Big Brother UK star Sam opens up on gender identity and corrects myths about trans youth healthcare

Big Brother UK aired a notable moment in its 1 October 2025 episode when housemate Sam spoke about their gender identity and corrected several claims about healthcare for transgender youth.

During a conversation with fellow contestant George, Sam explained their approach to gender and how they present themselves on and off the show.

“Just what anybody wants. I just basically live life as me,” Sam said after George asked about their gender.

The exchange started when George asked Sam why they do not perform drag, leading Sam to explain,

“I just love being a personality as myself … I blend gender enough to be entertaining enough and eye-catching enough.”

Sam also mentioned that on Instagram, they list their pronouns as he/him, they/them, and she/her.

The conversation then moved to George’s question about whether “ambiguous genders” had always existed and later to his concern that a “gender ideology” is being forced on children.

Sam responded by describing how UK law works, explaining that no gender-affirming surgeries are allowed for minors and that previous access to hormones involved a long evaluation process.

Sam’s gender identity discussion inside the Big Brother UK house 

In the 1 October 2025 episode of Big Brother UK, George first asked Sam why they do not take part in drag shows. Sam replied,

“I just love being a personality as myself, I think it’s enough … so it works.”

When George followed up by asking what Sam’s gender is, Sam said,

“Just what anybody wants. I just basically live life as me. And if anyone wants to call me something they can, I’m not bothered really. It’s more like everyone else, make them feel comfortable and I just live as myself, really.”

Sam added that they had become more visible in recent years:

“[I’ve been] more vocal about it in the past few years, more visually like that the past few years. I’ve always seen myself as that since I was a kid but I didn’t know what that meant and how to articulate that until I got the vocabulary and got in the community and stuff.”

When George asked whether “ambiguous genders” had “always existed,” Sam answered, “Yeah I think so, but maybe just didn’t have labels or the terminology and stuff.”

This part of the episode showed how Sam explained their experience and the development of their identity to a fellow housemate who had questions about gender expression and history.
 

Sam responds to George’s claims about trans youth care in Big Brother UK

Later in the conversation, George said that although he believed some people “feel like they’ve been born in the wrong body,” he worried that a “gender ideology” was being forced on “vulnerable minds, like children.”

He added,

“I’ve just heard cases where kids get the op done and everything, and that’s irreversible and then they change their mind and realise they were just gay.”

Sam directly countered these points.

“A lot of kids can’t have the op … ‘cos it’s illegal,” they explained. “The only thing you can do, or could do before last year, underage [under 18] was get put on hormones, but that took about two years at least to go through mental evaluations. You have to go to doctors and prove that you’re trans and everything first, and then you get on hormones, which are reversible.”

Sam also noted that policy has changed and that hormone access for under-18s “is not a thing now.”

The episode highlighted research mentioned in media reports, such as a March 2024 JAMA Pediatrics study showing only one per cent of trans teens detransition after medical intervention and an October 2023 study finding 97 per cent of under-18s in the US and Canada were “highly satisfied” with their care.

Sam said that puberty blockers were meant to “give them the option to have a pause in their puberty and think what they want for themselves,” and concluded that misinformation and propaganda are shaping public perceptions: “it’s probably more misinformation and propaganda.”

Stay tuned for more updates.