Big Brother really is getting back to us.
The format returns on ITV2 next year, after a four-year hiatus since it last aired on Channel 5.
But despite having Love Island ’s bosses behind the new show, it will have all the hallmarks of the original Channel 4 version when it returns to our screens – rather than being like Love Island, but inside a house.
Thrilling BB purists, a source said: “There will be a diverse casting across a range of ages, which is what made Big Brother so special. It won’t be like Love Island, where the contestants are all young social media influencer types – they want ‘all walks of life’.
“There will absolutely be no outside influence – just like in the original series – so they won’t get a day off every week like they do in the villa.
“It will have everything viewers came to love about the retro series, with nominations, a public vote and live evictions, but they want it to appeal to a new generation.
"It will be old school Big Brother, but for your little siblings.”
It will go out on ITV2 and ITVX next year and force housemates to live together for six weeks.
ITV boss Paul Mortimer who commissioned the series said it will be “refreshed and contemporary” and “should especially engage with our younger viewers”.
Big Brother is credited with propelling unknown housemates into stardom, such as Jade Goody, This Morning host Alison Hammond and Brian Dowling, who went on to host the series.
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Boris Johnson
His run as PM was far from funny, but it certainly offered satirists plenty of material.
Have I Got News for You kicks off a new series next month with an edition commemorating Boris Johnson, titled Have I Got News For Boris.
Comedian Jack Dee joins Loose Women’s Janet Street-Porter and comedian Phil Wang alongside Ian Hislop and Paul Merton for “a romp through the soon-to-be ex-Prime Minister’s career and his distinctive contribution to British politics, on the eve of his departure”.
It’ll be the sendoff he deserves.
Matt Forde
Cry babies at comedy gigs are no laughing matter.
Just ask Matt Forde, who complained after a small child cried throughout his show, “derailing” his performance.
“They wouldn’t do the decent thing and just leave when it started crying,” he complained yesterday, of said child’s parents. “I get that it must be tough as a new parent but please, don’t bring babies to adult shows. It’s always a problem.”
Cue outrage from all angles – Matt was scolded for being a “baby” about the noise during his show, while other parents complained they book babysitters only to endure another little one crying at an event.
Others said babies should be banned from ticketed events full stop.
There really is no place like social media for an unhealthy debate.
Florence Pugh
Actress Florence Pugh knew her three-year relationship with Zach Braff “bugged people” as, at 47, he was 21 years her senior – so she tried to keep their split a secret, to avoid any schadenfreude.
She told Harper’s Bazaar: “We just felt [it] would really do us the benefit of not having millions of people telling us how happy they are that we’re not together.”
Florence is appearing in Don’t Worry Darling alongside Harry Styles.
Katie Piper
As viewers watched Katie Piper talk emotionally about her life prior to the acid attack which left her with life-changing scars on Loose Women yesterday, the presenter was undergoing yet more “emergency” surgery on her injuries.
Thankfully, shortly after the pre-recorded segment aired, Katie was discharged – and said the feedback from the public “lifted her mood” as she left the hospital.
“It’s so nice to open up my timeline and see all these messages,” she told social media followers.
Katie told viewers yesterday how her “life was turned upside down in a matter of seconds” during the 2008 attack.
“I’m 38, but I sort of feel in my 70s or 80s because what’s happened to me, condensed in such a short period doesn’t happen to some people in their whole lifetime,” she said.
But she added: “Trauma’s a fact of life, but it needn’t be a life sentence.”
Celebrity Masterchef
Good luck to John Torode and Gregg Wallace when Lesley Joseph takes her turn in the Celebrity MasterChef kitchen.
When the Birds of a Feather star appeared on Come Dine With Me in 2009, “everything went wrong”.
She recalls: “The cat walked over my potatoes, I didn’t switch the oven on properly so my lamb was raw, and my “pineapple surprise” dessert became a fruit salad because I somehow managed to throw away the pineapple filling.
“It was a nightmare.”
Still, as she tells My Weekly: “It wouldn’t be entertaining if everyone was brilliant.” True say.
