Rather than deafening cheers from the crowd who had waited for hours to see the 2026 Big Brother winner announced, Rochelle Rackham was greeted by a chorus of boos.As the 57-year-old was crowned champion of the ITV reality series last night, the audience attending the live final jeered and heckled the controversial star.Around the world, viewers were similarly appalled.‘Surely not, Rochelle has won?! How the hell has that happened?’ read one of the many WhatsApp messages that pinged up on my phone in the wake of the news.I was just as stunned.Indeed, just three weeks ago, I exposed the very same Rochelle for sharing racist, worrying and harmful posts on Facebook.And since then, further controversies and alleged comments on the show have invoked rage from viewers and fellow contestants alike.Indeed, I can now reveal there is growing upset and dismay behind the scenes at ITV following Rochelle’s shock win, with many, including employees at the corporation, disappointed by the result.Late last night, ITV’s Alison Hammond left a telling ‘like’ on a social media video I posted, exposing Rochelle’s racist past. Rochelle Rackham was crowned champion of the ITV reality series Big Brother to the disbelief of many watchers around the world Hosts Will Best and AJ Odudu struggled to contain Thursday’s crowd, with Best repeatedly asking attendees to quieten down as they heckled RochelleHosts Will Best and AJ Odudu struggled to contain Thursday’s crowd, with Best repeatedly asking attendees to quieten down as they heckled Rochelle.‘Could everyone quieten down, she [Rochelle] can’t hear us,’ Will shouted into the din.He then got up a further five times during the barely audible ‘exit interview’ to ask spectators to settle down. All the time, Rochelle smiled serenely in a floor-length gold dress, appearing completely unbothered by her detractors.I have also been told there were chants of ‘racist, racist, racist’ from the crowd, although those were not broadcast.‘As Gemma Collins said to me, take the boos,’ she told Best. ‘And a hundred grand.’‘Bring it on,’ she added as the crowd continued to taunt her.There are now even calls for Rochelle’s win to be taken away.One source told me: ‘Rochelle should never have won. ITV will have lost a lot of loyal fans from the result.‘It shows the state of the country, but she has been rewarded for her behaviour. ITV should be ashamed for letting someone like that in the house in the first place, let alone keeping her in and giving her an opportunity to win.’Despite the controversy, Rochelle won more public votes than any Big Brother contestant in the past 13 years, eventually securing an estimated 4.9 million in her favour.It is evident that her opinions and clashes brought her just as many critics as fans, with hundreds of comments on the Big Brother Instagram account BBUK calling her ‘iconic’, a ‘queen’ and a ‘legend’. There is no doubt that for all her many detractors she clearly enjoyed considerable support from some section of the audience.Going into the final, Rochelle’s biggest competition was stylist and party-starter Lucy ‘Twinks’ Burnett. The opposite to Rochelle in every way, she is a champion of trans rights and a staunch feminist.Twinks’s exit was met with cheers and affection from the crowd. ‘You should have won,’ they chanted.As the camera panned to Rochelle’s former housemates in the final, almost every face appeared to register the same disappointment at the outcome.Which, given everything that I have revealed about Rochelle’s past and the controversies surrounding her behaviour inside the house, perhaps comes as little surprise.Last month, I revealed that she had shared a racist social media post 11 years ago, when she was working as an unknown nail technician.The offensive message, which shocked Big Brother fans, featured an image of a person bungee jumping, overlaid with the words: ‘Experience bungee jumping only £35 a jump. Muslims go free. No strings attached.’Rochelle captioned the reshare: ‘Love this’, tagged friends she thought would ‘appreciate’ the joke and added: ‘Lol.’The post prompted fans, industry insiders and fellow contestants to question why she remained on the show after it emerged.I had presumed it would have been a no-brainer for ITV, famously uncompromising when it comes to such matters, to decide that her comments were completely against the network’s commitment to an ‘inclusive culture’.Indeed, similar behaviour in the past has resulted in contestants being immediately removed from the house.But I was told the reason ITV chiefs chose to keep Rochelle in the competition was that they already knew about the offensive post before she entered the Big Brother house.Sources told me ITV’s production team were aware that Rochelle had ‘shared a meme to her social media account’ which she subsequently removed.According to one source, Rochelle ‘deleted it after acknowledging its offensive nature’ and, I’m told, underwent ‘respect and inclusion’ training, which is given to all new Big Brother housemates.All of this came after Rochelle’s views on trans rights, feminism and racism caused considerable friction among her fellow housemates, and viewers.Rochelle was criticised after telling fellow contestant Charlotte Nott, 18, a quadruple amputee from Oxford, that she had ‘a bit of a fear’ of people with ‘no arms’. The Big Brother winner also faced backlash over comments about fellow contestant Millie Jarrett’s weight.But it was her heated clash with co-star Johanne Cade that prompted 493 Ofcom complaints from viewers who accused Rochelle of racism and bullying. Molly Clayton revealed last month that Rochelle had shared a racist social media post 11 years ago, when she was working as an unknown nail technician Rochelle was the most nominated Big Brother contestant in 13 years, eventually securing an estimated 4.9 million votes in her favourI spoke to Johanne just days after she left the house and she told me: ‘I don’t think she should be in that house. I feel like she has said so much and done so much.’In a damning allegation about the confrontation, Johanne claimed Rochelle had repeatedly threatened to physically assault her during their time together.‘She said to me that she would punch my throat. And then she went on to talk about physically assaulting me multiple times, at least three or four times.’Rochelle was subsequently filmed in the Diary Room telling cameras: ‘I haven’t said anything insulting to her [Johanne] other than I want to punch her in the mouth now, which I really f****** do.’Despite Big Brother responding that such threats were ‘unacceptable’, Rochelle later stated: ‘she wanted to ‘f****** club her over the head with a f****** chicken.’‘I don’t know who’s protecting her [Rochelle]. I don’t know why, I don’t know what’s going on,’ Johanne explained.‘It made me feel very sad… I don’t think there’s anything people can tell me about this lady that would make me go, “Oh my gosh”,’ she said.‘If that’s who people feel represents the UK and the Big Brother house, we live in a very sad world.’In more damning allegations, fellow housemates who left the show in the last week, have alluded to an offensive comment Rochelle allegedly made during their time together.Over the weekend, former contestants Phillip and Rihanna suggested Rochelle had said hurtful and concerning things while in the house, and claimed ITV had ‘covered’ them up and that they were not allowed to speak much more about it. Johanne alluded to the same.Whatever these alleged comments were, they were not aired, leaving ITV facing further questions this week over what viewers were and were not shown.Since my recent stories on Rochelle, I have been sent a stream of messages on social media from people claiming to have also uncovered other alarming posts from her.However, because housemates’ social media accounts are deactivated before they enter the house, many of these claims have been difficult to verify.One loyal Big Brother viewer messaged me last night, saying: ‘I can’t say I will be watching the show ever again after watching it since 2006 now that Rochelle has won.‘I just wish Big Brother aired what she’s been doing in there and that they were more honest.’And judging by the reaction to last night’s result, I suspect many others feel the same.An ITV spokesman said: ‘We have broadcast a fair and accurate depiction of events in the house and audiences will have seen housemates challenged on views and opinions, both by their fellow housemates and by Big Brother.‘We are transparent on our processes and the rules with regards to language and behaviour, the housemates are monitored at all times and where necessary Big Brother will intervene.‘Not all of Big Brother’s interventions are broadcast within the programme.’