London, Sept 06: Welsh actress Rachel Rice won the ninth series of ‘Big Brother’, and got a cash prize of 100,000 pounds.

Rice, who is currently a trainee teacher and who was once featured alongside Hugh Grant in the film Night Train to Venice when she was eight, beat runner-up Mikey Hughes to take the title.

The 24-year-old actress from Torfaen in south Wales had been an on-off favourite all night, after bookies found it difficult to decide, she won the reality show with 51.3 percent of the public vote.

It was kind of a surprise for Rice to hear her name being announced as the winner, and she exclaimed, "Oh my God, no way" before hugging Mikey and telling him "I love you so much".

"I`ve learnt to be true to who you are. People can try and tell you you`re fake and try and break you down. I know who I am, it`s fine,” a news daily quoted her as telling host Davina McCall after the show.

The first housemate to be evicted from the final, on September 5, was albino Darnell Swallow and Chef Rex Newmark and Australian Sara Folino followed him.

ANI