Big Brother star Rebekah Shelton alive following death hoax

Former Big Brother contestant Rebekah Shelton has revealed she is alive and well following news earlier this morning that she had died.

A tweet from Rebekah’s account in the early hours of Friday morning stated that she had passed away ‘unexpectedly’ on Wednesday night.

Nearly 12 hours after the news spread across the internet and onto mainstream news websites, Rebekah posted a video confirming she was alive.

Rebekah, known as Rodrigo Lopes at the time, took part in the tenth series of Big Brother in 2009 and finished in fifth place. She announced she wanted to live as a woman three years later and completed her transition in 2014.

Rebekah more recently appeared on ITV’s Judge Rinder in a debate about loaned money for a botched boob job.

The now fake news of her death had been reported by reputable news outlets such as BBC News whilst stars of Big Brother past and present took to Twitter to post ‘tributes’, unaware the news was fake.

It is the second death hoax to hit the UK this week with Coronation Street actor Malcolm Hebden incorrectly reported to have died on Wednesday. The 78-year-old who plays Norris Cole in the ITV Granada saga is reportedly ‘absolutely fine’.

Corrie stars took to Twitter to confirm he had not passed away.