--- title: Donald Trump Still Has a Friend in Britain’s Nigel Farage description: Outgoing UKIP leader Nigel Farage praised Donald Trump's performance at Sunday's debate, likening him to “a silverback gorilla” canonical: https://time.com/4524705/donald-trump-nigel-farage-hillary-clinton-debate-gorilla/ author: Feliz Solomon article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-10T09:12:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T01:05:51.533Z article:section: Politics og:title: UKIP Leader Nigel Farage Praises 'Big Alpha Male' Trump og:description: Donald Trump still has a friend in Britain’s Nigel Farage og:url: https://time.com/4524705/donald-trump-nigel-farage-hillary-clinton-debate-gorilla/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4ec8665a3de17f5/6988a950524fc06f0edf9c87/rtx2mxoz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4779 og:image:height: 2688 og:image:alt: European Parliament Nigel Farage speaks during a Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump campaign rally in Jackson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: UKIP Leader Nigel Farage Praises 'Big Alpha Male' Trump twitter:description: Donald Trump still has a friend in Britain’s Nigel Farage twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4ec8665a3de17f5/6988a950524fc06f0edf9c87/rtx2mxoz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Britain's Nigel Farage Just Likened Donald Trump to a 'Silverback Gorilla' > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Feliz Solomon](https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Oct 10, 2016 9:12 AM UTC  Outgoing UKIP leader Nigel Farage speaks during a campaign rally of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Jackson, Miss., on Aug. 24, 2016 Outgoing UKIP leader Nigel Farage speaks during a campaign rally of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Jackson, Miss., on Aug. 24, 2016Carlo Allegri—Reuters by [Feliz Solomon](https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/) ## Feliz Solomon Oct 10, 2016 9:12 AM UTC The outgoing head of the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), Nigel Farage, championed Donald Trump’s performance in the spin room following Sunday’s [presidential debate](http://time.com/4524589/second-presidential-debate-donald-trump-nuclear/?xid=homepage) in St. Louis. Praising his efforts during the debate, Farage likened Trump to “a silverback gorilla,” and called him a “big alpha male,” according to the _Guardian._ “He looked like a big gorilla prowling the set and he is that big alpha male — that’s what he is, that’s what he is,” Farage said. Farage’s words of support come at a time when Trump is [losing the backing](http://time.com/4524010/donald-trumps-lewd-comments-leave-the-gop-scrambling/) of many of his fellow Republicans after the damaging disclosure on Friday of a tape exposing him making [offensive remarks](http://time.com/4523755/donald-trump-leaked-tape-impact/) about women that some people have claimed amount to an admission of sexual assault. While a number of [prominent Republicans](http://time.com/4523942/donald-trump-women-video-gop-rejection/) have spoken out publicly against Trump’s comments and withdrawn from his corner, Farage [appears as enamored](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/oct/09/nigel-farage-defends-donald-trump-over-alpha-male-boasting) as ever with his fellow “Mr. Brexit.” The UKIP leader had initially [joined the nominee](http://time.com/4465754/donald-trump-nigel-farage-mr-brexit/) on the campaign trail in August, where he compared [Trump’s quest](http://time.com/4465479/donald-trump-brexit-nigel-farage/) for the White House to his own successful bid to lead Britain to exit the European Union. Farage also delivered a few words about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, the _Guardian_ reports, claiming that she poses a threat to democratic values. \[[_Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/10/nigel-farage-fights-donald-trumps-corner-in-post-debate-spin-room?CMP=twt%5Fgu)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4524705/donald-trump-nigel-farage-hillary-clinton-debate-gorilla/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4524705/donald-trump-nigel-farage-hillary-clinton-debate-gorilla/"},"headline":"Britain's Nigel Farage Just Likened Donald Trump to a 'Silverback Gorilla'","datePublished":"2016-10-10T09:12:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T01:05:51.533Z","description":"Donald Trump still has a friend in the U.K. politician","url":"https://time.com/4524705/donald-trump-nigel-farage-hillary-clinton-debate-gorilla/","keywords":["Debates","Hillary Clinton","Donald Trump","Nigel Farage"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4ec8665a3de17f5/6988a950524fc06f0edf9c87/rtx2mxoz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Feliz Solomon","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/feliz-solomon/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc4ec8665a3de17f5/6988a950524fc06f0edf9c87/rtx2mxoz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"European Parliament Nigel Farage speaks during a Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump campaign rally in Jackson","caption":"European Parliament Nigel Farage speaks during a Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump campaign rally in Jackson","creditText":"Carlo Allegri—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4524705/donald-trump-nigel-farage-hillary-clinton-debate-gorilla/","name":"Britain's Nigel Farage Just Likened Donald Trump to a 'Silverback Gorilla'"}}]}] ```