Big Brother star and singer Flayslane da Silva has being criticised after making a hole in a copy of George Orwell’s classic novel ‘1984’ so she could use it to hide a surprise gift of a new mobile phone for her little sister.

The British author George Orwell’s dystopian portrait of what the future would be like decades after he wrote it in 1949 predicted that fake news would dominate politics, and also warned of the dangers of mass surveillance by the all-seeing ‘Big Brother’.

The fact that the Big Brother reality TV star, known locally by the name Flay, had chosen to use the novel as a cover for an iPhone was an irony that was not lost on many.

The sexy singer and former contestant on Big Brother Brasil, who boasts 6.4 million followers on Instagram, had reportedly wanted a novel way of gifting the phone to her younger sister, Flayse, on her birthday without apparently realising the importance of the book she had chosen to destroy for the purpose.

The video was originally posted on the star’s Instagram Stories.

In the viral footage, shared on Twitter by netizen ‘Anarcoprincess’, that has been viewed 2.7 million times, the reality star’s sister is seen walking to the sofa with the gift in her hands.

It is wrapped in a ribbon and from the cover, the silver-coloured book can be seen to be a copy of George Orwell’s ‘1984’.

She then sits on the sofa with Flay’s son Bernando watching from the side, and unwraps her gift, revealing that the classic book had a hole cut into the pages to act as a holder for the birthday girl’s new iPhone, reportedly worth BRL 4,000 (GBP 533).

‘Anarcoprincess’ said: “Not even in his wildest dreams would George Orwell have imagined this.”

Brazilian writer and actor Thiago Pasqualotto said on Twitter: “1984 is one of George Orwell’s most famous books. The work has already been made into films, miniseries, comics, translated for 65 countries, and now also serves as Flay’s iPhone case.”

Netizen ‘Blacktonks’ said sarcastically: “After George Orwell’s works became public domain, prices fell so much that they started to be sold as packaging.”

Twitter user ‘Lisa Exausta’ commented: “I still can’t believe that Flay ripped George Orwell’s ‘1984’ book to put a mobile phone inside! What a paradox, what madness!”