| Kemal originates from the TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) and feels strongly routed to the culture, caring deeply for the political uncertainty in his country of origin. His father’s family moved to the UK in 1964, and his mother’s family before she was born. He was an extremely active and energetic child. Being brought up in a very multicultural society, Kemal became quickly inquisitive about the world around him, and this was reflected in his studies.
Though always top of the class at school, Kemal suffered from bullying at secondary school between the ages of 13-15. Kemal often draws back to being bullied as one of the toughest periods of his life so far. Kemal says,
“Though I was bullied for two years, and was physically afraid, I could never keep my mouth shut and verbally gave back as good as I got. It was then that I ran, only realising the extent of my big mouth, fearing then they would come for me again!”.
Kemal has always had something to say about something or somebody, never short of an opinion even from the youngest age. He was one of the schools most talented actors and always played a lead part in the school plays, stunning both pupils and teachers with his diverse performances.
After achieving very high GCSE results he left behind the hardships of Secondary school to attend one of the UK’s top colleges, Woodhouse Sixth Form College and set about completing his A Levels. It was here he made many life long friends and after again achieving extremely high A Level results set about going to University. Though he originally applied for a Law degree, which he was accepted upon, Kemal realised his passion lay in performing and set about finding a University in which he could enroll to do English Literature and Drama, rejecting his Law placement at a very prestigious University. In the run up to University he worked as the UK’s only male bellydancer, recognised not only in Britain but in the TRNC and Turkey as well.
“I was self taught – and I was the best”, says Kemal of his dancing. “But when I moved to University, there was little demand for a male bellydancer in Liverpool, so I set about finding a regular job and got one in the Passport Office. I did however start teaching other students how to bellydance!”
He was to only complete his first year at Liverpool JMU (Liverpool John Moore’s University) before embarking on the greatest adventure he had been on to date – Big Brother…
“Big Brother is one of the craziest, most enjoyable yet most psychologically disturbing experiences I have ever embarked upon” reflects Kemal. Big Brother is the UK’s most popular reality television show, in which a group of strangers are locked in one house, enduring weekly tasks and are evicted one by one, week after week, till there is an eventual winner. Kemal came to fame through the 6th edition of the show in 2005, and was easily one of the most outrageous and controversial characters the show had ever seen.
Favourite to win the show for the first few weeks, Kemal embarked on this challenge with no expectations and great desire,
“I remember walking into the first audition for this show and it was actually my friend who wanted to audition. I knew I certainly looked different. I had started to experiment more with fashion and clothing at University, and my look was drastically different to anybody at the auditions or the streets of Liverpool. Yes there we people dressed in rubber PVC costumes, some half naked and others with banners reading ‘pick me I’m crazy’ but when I looked down the queue I knew I was more special than all of them put together. I thought to myself, ‘You all think your wacky and mad because your dressed funny. You haven’t seen the meaning of the word. Many had only sex to sell. I had everything, from sex to religion, politics to fashion’. Though I was very confident and knew I would be an asset to the show I didn’t actually think I would get in, and was already planning to go travelling around Ukraine, and preparing for my next year at University. After what seemed like only three or four auditions I received the life changing phone call and grabbed the opportunity with both hands. As much as I had always wanted to be famous, this for me was different because it wasn’t singing or acting or dancing, it was reality television. I knew it was going to be one big adventure!”
Kemal was the last housemate to enter the Big Brother house, in a red and gold traditional Asian marriage Lenga Sari with six foot training headscarf. After his famous words, “Don’t let me down bitch” to his training headscarf, he set about embarking on the challenge. Kemal entered the house as a transitioning Buddhist from Islam, and by the end of his experience in the house was a much stronger and dedicated Buddhist than before. After much entertaining, fighting, nominating and general commotion, Kemal survived nine weeks of eleven, just missing out on the final by a couple of weeks. Since leaving the house he has proved to be one of the most successful housemates of 2005, embarking on continuing media work. In October 2005 he was asked to feature in top London fashion show for fashion house Kaiz Boutique. Kemal went on to be one of six celebrities to design a clothing collection that reflected the elements of his personality.
“I worked very closely with my design team, and designed each and every outfit myself, from where each stitch should be placed, to which model should walk the runway in it”.
He also modelled the first and last outfit himself and closed the night with a fantastic bellydance. He then went on to play the part of the Fairy Diva in Pantomime Cinderella at Christmas 2005 at the King’s Theatre, Southsea and received rave reviews and has featured on many different discussion items from ‘Sky News’ to ‘Richard and Judy’. Kemal’s prospect looks strong as he embarks on even more new and exciting projects throughout 2006.
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