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Ben Duncan rose to fame on reality TV before his death in 2025. Duncan, the college classmate of Prince William and Princess Kate Middleton, starred on Big Brother U.K. season 11 in 2010. In addition to Big Brother, Duncan starred in reality shows such as Come Dine With Me, Ladette to Lady and Celebrity Coach Trip. “Someone asked me a couple of weeks ago if my life had changed,” Duncan shared in a 2010 interview with Digital Spy regarding his fame post-Big Brother. “And the thing is that I’ve never done a 9 to 5 job, so in many ways it hasn’t at all. Of course people now ask me for pictures and attention in the street, but I was always the sort of person who spoke to people in the street anyway.” Several years later, several outlets reported that Duncan died on October 30, 2025, at the age of 45. According to reports, Duncan fell about 100 feet off a rooftop bar (on the seventh floor) at London’s Trafalgar St. James Hotel. Keep scrolling to learn more about Duncan: Ben Duncan Attended St. Andrews University With Prince William and Kate Middleton According to several outlets, Duncan was allegedly part of William and Kate’s friend group at school and was around when the royal family members first started dating. “Because we’d had Will and Kate in our midst we had royal protection officers swarming the place,” Duncan recalled during a 2010 interview on going to school with William and Kate. “We knew that they had hit it off and we knew that something was happening, but they were just left alone to get on with it.” Duncan also claimed he was also at the campus fashion show where Kate captured William’s attention. “It was the end of their first year. I was there, and in person there were a lot of attractive girls,” he shared at the time. “She was in a very daring dress, in a sheer stocking-like dress. He was sitting front row and his eyes were like stalks.” According to Duncan, Kate “brushed by” William “on the way to the catwalk and things were never the same again.” “The whole history of the monarchy had been altered,” he added. Ben Duncan Appeared on U.K.’s ‘Big Brother’ In 2010, Duncan went on Big Brother U.K. season 11 alongside housemates Josie Gibson, Dave Vaughan, Mario Mugan, Joseph-John “JJ” Bird, Andrew Edmonds, John James Parton, Sam Pepper, Corin Forshaw, Steve Gill, Joanna “Jo” Butler, Rachel Ifon, Laura McAdam, Keeley Johnson, Caoimhe Guilfoyle, Ife Kuku, Nathan Dunn, Keeley “Shabby Katchadourian” Flanders, Yvette “Sunshine” Martyn, Govan Hinds and Rachael White. Duncan was evicted on Day 52, and Gibson ultimately won the season. Less than one year later, Duncan revealed that he didn’t keep in touch with a lot of the cast members. “I have had a lot of calls from club promoters who say that they are doing a big red carpet and that John James and Josie will be there, and Mario,” he explained to Digital Spy in a 2010 interview. “All the old housemates. They offer you a few hundred quid and ask you to come along. But the thing with that is that I would always be remembered as Ben who did Big Brother and went on to do other things.” Duncan shared that he doesn’t always want to “be remembered as Ben from Big Brother.” “So I have tried on purpose to stay away from a few things,” he noted. Ben Duncan Wrote Diary Pieces for News Outlets According to his Big Brother profile shared by Echo news, Duncan wrote diary pieces for the Mail On Sunday and The Daily Telegraph. The outlet noted that Duncan was also “extremely passionate about politics and is obsessed with the Middle East, where he wishes he was from.” Ben Duncan Went on to Star in Multiple Reality Shows Aside from Big Brother, Duncan starred on other reality shows such as Come Dine With Me, Ladette to Lady and Celebrity Coach. Following his time on Big Brother and Celebrity Coach, Duncan shared that his life had not really changed since appearing on TV. “I’ve always liked parties and been on the London party scene, so that hasn’t changed,” he told Digital Spy in a 2010 interview. “I pick and choose my events more carefully now, that’s one thing that has changed. I now just go to what I want to go to. It does make you a little reclusive and the days of ambling around St. James and Mayfair — I don’t do that so much now. But it has given me some great opportunities.” Ben Duncan Died in October 2025 In October 2025, Duncan fell about 100 feet off a rooftop bar (on the seventh floor) at London’s Trafalgar St. James Hotel. He was 45. In a statement to the Daily Mail in November 2025, London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed that “officers responded to concerns for a man on the roof of a building in Cockspur Street, Westminster.” “The man sadly fell from height. Despite the best efforts from the London Ambulance service, he was sadly pronounced dead at the scene,” they said. “His death is unexpected but non-suspicious.”
