Germaine Greer, the feminist author and academic, today packed her bags and quit the Celebrity Big Brother house.

Ms Greer, who was the oldest Big Brother contestant ever to have joined the Channel 4 show, decided to leave after just five days.

Brigitte Nielsen’s mother-in-law Jackie attempted to persuade the 65-year-old to stay, but she was having none of it.

Observers were shocked when it was announced that the academic, critic and writer was joining the show. She once said watching Big Brother was "about as dignified as looking through the keyhole in your teenage child’s bedroom door".

Ms Greer’s battle with Ms Nielsen over who should run the Big Brother kitchen had been an unlikely sight during the show.

Critics said that she ran truer to form when she attempted to persuade the housemates to launch a naked rebellion against Big Brother.

Speaking to fellow housemates in the bedroom while packing, Ms Greer said: "I’m leaving over specific issues, but best for everyone if I don’t discuss them. I have a problem with decisions, I make them fast and when I make them, I stick to them."

Recruiting the author and academic to the Celebrity Big Brother show was seen as coup for the show's producers, after the veteran journalist and television producer Janet Street Porter appeared as a contestant I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here.

Observers were mystified as to why the critic joined the reality show. The outspoken Australian does not suffer fools gladly, but she surprised viewers by cooing over John McCririck, an eccentric racing pundit, with a bowl of vegetable curry.

He said after she left: "I’ve never changed my mind about someone so much. She’s been fantastic, absolutely incredible."

A Channel 4 statement said: "Germaine Greer has decided that she no longer wishes to remain in the Big Brother house, after over four days.

"Today at midday, she went to the Diary Room and asked Big Brother to return her suitcase, so she could pack her belongings. Germaine left the Big Brother house at 12.45pm today."

The author of the hugely influential book The Female Eunuch is not the first star to quit a reality show. Brian Harvey, the former pop star, John Lydon, the former Sex Pistol, and Danniella Westbrook, the former EastEnders actress, all quit I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here, while Coronation Street star Amanda Barrie, athlete Dwain Chambers and DJ Tommy Vance walked out of Hell’s Kitchen.

Had she won, Ms Greer’s chosen charity was dedicated to saving Britain’s rarest slugs, snails and spiders.

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