'' Celebrity Big Brother'' is a spin-off of the British reality television series ''

Big Brother Big Brother may refer to: * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' ** Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control ** Big Brother Awards, a sat ...

'', broadcast in the UK and Ireland. Originally broadcast on Channel 4 and E4 and later broadcast on Channel 5 and

5Star 5Star (stylized as 5STAR) is a British free-to-air television channel owned by Paramount Networks UK & Australia and a sister channel of Channel 5. It originally launched as the female-orientated Five Life on 15 October 2006, and was relaunch ...

, it involves a group of celebrities, called housemates, living in isolation from the outside world in a custom-built "house". The actions of the participants are recorded constantly by microphones and cameras situated in each room. Regularly, the housemates nominate two other members of the group each to face eviction; those with the most nominations face a public telephone vote, and the housemate who receives the most public votes is evicted. This procedure continues until the final day, when the viewers vote for who of the remaining participants they want to win the programme. Profits from premium-rate telephone votes are donated to charities such as Comic Relief, Centrepoint and

Samaritans Samaritans (; ; he, שומרונים, translit=Šōmrōnīm, lit=; ar, السامريون, translit=as-Sāmiriyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group who originate from the ancient Israelites. They are native to the Levant and adhere to Samarit ...

Programme

Twenty-two editions of ''Celebrity Big Brother'' have been made, involving a total of 276 housemates. The programme has been the centre of controversies over the actions and inclusion of some of its housemates. For instance, viewer and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) complaints prompted

Hertfordshire Police Hertfordshire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Hertfordshire in England. Its headquarters is in Welwyn Garden City. The current chief constable is Charlie Hall. As of March 2019, the force cons ...

to remove a coat from the 2006 edition after Pete Burns claimed that it was made from gorilla fur and therefore against the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species agreement of 1975. However, after an analysis at the Natural History Museum, it was later discovered that the coat was made from the fur of

Colobus monkeys Black-and-white colobuses (or colobi) are Old World monkeys of the genus ''Colobus'', native to Africa. They are closely related to the red colobus monkeys of genus '' Piliocolobus''. There are five species of this monkey, and at least eight subs ...

. Fellow members of parliament criticised

George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer who is currently leader of the Workers Party of Britain, serving since 2019. Between 1987 and 2010, and then between 2012 and 2015, Galloway was a Member o ...

's participation in the same series, stating that Galloway had missed important debates regarding his constituency, Bethnal Green and Bow, and rejecting claims that Galloway took part to raise political awareness amongst the British youth. The family of Stuart Lubbock, a man who died in

Michael Barrymore Michael Ciaran Parker (born 4 May 1952), known by his stage name Michael Barrymore, is an English actor, comedian and television presenter of game shows and light entertainment programmes on British television in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Th ...

's swimming pool, criticised the programme makers for paying the entertainer £150,000 to participate on the programme. Germaine Greer voluntarily left the 2005 series after accusing the producers of using "superior bullying" tactics against contestants; commentators such as Graham Norton have argued that the housemates are not "actual celebrities". During the 2009 series, 527 viewers complained to

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

, the majority concerned about

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's conduct towards female contestants, but it was decided that the broadcaster's code was not breached. Comments made by Heidi Fleiss also proved controversial during the final series to air on Channel 4 of the programme in 2010; she accused Ivana Trump of smuggling drugs onto the programme, a claim that Trump's spokesperson denied, and made comments about abortion that attracted criticism. During the 2007 series, comments directed to and made about Shilpa Shetty from

Jade Goody Jade Cerisa Lorraine Goody (5 June 1981 – 22 March 2009) was an English television personality. She came to public prominence in 2002 when she appeared on the third series of the Channel 4 reality show '' Big Brother''. She went on to s ...

, Danielle Lloyd, Jo O'Meara and Jack Tweed caused an international racism controversy. The British and Indian governments commented on the issue, while Ofcom decreed that Channel 4 had been guilty of "serious editorial misjudgements" after 54,000 viewers claimed that Shetty had been the victim of racial discrimination. The broadcaster was made to air a series of on-air apologies, and the programme was not included in Channel 4's 2008 schedule; it was replaced by '' Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack''. In 2009, Channel 4's director of television Kevin Lygo announced that ''Big Brother'' "had reached a natural end point" and the 2010 edition was the final celebrity series to air on the channel. However, Channel 5 stated in April 2011 that it has signed a two-year deal with

Endemol Endemol B.V. was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted genres, including drama, reality ...

, the show's creators, to air both version of the programme for a reported £220m. The series started on 18 August 2011 and former ''Big Brother'' winner Brian Dowling replaced Davina McCall as the programme's presenter. Dowling presented the programme until January 2013, his final series being ''

Celebrity Big Brother 11 ''Celebrity Big Brother 11'' was the eleventh series of the British reality television series ''Celebrity Big Brother''. It launched on 3 January 2013, and aired on Channel 5 and 5* for 23 days concluding on 25 January 2013. The series is part ...

''. Emma Willis presented from the twelfth series to the twenty-second and final series of the show. John McCririck, Jackie Stallone, Pete Burns,

Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...

, Verne Troyer, Ivana Trump, Dustin Diamond, Lionel Blair, Leslie Jordan, Keith Chegwin,

David Gest David Alan Gest (May 11, 1953 – April 12, 2016) was an American producer and television personality. Gest founded the American Cinema Awards Foundation in 1983. He produced the television special '' Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebrati ...

, Colin Newell,

Sarah Harding Sarah Nicole Harding (; 17 November 1981 – 5 September 2021) was an English singer, model and actress. Her professional career began in 2002 when she successfully auditioned for the ITV reality series '' Popstars: The Rivals'', during which ...

, Derek Acorah and

Kirstie Alley Kirstie Louise Alley (January 12, 1951 – December 5, 2022) was an American actress. Her breakout role was as Rebecca Howe in the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1987–1993), for which she received an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe in 1991. From 1997 ...

have all died since their appearances.

Housemates

: Winner : Runner-up : Third place : Walked/Illness : Ejected : Housemate entered for the second time

Notes

* Ages at the time the celebrity entered the house

Guests

On some occasions, celebrities entered the house for a short period of time as guests.

International versions

References

External links

* * {{Use dmy dates, date=January 2018 Celebrity Big Brother housemates

Celebrity Big Brother (British TV series) ''Celebrity Big Brother'' is a British television reality game show based on the Dutch show '' Big Brother'', created by producer John de Mol in 1997, which aired from 2001 to 2018. The show followed a number of celebrity contestants, known as ...

Big Brother (British TV series) contestants