BIG BROTHER: WILL YOUMARRY ME?; Winner Craig proposes to true love

BIG Brother winner Craig Phillips proposed to his childhood sweetheart the moment he left the Channel 4 house.

In a romantic gesture a million miles away from his flirty, on- screen image, he went on one knee and asked Shelley Wilson to marry him as he left the compound that has been his home for nine weeks.

Shelley was waiting when Craig, 28, emerged whooping late on Friday after a record seven million people phoned in to vote - 51 per cent of them for him.

His stepfather Robbie Holmes, 62, said yesterday: "Craig could not wait to get out of the house to see her.

"The public may see him as a flirt who wants to chat up lots of girls but there's only one for him - Shelley."

He admitted, however, that the cheeky, muscle-bound Scouser famous for his saucy under-the-duvet antics with housemate Clare Strutton, has not always been a one-woman man.

"He had a lot of girls when he was young - in fact, so many it was unbelievable. But Shelley was always different in his eyes. She's a lovely girl and just right for him."

As close friends and family partied at the Holiday Inn in Rotherhithe, South London, Craig and 25-year-old Shelley - a former Gatwick Airport hostess - slipped away early. They left behind a lot of happy people, none more so than 18-year-old Joanne Harris.

On Friday, before millions of TV viewers, Craig donated his pounds 70,000 prize to the fund to raise pounds 250,000 for a heart and lung transplant in the US for Jo, a Down's Syndrome sufferer.

He said: "Jo is a unique young lady. She has been a friend of the family for a long time. With my donation, we have raised pounds 100,000. Myself and my family are willing to do any charitable event.

"Another six months or so and we should be able to raise the money. But I need support from the Press and the public in Britain."

Craig's gesture touched his army of fans who will now be toasting his future happiness with Shelley.

The pair, who put their tempestuous relationship on hold five years ago, bizarrely pledged they would return to each other and marry.

The pact allowed each to "explore and experience" other lovers before they tied the knot.

Building firm boss Craig had already proposed to Shelley live on air in the second week. But friends assumed it was either a joke or a ruse to pass time in the Big Brother house. The second proposal proved he was serious.

"He certainly never said anything to me about this before he went in," says Barrie Myerscough, 27, a friend since childhood. "They will make a great couple but I am surprised.

"To be frank, Craig and me have sh****d our way round Liverpool and Shropshire (where both now live) for the last ten years and I never thought he would want to stop.

"But if there was one girl who was going to get him, it was Shelley. Even when they weren't going out, they remained good friends and she was always coming to stay."

They first met at Secrets nightclub in Litherland, Liverpool, when Craig was 18 and she was 16. Many of the friends who bussed to Shropshire to watch a relay of Friday's show "pulled there, most weekends".

Linda Handley, a pal of 17 years, says: "Craig and his mates were always surrounded by a gang of girls. They knew they were good- looking. He worked in a butcher's shop then and girls flitted in and out all the time."

The lads also went on foreign holidays. Barrie says: "Shelley used to hit the roof. Craig was supposed to be meeting her one Friday night and he phoned to say he would be late. She asked: 'How late?' and he said: 'I'll be back Monday - I'm in Paris.' We ended up in the red light district - I don't know if he told Shelley that. Craig acts on impulse all the time. But I don't think Shelley will stand for it once they're married."

Former girlfriend Rachel Carhart, said: "He has the ladies eating out of his hand. I've watched him in action and he can pull them."

Receptionist Hayley Hanson, 18, of Newport - seen on Friday night in a hot tub at Craig's gym in Telford - fell for his charms two years ago.

She said: "He asked me out and I was flattered because everyone in the town fancied him. I asked him if he had a girlfriend and he said 'no'. A few days later, after we'd slept together, he said that actually, he did have a girlfriend."

Hayley had no idea about Shelley either: "I never had him down as the marrying type but maybe he will want to settle down now he has won."

Shelley recently moved to Brighton, Sussex. Now friends expect Craig to follow her south. "He might as well go to London - that's where his new life is going to be," says school friend Andy Laird.

Few expect exhibitionist Craig to return to building - he has been offered a recording contract by Sony and has been inundated with modelling offers.

Before that, he is expected on Tuesday at a presentation at his old primary school Rawson Road Juniors, where his nieces Kelly, 10 and eight-year-old Lauren are pupils.

"Craig's coming to see us," the excited pair said in his sister Beverley's front room in Seaforth, Merseyside, during the build-up to Friday night.

"He will never forget his home - however famous he gets."

DONATIONS can be paid into A Heart For Jo Appeal, Royal Bank Of Scotland, Sort Code: 16-33-17, Account Number 10009836. Call 01939 291071 for details.

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