Big Brother contestant Scott Mason missed out on a £50,000 prize after being voted out of the TV house – but discovered he had earned a history degree.

For almost 10 weeks on the reality game show, former Fallibroome High School student Scott, 21, was filmed 24-hours-a-day for 67 days. He was voted off the Channel 5 show just three days before the final.

His dad John Mason, 50, who lives on Grange Road, said: "We’re really proud of him. It was surreal turning on the TV and seeing him there.

"At first I was worried about him, I didn't know how he would handle it, he’d gone from having all this freedom at university to being locked in a house for two months."

Well-spoken Scott, who left the house briefly in the first week following the death of a close family friend, quickly became a favourite in the house. Mr Mason, a dad of two, said: "He’s a really quirky character and he was completely himself in the house.

"The only thing that seemed to rub people up the wrong way was the way he spoke – especially considering he was from Macclesfield and his dad’s a joiner and his mum works in an office – but he wasn’t nominated until that last week, so he's done well."

"He’s been interested in royalty and the gentry his whole life and he’s been really well-spoken since he was little, it’s just the way he is."

Scott, who splits his time between his dad’s house and his mum’s on James Street, Macclesfield, moved into the Big Brother house the day after he finished his course at Exeter University, but had to wait until his eviction to hear he had passed his history course with a 2.1.

John added: "I went down there with his sister Jodie on Friday and took his results with me, he was really pleased.

"He has been in this bubble for two months, he doesn’t know what’s happened in the Olympics, he didn’t get to see the Jubilee, which I know he was really looking forward too.

"Now he just has to figure out what he is going to do.

"He has always wanted to be a historian so hopefully he will find a way to go down that route – he could be like Brian Cox."