BIOGRAPHY
Emma Cornell is a personal trainer from New South Wales. Emma is the eldest of seven children, and describes herself as the black sheep of her family. Emma also describes herself as daring, stubborn and vivacious. Emma is a former Adelaide-based model and was winner of the South Australian section of the Ralph Swimsuit Model of the Year competition in 2005. Emma underwent breast enlargement surgery more than six-months before entering the Big Brother House to enhance her modelling career. She was the subject of a nude pictorial for Zoo Weekly, photographed before she entered the Big Brother House, in the 14 May Edition. Emma has an English-born partner, Tim Stanton, also a personal trainer, and they had lived together in Sydney prior to Emma entering the Big Brother House.

Emma's father died on 16 May 2007 whilst Emma was still in the Big Brother House and she was not advised of his death. Emma and her father had been estranged for six years although they had recently been communicating through text messages. Her father's dying wish was that Emma not be informed of his death until after she had left the Big Brother house. He had hoped that his death would not receive publicity, however news of his passing was leaked to the news media. Emma's brother Matt reported that their father had endured a long illness and the family had had some time to prepare themselves. In an open letter to the Australian public, which was posted on the official Big Brother website, Matt Cornell explained that he and Emma had "discussed the possibility of dad’s death thoroughly. I can confirm with absolute confidence that Emma has prepared herself and her views have been considered in the family’s decision-making process." This news has been reported internationally. Psychologist Chris Hall, from the Australian Centre for Grief and Bereavement, criticised the decision to not inform Emma. He said she should be told of her father's death to allow her make her own choice about how to deal with it. With ratings down on previous seasons, the program's producers are worried that this situation could have a negative impact on the show's viewing figures. The producers of the series have confirmed that, on her eviction from the house, they would advise Emma of her father's death in private and away from television cameras.

Family First Queensland Senate candidate Jeff Buchanan described the situation as an "unbelievable disgrace". He said that "This has to be the lowest of the low. How will Emma be able to look back and feel as though she had a proper choice to do the right thing?" Academic and media commentator Catharine Lumby, who consulted with the producers on behavioural issues, said this only brought to public attention another ethical dilemma. "This is the great ethical value of Big Brother because it highlights dilemmas that are already there. It doesn't create them," she said. Communications Minister Helen Coonan would not comment, saying it was "a family matter". On May 28 Big Brother producer Kris Noble wrote to the press saying that "we were not aware that Emma's father had died until it was disclosed to the press by persons unknown. This took place after the funeral service. This in turn led to media speculation that the producers of Big Brother chose not to tell Emma about her father's death and would somehow use the tragedy as a grab for ratings, causing further distress for the family who wanted to keep their sad news private."

On the evening of 28 May during the staging of the live Nominations show two audience members held up a sign reading "Emma, Your Dad Is Dead", presumably hoping a housemate would see it during a live cross between host Gretel Killeen and the housemates during the program. However the Nomination show features no such live crosses; these are in fact a feature of Eviction shows. They were discovered and ejected from the audience. Emma became the eighth housemate to be evicted on Day 50 by public voting with 76% of the merged vote, along with Rebecca in a double eviction. Emma had been informed of her father's death during a meeting with her brother Matt and a psychologist, 24 hours prior to her eviction. The issue of her father's death was only briefly mentioned when Emma appeared on the stage during the eviction show. Emma stated that "I want to leave it alone tonight as was my father's wish." After two weeks of doing public appearances for Big Brother she cancelled all future appearances.

With Susannah Murray in FHM -- Australian edition (09/07) ~ 12x