Body language expert Judi James has figured out Fern Britton’s clever tactics when it comes to masking her true emotions – and it’s all down to her nurturing smile.

In an unexpected twist, former This Morning star Fern, 66, has been dubbed as the new Celebrity Big Brother house “villain” following her awkward spat with Strictly Come Dancing professional Nikita Kuzmin. Fern’s fellow housemate Louis Walsh also branded her as “the biggest snake in the house” – causing viewers to rethink their initial perceptions of the TV star.

Now, body language expert Judi has claimed that Fern uses her “kind” smile to mask her frustrations and to dig the knife even deeper during conflicts with her housemates. Speaking exclusively with Paddy Power Games, Judi said: “Louis tells us that Fern has ‘Been in the business for 100 years’ and clearly has a game plan. Fern calls Louis out as the ‘biggest snake in the House’. Unlike the younger housemates, Fern and Louis are veteran body language maskers but both celebs are like paint-strippers when it comes to spotting fake behaviours in others and calling them out.

“Fern spent many years on one of the most saccharin shows on TV. As a result, she has one of the sweetest, kindest smiles in the business. Her eyes crinkle, her cheeks rise and go round and her lips pucker with a dipping of the middle of the upper lip signalling nurturing, empathy and caring. It’s also a congruent facial expression. All the muscles and lines are involved in creating it readily and easily. Often we can spot the applied mask because it takes so much effort but there’s zero effort in Fern’s case.

Body language expert Judi claims that Fern hides behind her kind smile ( 
Image:
REX/Shutterstock for Big Brother)

“Which is why her calling out of Nikita over ‘stripy top-gate’ was such a powerful moment and not just because the spat involved two House ‘good-guys’. Fern did it with her ‘kindly’ smile in place. Fern knew Nikita had been nominating her on speed-dial. She also got ‘snubbed’ when she sat to talk it out with him (potato-gate). Unlike Louis with his pre-dumps, Fern had been bottling her emotions, meaning she shocked and confused the House with this smiling take-down,” Judi shared.

The body language expert went on to discuss Fern’s “conflicting” mannerisms as her anger can clearly be shown through her body language, but her smile and kind eyes once again mask and bottle up her true emotions. Judy shared: “Fern’s body language threw up conflicting extremes. Her pose and her pointing index finger mimed an attack. Her ‘We get on alright when we’re playing games’ came with her sweet smile and this wrong-footed Nikita, who smiled back. Fern’s kindly smile versus her incongruent rituals forced him to ask: ‘Are we having a beef?’.

“The combination of Fern’s sweet smile suggesting kindness while her accelerated blink rate and her raised brows and staccato finger movements registered annoyance and authority made any response from Nikita difficult. Her shrug implied it was no problem and Nikita’s gesture of rubbing the back of his head forming a pit-bare ritual suggested both confusion and a desire to stand his ground.

“Fern also used command techniques with Nikita. Her ‘carry on’ at the end of this confrontation matched with her style of speech when she offered to make up with him later: ‘Come and talk to me’ and ‘Come and be here if you wish’ made him have to walk over to her. When he tried to form an apology, she used a volley of ‘No no no, yes yes yes’ to talk over him in an ongoing interruption. Her kindly smile remained in place until Nikita had gone and then we got a large sigh for the cameras, suggesting Fern might believe she is taking the audience with her as she calls people out. But has she made a big mistake in assuming this?”