Big Brother housemate Lily joined the show for this surprising reason

Lily Benson is a 20-year-old from Warrington who entered the Big Brother house on Sunday.

The Warringtonian has quickly been labelled an icon by fans, and some betting sites have even suggested that she could be on track to win.

Latest odds from BoyleSports show that Lily is the current favourite at 11/4, having been 5/1 before last night's episode.

Her wild antics in the house haven’t gone down quite as well with some of her housemates, with Sarah even asking the 20-year-old if she has Tourette’s.

The proud Chinese takeaway server has repeatedly declared her love for the restaurant she’s worked in since she was 14, even sharing some of her favourite items on the menu in Tuesday’s episode.

Last night, Wednesday, Lily shared more details about her life away from the show, including the fact that she started studying broadcast journalism at university before she dropped out.

Lily entered the Big Brother house on Sunday (Image: ITV)“I tried to go uni but it was too hard,” she said.

“After I did the first year and realised, like, this isn’t for me, then I realised obviously I don’t get the big fat student loan.

“So then, I just reapplied to a different course, didn’t go and got the £10,000 student loan. And then I gambled, like, all my student loan.”

Viewers also heard the surprising reason why Lily decided to audition for Big Brother during a conversation with fellow housemates Martha and Dean.

“The reason I went on the show is because this is [my ex's] favourite show,” she said.

“So, I found out that he was dating me and another girl at the same time. I thought ‘go on his favourite show’.”

“That is so iconic mate, honestly,” said Martha.

It wasn’t all cheery conversations, though, as the 20-year-old shared her vulnerable side in the diary room, and with some of her housemates.

The 20-year-old was upset in last night's episode (Image: ITV)

“Today I was really, like, high and then I was a bit upset,” she shared in the diary room.

“I spoke to Ali, and she said ‘Lily, I think you’re a genuine person’, and it really made me happy because I thought everyone was going to hate me.

“Then because I’ve made friends, it’s nice because I don’t have loads of friends. I only have a few friends. It’s nice to have people that actually like me.

“It makes me feel more happy, more confident and more fun, and like I can be myself around everyone.

“I think looking at it, it’s obviously just different people so obviously, like, being me, I’m going to question ‘oh do people like that’, but you never know deep down if they do like me. ‘Cos I like me, I do like me. I do just think some people dimmer my sparkle.”

Big Brother is airing at 9pm every day on ITV2 and is available to stream for free on ITVX.