    Alan Brown’s latest movie has one of the most accurate titles that pulls no punches and is exactly what it promises i.e five dances.

    Held together by the strands of a wisp of a tenuous plot, it is however still a sweet and sensual coming-out-tale thanks to the presence of a charming young dancer who proves he is quite a mean actor too, despite his inexperience.

    Four dancers and a choreographer are in a Manhattan studio learning a new piece of contemporary dance to perform at the opening night of a Festival. Amongst their number is naive 18 year old Chip who is fresh off the bus from Kansas having won a scholarship to study with the Joffry Ballet. The others assume that his parents back in the Midwest must be proud of him, but the reality is that his divorced alcoholic mother is about to be evicted so makes daily menacing phone calls to her only son.

    Chip is homeless so when Cathy one of the other dancers discovers this, she takes pity on him and takes him home and lets him sleep on his couch. Theo another of the quartet takes another type of interest in the newbie and late one night makes a pass at him. A totally confused (and virginal) Chip runs off but not for long as next night he is back and this time encouraging Theo to go all the way.

    That’s essentially it in terms of plot, but this one after all is all about the dancing, and in particular young Chip learning how to really express himself through movement. The choreography by Jonah Bokaer is exhilarating and so beautifully photographed to accentuate every graceful move, and it’s capped by a sensuous soundtrack by singer/songwriter Scott Matthew.

    Brown is quite the master at bringing every sinew of sexuality into stories of young love into his movies as he did so wonderfully well in ‘Private Romeo’. Here when Chip and Theo are making love it mirrors the dancing in terms of its intimacy and is sensuous rather than explicit. The whole cast dance like angels and young Ryan Steele as Chip maintains that purity and innocence when in the very sparse script he so cutely conveys his turmoil coming to terms with both his threatening mother and the fact that he now has his first ever boyfriend.

    You don’t have to be a contemporary dance fan to love this one, but if you are, it does help.

  • The Lancet: Causes of death shifting in people with HIV

    HIV-positive adults in high income countries face a substantially reduced risk of death from AIDS-related causes, cardiovascular disease, and liver disease compared with a decade ago, according to a large international study published in The Lancet.

    The study which involved nearly 50 000 HIV-positive adults receiving care and antiretroviral therapy (ART) at more than 200 clinics across Europe, USA, and Australia found that overall death rates have almost halved since 1999, while deaths due to AIDS-related causes and cardiovascular disease have declined by around 65% and liver-related deaths by more than 50%.
    Although deaths from most causes declined over the study period, there was no reduction in death rates from non-AIDS cancers which remained stable over time (1.6 deaths per 1000 years 1999–2000 to 2.1 in 2009–2011). Non-AIDS cancers are now the leading cause of non-AIDS deaths in people with HIV, accounting for 23% of all deaths.

    Using data from the Data collection on Adverse events of anti-HIV Drugs (D:A:D) study, the researchers looked at trends in underlying causes of death in people with HIV between 1999 and 2011, who were followed-up for a median of 6 years.
    Of the 3909 deaths that occurred over the study period, around 29% of individuals died from an AIDS-related cause, which remains the most common cause of death. Cancers (15%; mainly lung cancer) were the most frequent causes of non-AIDS deaths, followed by liver disease (13%; mainly due to hepatitis), and cardiovascular disease (11%).

    Mortality decreased from about 17.5 deaths per 1000 person-years in 1999–2000 to 9.1 deaths per 1000 years in 2009–2011—a drop of around 50%. Similar decreases in deaths related to AIDS (5.9 deaths per 1000 person-years to 2.0), liver disease (2.7 to 0.9), and cardiovascular disease (1.8 to 0.9) were also seen. The proportion of all deaths due to AIDS (34% to 23%) and liver disease (16% to 10%) declined over the decade, while the proportion of deaths due to cardiovascular disease remained constant at 10%.

    The researchers note that substantially reduced death rates from liver and cardiovascular disease cannot be fully explained by changes in patient demographics or improvements in viral suppression or CD4 count, and might result from the better management of traditional risk factors such as smoking, alcohol use, and hepatitis, or the use of less toxic ART regimens.

    They conclude by calling for further research to gain a clearer understanding of why the risk of dying from a non-AIDS cancer remains high and to assess the effect of specific antiretroviral drugs on non-AIDS cancer rates.

    According to study leader Dr Colette Smith from University College London in the UK, ‘These recent reductions in rates of AIDS-related deaths are linked with continued improvement in CD4 count and provide further evidence of the substantial net benefits of ART. But despite these positive results, AIDS-related disease remains the leading cause of death in this population. Continued efforts to ensure good ART adherence and to diagnose more individuals at an earlier stage before the development of severe immunodeficiency are important to ensure that the low death rate from AIDS is sustained and potentially decreased even further.’*

    Writing in a linked Comment, Steven Deeks and Peter Hunt from the University of California in San Francisco, USA, say, ‘The benefits of ART are unquestioned, and their beneficial effect on the HIV epidemic continues to grow. Still, clear limitations exist because many patients are not accessing treatment, and some problems persist even in those on ART, including a higher than expected risk of non-AIDS cancers and other morbidities. Finally, it needs to be emphasised that we are still early in the ART era. In the absence of a cure, most patients will need to continue on ART for decades. Continued monitoring for unexpected consequences of treatment will be needed indefinitely.’

    The study appears in a special issue of The Lancet published ahead of AIDS 2014, the 20th international AIDS conference of the IAS, taking place in Melbourne, Australia, from 20-25 July, 2014.

  • Atari: First Ever Gay Themed Computer Game

    Atari, one of the world’s most recognised publishers and producers of interactive entertainment, today announced the development of Pridefest™ an original social-sim game for tablets and mobile devices. Pridefest™ empowers players to create and launch their very own personalised pride parade in a city of their choosing.

    The first LGBT-themed game from Atari, Pridefest™ gives players the opportunity to customise their own parade flotillas with colourful decorations and adorn their locale with eye-catching attractions and entertainment – with the goal of keeping their city happy and vibrant. Players will need to solve challenges and complete quests to unlock new parade and festival supplies, or receive other bonuses. The game will incorporate various personalization and social features, including the opportunity to chat with friends, visit each other’s city and create avatars bedecked in clothes and jewellery.

    “We are excited to be developing Atari’s first LGBT-themed game that will give players of all backgrounds the chance to play a fun and unique game that represents a passionate cause,” said Todd Shallbetter, Chief Operating Officer, Atari Inc. “We will continue offering a variety of games that are inclusive for all Atari fans and Pridefest™ is another example of how we are doing that.”

    Atari recently sponsored and attended the second-ever GaymerX convention where LGBT gamers and allies united in celebration of equality and diversity in gaming.

    “Gaming is the largest entertainment sector in the world, and Atari is one of the most recognisable and iconic brands. To have them support our conference and cause, as well as bring an LGBTQ-themed game to market is a huge step toward equality in gaming,” said Matt Conn, founder of GaymerX. “It’s extremely important that we see these large publishers like Atari stepping up to the plate, and I’m excited that they have the courage to take the first step in supporting the community.”

    To register to learn more about Pridefest™ in the upcoming months, please visit www.PridefestGame.com, “Like” us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @PridefestGame.

  • Court Hears Simon Cowell ‘Outed’ By Tulisa’s Manager

    During the former X Factor Judge’s drug trial, the court hears a secret recording that ‘outs’ Tulisa’s former boss, Simon Cowell by her manager.

    Jurors for Tulisa Contostavlos’s drug trial heard her manager Gareth Varey telling ‘Fake Sheik’ Mazher Mahmood that Simon Cowell was gay in a secret recording.

    In an undercover and off camera recording Mr Mahmood asked Mr Varey whether Cowell was gay, in which the manager replied ‘Yes’.

    Mr Mahmood then asked,‘Have you slept with him?’, Mr Varey replied: ‘No’.

    When questioned on why he hadn’t slept with Mr. Cowell Mr Varey replied, ‘One day I will when I make my move’. Mr Mahmood said: ‘Do you fancy him or not?’

    Mr Varey answered: ‘No’. Mr Mahmood then questioned: ‘How do you know he’s gay?’

    Mr Varey replied: ‘I know people who have’.

  • INTERVIEW | Chris Mason-Johnson, Director And Writer of Test

    Chris Mason Johnson’s new movie TEST (that we reviewed in THEGAYUK on June 23rd) finally opened in the UK on July 14th on VOD & the DVD will be available on July 28th and is set to repeat its Stateside smash success over here.

    It is the tender and heartbreaking story of Frankie a young male dancer in 1985, which had to deal with the early onslaught of the AIDS epidemic and see if he could find the resolve to take the first ever HIV Test that had just become available. It’s a stunning tale, powerfully told and will undoubtedly be on our list of Top Ten Movies of 2014.

    Director/writer Chris Mason Johnson took time out of his busy schedule to sit down with our movie critic Roger Walker-Dack to give this EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW to THEGAYUK.

    RWD: About a decade ago there were some tasteless and opportunistic gay movies that made AIDS another clichéd plot element, do you think the recent outpouring of movies on the epidemic are more responsible and relevant?
    CJM: It’s a hard subject to tackle. Sometimes it takes a culture a while to process and digest so maybe it’s time for people who experienced the sheer horror of it all and now have something relevant to say creatively to have their say.

    RWD: Did raising the finance through Kickstarter give you a freer hand creatively?
    CMJ: (laughing) You say that as if I had the luxury of being offered studio funding! Both of my movies were truly independent. Although you have much less money and a smaller audience as you don’t have enough funds to market it properly, the trade-off is that you have total creative freedom. What Kickstarter did give me was connections to an audience in a very personal way as many of the donors, whether they were giving $10 or $500, wrote to tell me why the subject mattered to them so much.

    RWD: You had such high production values in your film that the finished product is so good that it’s hard to believe you did it all on a shoestring.
    CMJ: Thank you. I am a filmmaker that really cares about image and the camerawork whereas a lot of other directors are just interested in the script and the acting, and see the camera as a means to an end. I am very much interested in the language of cinema and I try to write the script and film in that way.

    RWD: Congratulations on your truly wonderful new movie, We at The Gay UK repeated the well-deserved honour you got from the NY Times who very happily gave it a very rare 5 Stars. Setting this in a very crucial and tough moment in gay history in the context of this contemporary dance troupe was a major element in why this film succeeded on so many levels. Can you tell us about how your own background as an ex-dancer led you to making this decision, and how it affected the film?
    CMJ. Although I was a teenager when this all occurred I drew a lot through autobiography and what was happening to people close to me. As an ex-dancer, one of my pet peeves was that male dancers hadn’t been represented well in movies at all. They are either ultra straight or they are outrageously gay and something of a joke. I’ve never seen a male ballet dancer especially taken seriously in a movie.

    I wanted to tell the story of a group of young frightened men, well one in particular, that didn’t have a lot of language to deal with. Most of the movies dealing with AIDS up to now have been mainly deathbed stories, and I didn’t want to do another one of those. Drama is usually played out by dialogue and is talk, talk, talk, and my experience as a very young teenager in the early epidemic was that we didn’t say a word about it, as we were too petrified. Talking about it would make it real. So by using dance as a metaphor to tell this story, I could use all the facets of the body particularly, the vulnerability and the sensuality. I could represent that all through the image of dance without having the characters talk about it.

    RWD. One of your characters in your first movie in The New Twenty was also HIV +, and now after this latest movie, I am wondering how important that aspect of his character was to you.
    CMJ: It’s very important. To any gay man in their 30s and up, this was such a critical moment in our lives, with the fear and urgency of so much ignorance, fear and paranoia, it just left an indelible mark on who we are. Now with recent alarming rises in infection rates today, it’s even more important to remember these things.

    RWD: Your two lead actors were as hot as hell! And you took a major leap of faith in casting SCOTT MARLOWE a non-actor as Frankie, which really paid off. Can you talk us through your casting process?
    CMJ: I knew they had to be real dancers, as you cannot fake this kind of dancing, as there is a lot of pure choreography in the movie. I interviewed countless actors and dancers and looked for someone who was very natural and had a great sensibility. And when I found Scott we spent a whole six months whilst I was raising money constantly workshopping scenes as we developed the role of Frankie between us. He considered it acting lessons where I thought it was the rehearsal, so it was a kind of a win-win. He learnt that as an actor you cannot put on a show, you must feel and believe it to make it real.

    MATTHEW RISCH, however, is a classically trained actor and not only did he manage to fit in with the dancing but he really helped Scott with their scenes.

    RWD: They had a great chemistry together
    CMJ: I‘ve never experienced that before when it worked so well, even in the intimate sex scenes.

    RWD: No need for a ‘sex choreographer’ like they used when they filmed The Normal Heart?
    CMJ: (laughing) NO!

    RWD: The dancing was impeccable and completely moving. It was erotic with a touch of danger about it, is that how you intended we should see it?
    CMJ: I wanted it to be both erotic and macabre. I had written a lot of the detail into the script and I worked very closely with the very talented Sidra Bell, the choreographer who created all the dances in just 2 weeks. I was by her side the whole way through with my suggestions, as an ex-dancer who has worked with some major choreographers I knew what I wanted.

    RWD: Here in the UK at the same time in 1985 we had some 275 people diagnosed with AIDS (out of a worldwide total of 20303). We also saw the introduction of the Test that year too. Although you set your story so firmly in San Francisco, which then seemed to be one of the worst affected cities in the world, do you think a worldwide audience will relate to your film as well as American audiences have done so far?
    CMJ: I didn’t have any thoughts on that when I made is as I had no idea when I made it that it would get such a wide distribution. I’m sure that the backlash and the homophobia were the same for all of us as we were paranoid and constantly looking for signs of Kaposi Sarcoma. The sheer panic of not knowing what this fatal plaque actually really entailed beyond the media hysteria was by no means an American phenomenon.

    RWD: Certainly not. And the way that you so poignantly portray this in your movie was so spot on, that it brought back many personal uncomfortable moments that none of us would ever want to re-live.
    CMJ: Thank you.

    RWD: This movie certainly establishes you as one of the leading members of this new wave of ‘queer cinema’ alongside the likes of Ira Sachs, Andrew Haigh, David Lambert and Xavier Dolan. Is that important to you, and do you want to make more gay themed movies?
    CMJ: Yes, it’s important to me and it’s one of the main reasons that I started making films. When I questioned my motives for why I was taking on yet another difficult profession after dancing, and one of the reasons I decided was that core representation made a real difference in my life. Few positive influences as opposed to the many negative ones that I experienced when I grew up were extremely important and shaped who I became. It also mattered to me on a political and moral level.

    I want to keep on doing gay themes but I also like the idea of them becoming more assimilated with other content so that it is not so marginalised or ghettoised. I like to see gay characters who are not stereotypes, I like seeing a world of characters whose sexuality has not been explored much in cinema so far. So in terms of a being part of new queer cinema, I am honoured if I am considered a part of that.

  • Gay Archie comic book to be banned in Singapore

    An issue of the ‘Archie’ Comic Books has been prohibited in Singapore, which features a same-sex marriage.

    Earlier in the week we reported that the ever-popular comic hero character Archie is killed in the final issue of the comic, after taking a bullet aimed at his gay best friend Kevin Keller.

    However authorities in Singapore have banned an earlier issue that featured a same-sex wedding in Archie: The Married Life Book Three.

    Male same-sex sexual activity is illegal in the Southeast Asian republic – although it is reported that the law is not generally enforced. Those convicted of male on male sexual activity could face up to two years in prison, fines or even canning.

    Archie: The Married Life Book Three has been taken off the shelves following a complaint to the Media Development Authority, which found it not to conform with ‘social norms’ and ‘breached their content guidelines’, reports Reuters.

    Three other books have been banned in Singapore over gay story lines, which include: And Tango Makes Three, which is a story inspired by two real life male penguins, who raise a chick in Central Park. The White Swan Express: A Story About Adoption, a book that focuses on a lesbian couple’s adoption story and Who’s In My Family: All About Our Families, which looks at different family groups.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Anorak, The Hope Theatre, Islington

    ★★★★ | The Anorak, The Hope Theatre, Islington

    The Anorak tells the story of the École Polytechnique Massacre, when Marc Lepine shot 28 people, killing 14 at a Canadian Polytechnic college in 1989.

    Told from the point of view of the killer, the play separates its audience into two groups: men and women and much of the 70 minute play is directed solely towards the male audience members. This one man play recounts Lepines’ early life, his relationship with his mother and sister, and his justifications for the killings. In light of recent events, particularly the shooting in Santa Barbara, which similarly targeted female students by a student who was unable to get a girlfriend, this play is immediately unnerving and poignant.

    Originally written by Adam Kelly, a Canadian writer, the play has won several awards in Canada. This adaptation sees Felix Brunger take the lead role with Matthew Gould at the helm as director. Brunger is believable if not quite likeable in the lead role, the audience is left short of being on his side during the play. He recounts his version of events and his early life, and there are occasional moments of relief from the heavy subject at hand with throw-away lines such as ‘like who gets rejected from the Canadian Army?’
    Overall this adaptation is well acted and handles the heavy subject matter with care; Brunger owns the role of the social outcast completely, keeping the (male) audience on edge as he directs his attention only to them. (I can’t say what it was like as a female audience member being practically ignored for most of the performance).

    The Anorak is on for only a short time at The Hope Theatre 207 Upper Street in Islington, inside the Hope and Anchor. Tickets available online through offwestend.com

  • Big Brother’s Helen “diagnosed” with bisexuality

    As the house settles down with 3 new housemates, talk turns to sex – well how can it not when Biannca is around.

    Whilst giving Helen a lap dance Essex girl Biannca gets her boobs out and rubs them in her face, whilst the other housemates look on in bewildered, apart from Ash who seems to be enjoying himself and Zoe who sings a theme tune. Helen admits that she loves strippers and has paid girls to strip for her in the past.

    In the garden, conversation turns to Biannca’s attraction to Winston. Biannca says she was ‘playing up…I’m not really a sex pest…I do want to fu*king fu*k your brains out but I’m not a sex pest!’

    The conversation then moves on and Pav asks Kimberly who else she would sleep with in the House. Kimberly picks Biannca and admits that she’s had relationships with women in the past. Helen also admits to being “diagnosed with bisexuality” .

    So there you have it – according to Helen Bisexuality can be diagnosed.

    Big Brother continues on Channel 5 Tonight at 10:00PM

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