On this day, six years ago a truly iconic and chaotic TV blunder aired on Celebrity Big Brother when Angie Bowie uttered the words “David’s dead” to Tiffany Pollard, who then mistook David Gest for David Bowie in a comedy of errors that Shakespeare himself probably couldn’t have made up if he tried...
Let’s refresh our memory and cast our minds back to how the classic reality TV moment happened, shall we?
When the news broke that music legend David Bowie had tragically died from cancer, his ex-wife Angie was starring in Big Brother alongside reality TV favourites Gemma Collins, Tiffany Pollard, as well as Kim Kardashian’s BFF Jonathan Cheban, soap star royalty and Darren Day.
After Angie was informed by producers of her ex-husband’s death, she was clearly emotional and sought comfort from Tiffany - in a move that she would soon regret.
Today marks six years since the best bit of British reality TV aired. David is dead. pic.twitter.com/SUl9TyEB7w
— OnlyZans (@OnlyZans) January 10, 2022
“David’s dead”, Angie uttered to Tiffany, who in shock at the news fell to the floor in disbelief and began crying and wailing, “No, he’s not” she said in denial.
While you may think Tiffany simply may be a big Bowie fan - that’s not exactly why she appeared so emotional...
With Angie just saying the first name “David,” Tiffany immediately (and mistakenly) thought she was referring to fellow CBB housemate David Gest - the film producer and ex-husband of Liza Minelli - who coincidentally at the time was ill lying in bed, with the covers right over his head, as if he had actually been laid to rest.
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Thinking David Gest had just passed away from cancer, Tiffany ran off without letting Angie properly explain and informed her fellow housemates sitting in the garden of the tragic - albeit incorrect - news.
Of course, the housemates dashed into the bedroom to find out for themselves if was true and quickly discovered it wasn’t the case when Darren pulled back the covers to find Gest was in fact alive.
An angry Tiffany was separated from a confused Angie who asked what she had done. Daniella Westbrook told her: “You told her that David was dead with cancer,” to which Angie said: “Yes, he is.”
Westbrook replied: “He’s in there asleep,” as she pointed to where David Gest was, Angie then huffed and replied: “David - my ex-husband.”
As the fallout from the blunder continued, Angie was mourning the genuine loss of her ex-husband and the father of her child in the Diary room tearfully describing the whole situation as “a mess.”
A truly wild rollercoaster ride.
To top it all off, when Tiffany realises that she got the wrong David she hilariously refuses to give in and admit her mistake. Instead, she blamed Angie for the error and insisted she said: “David Gest is dead.”
But if you roll back the tape, we all know those two words that came out of Angie’s mouth.
Of course, this classic TV moment is being commemorated on social media as fans of the show reminisce about the chaos that ensued.
No joke I think about the part where they embrace hands so often 😭😭😭 https://t.co/2p9LRBdGTi
— jake (@huntichon) January 12, 2022
Outstanding bit of TV https://t.co/P6nWhDd5lU
— Alisha Morrissey (@_AlishaJay) January 11, 2022
people who watched this live on TV, with no idea what was about to happen or how it would pan out, are built different. this was the millennial Dunkirk https://t.co/ukyy5MNQzI
— Louis Staples (@LouisStaples) January 10, 2022
Nothing will ever and has ever topped this https://t.co/nySYgC0tt1
— DALE (@dalemations) January 11, 2022
no I’m sorry but this is absolutely iconic https://t.co/2UmPoU2UZY
— 🦋 imogen 🦋 (@Imogen_Walker22) January 11, 2022
Most iconic scene in television EVER … absolute chaos https://t.co/QD3ZgXWkVe
— ࿏ kyle ࿏ (@kyleshabet) January 11, 2022
this is like a renaissance painting as a video https://t.co/RprDAYprLt
— raya (@intoanewlife) January 11, 2022
I will never ever ever get bored of the pure chaos that happened in this scene https://t.co/rmHPDYTkQA
— Megan Hitt (@meganhitt1) January 11, 2022
I think about this a LOT https://t.co/YPKFyLpgva
— Burt Macklin (@yepratmond) January 11, 2022
I really think this was the best tv I will ever see in my lifetime https://t.co/2WjMj0616N
— Saz (@SazCurran) January 11, 2022
Big brother couldn’t script this if they tried. Best storyline on British reality tv. https://t.co/21W7kSr8Ri
— OLONI BABY (@Oloni) January 10, 2022
The best part about this is Angie must’ve believed that Tiffany was a massive Bowie fan and that was her reaction hahahaaha absolute gold https://t.co/acLrdlgIUK
— L4rn (@larnluv) January 12, 2022
I’ve literally been chasing the same high since watching this unfold live, the 8th wonder of the world, a masterpiece x https://t.co/1Q8vUWWP8G
— 𝔅𝔞𝔟𝔶 𝔊𝔲𝔦𝔫𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔰 (@babymcguinness) January 11, 2022
HOW was this six years ago im losing my mind https://t.co/GzWANSDPB1
— fletch (@fletcharrison) January 11, 2022
While the misunderstanding of epic proportions still gets talked about to this day, just after the show ended Gest had planned a tour referring to the case of mistaken identity called: “David Gest Is Not Dead, But Alive With Soul” but tragically died from a stroke just months after leaving the Celebrity Big Brother house.
Elsewhere, Tiffany made the most out of the moment by selling “David’s Dead” T-shirts, to try and rectify her bizarre blunder, but obviously had to axe the t-shirt when Gest passed away.
He died a couple months after the show but about a week after Tiffany released this merch☠️ pic.twitter.com/u7mCxkXC9e
— Krtkkarphillmuk (@BluebellMaddoon) January 11, 2022
Remembering the classic TV mix-up, Gaz, host of Big Brother on Blast podcast, told Metro.co.uk : “This comedy of errors is an iconic ‘wrong end of the stick’ fiasco that transcends the fleeting nature of reality TV and lives on in our minds, and memes, rent-free. A moment so ridiculous it just couldn’t be written.
“It really was the storyline that kept on giving – a perfect storm that only Big Brother could have created. Surely it’s time for a return to our screens? I’m looking at you Channel 4!”
