Big Brother Marcus speaks to the Chronicle

He was hailed by host Davina McCall and pundit Grace Dent (not to mention around 3,000 fans on the internet) as possibly the greatest housemate in the show's 10 year history.

Marcus, who has a tattoo of a number 13 on his neck and once set fire to his face, lived up to his wild appearance on the show by constantly swearing, speaking his mind, and challenging BB bosses with escape attempts, dismantling fixtures, and sussing out the show's twists.

But he was finally evicted by viewers, at the eighth attempt, last week - just seven days before the show's final where the last standing housemate will claim prize money of up to £100,000.

The Chronicle caught up with TV's 'Irrepressible Dark Horse' - a name he thought up while a pupil at Hounslow Manor School in the 1980s - at his home on the Haverfield Estate in Brentford on Tuesday.

Speaking about his whirlwind few days outside the house, Marcus said: "It's been mad.

"I've been awake for about 67 hours since I came out - I've had about nine hours sleep since Friday. After I'd done the eviction interviews and the Big Brother's Big Mouth I was taken straight to a hotel in Elstree with two good friends of mine, Phil Cattemull and Helen Green.

"There was a wedding there and I upstaged the bride because people wanted to hang out with me.

"On Saturday I went to my friend's club, The Pit in Hounslow (based at the Duke of Cambridge pub in Kingsley Road) and it was just f****** brilliant. Even people who don't usually speak to me were coming up to say hello."

Marcus reckons he's posed for well over 1,000 photographs for fans of the show since his exit on Friday, and switched his home computer on at the weekend to find some 7,000 emails and 3,000 people wanting him to add them as friends on the social networking site Facebook.

He's even got his own would-be stalker, an internet user by the name of Raven Rockchick, who asked him a question while he was on spin-off show Big Brother's Little Brother, and has since been leaving messages with Marcus' brother.

Marcus added: "I expected the response from the public to be half good, half bad. I even thought I might end up in a few fights if people didn't like me. But - apart from a couple of people - there's been no negative human contact. Every single person has been brilliant."

Marcus revealed he's had a few offers from girls but is on the lookout for someone special.

He said: "As I said on Big Brother I am the hundred per cent man, and its got to be right. I'm looking for someone who's genuinely nice. I met a girl in Hounslow on Saturday who could be the one. She seems really nice and educated in rock music."

Marcus feels he was well-prepared for the Big Brother experience after auditioning twice before and spending a week in the house last year as a part of a guinnea pig team, allowing producers to test out the house and tasks before filming.

He said he plans to stay in touch with housemates Freddy Fisher and Bea Hammil, but isn't sure if he will rekindle his friendship with Irish temptress Noirin Kelly, who he insists he knew he hadn't a chance of dating on the outside world but pursued her to beat the boredom.

Marcus predicts Brazilian student Rodrigo Lopes, 23, will win this year's Big Brother, but says he would have liked it to be Lisa as she would have "done the most with the money".

But he added: "I was never in it to win the money. I assumed there would be a prize fund but I didn't remember anyone saying there would be anything. If I had won I would have used the money to do my house up and pay my friend, Phil's rent."

Asked what he missed about Brentford while in the house, he said: "Apart from my friends obviously it wasn't really a Brentford thing. I missed driving and my spaghetti westerns, there were films on the cinema that I wanted to see like Terminator Salvation.

"If someone said to me how long have you been in there I'd have said three weeks, not 13. It's like being in The Matrix because everything looks real but its not, its scripted."

Marcus has yet to venture to his local Tesco or set foot in Brentford by day but did drive over to Toys R Us in Hayes on Tuesday where he used some of his Big Brother wages to purchase a £35 Terminator Salvation action figure and a Transformer. He stopped to pose for photos with some BB fans who spotted him in the car park.

As for the future, Marcus says he intends to reply to all the fan emails he's received (even though it will take a while) and would be interested in trying his hand at TV presenting.

He said: "There's been talk that I could do Robot Wars or a martial arts program. I might go back to the window fitting eventually but it depends what happens. I've got no expectations but if someone puts something in front of me I'll consider it."

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