Four seriously ill teens were invited to enter the Big Brother house for a behind the scenes tour.

The small group included 20-year-old Sophie Barnett from Watford who was diagnosed with Cobb Syndrome and 15-year-old Bronwyn Lee from Rugely who is living with SLE Lupus, an autoimmune disease.

Billy Kane, 18 from Rugby who is living with Acute Lymphoblastic Lymphoma and 19-year-old Katie Tancred from Chatham who is diagnosed living with Exomphalos were also invited.

Sophie, from Burrow Close, said: “I had a really good time at the tour. It was surprising how much bigger the Big Brother house looks on TV compared to real life.

“It was also quite weird to see how life-like the life casts can be and how much time and work goes into making them.”

The teens were invited to visit Lifecast a company which creates body doubles, body parts and props for film and TV.

One of the teens showed such an interest that he was offered the chance to return for work experience.

Billy’s mum, Christine, said: “We had an amazing day, the team of people showing us round were very helpful.

“Billy really enjoyed meeting the Lifecast studio family and it was so fantastic that they offered him the opportunity to go back do work experience there. This will be a huge boost to his confidence.”

The small group also got to visit the Big Brother house where they got the chance to sit in the Diary Room chair.

Katie said: “I had a fantastic time. Everyone was really nice and being able to have a tour around Elstree Studios and the Big Brother house was incredible.

“It was so interesting to be able to see all the life casts that have been created for different films and TV programmes.

“I didn’t realise how small the studio sets were in real life, especially the Big Brother house which looks really big on TV.”

The tour was on behalf of Rays of Sunshine Children’s Charity who organise trips and grant wishes for seriously ill children aged three to 18.

Red Rock Entertainment supports Rays of Sunshine by sponsoring wishes and enabling our wish children to take part in some exclusive behind the scenes experiences within the film industry.