The Celebrity Big Brother 2016 house is ready for the January 5 launch – all we need are some housemates.
Numerous names have been bandied about as prospective contestants, including: Stephanie Davis of Hollyoaks fame who also had a fling with One Direction’s Zayn Malik; Kim Kardashian West’s friend Jonathan Cheban; rapper Vanilla Ice and Keeping Up With The Kardashians star Scott Disick, partner of Kourtney Kardashian.
Presenters Emma Willis and Rylan Clark-Neal are tight-lipped about the cast, but they’re excited about the long-running favourite, which has an all-new theme for the new year.
Over the years, the celebrity series has seen stars of varying fame take part in the madness that is Big Brother. In some instances, close alliances are formed. However, the CBB house has also been home to some explosive rows as we highlight here.
1. Race row of 2007
Unquestionably the most controversial moment in CBB history is the race row that erupted between former beauty queen Danielle Lloyd, Jo O’Meara from S Club 7 and the late Jade Goody towards Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty.
Complaints from viewers about the behaviour and nasty comments made by the trio soared to 45,000 and the show even sparked censure from politicians, with then Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell branding it “racism being presented as entertainment”.
Media watchdog Ofcom singled out three occasions where it felt Channel 4 had failed its code of conduct.
One was where Jade referred to the star as “Shilpa Poppadom”, the second was Danielle telling Shilpa, in foul language, that she should go home to India and the third centred on an argument over Shilpa cooking a chicken in which offensive comments about Indian cooking were made.
Shilpa went on to win CBB that year.
2. Farrah Abraham v Natasha Hamilton
US reality TV star Farrah and Atomic Kitten’s Natasha Hamilton butted heads time and time again in the summer 2015 edition of CBB.
Following an argument about food rations, the ladies clashed in a full-on row, hurling insults at each other.
“F*** off, d***head!” the Brit exclaimed. In response, Farrah gave her the finger and at that point, Big Brother stepped in, calling the American to the Diary Room.
3. Coolio v Nadia Almada
The Gangsta’s Paradise rapper must have enjoyed his 2009 CBB experience because he signed up for Ultimate Big Brother a year later.
Unfortunately, he ended up walking out on day five after yet another row with Nadia Almada, the first transgender Big Brother winner. Coolio hid some of her shoes and all hell broke loose. He promptly asked to leave.
4. Perez Hilton versus Katie Hopkins
When Perez – real name Mario Lavandeira – entered the CBB house in January 2015, the American celebrity blogger was virtually unknown in the UK.
But everyone knew his name by the time he left thanks to numerous bust-ups with rent-a-controversy columnist Katie Hopkins.
There were way too many to list here.
To say the duo loathed each other is putting it mildly as they argued about everything from food shopping to fame to each other’s parenting skills (or lack thereof).
In one explosive row, for example, Perez told the former star of The Apprentice: “I’d blow my brains out. I’d be disgusted that you were my mother.”
She responded that her three children had “the benefit of a mother and father” whereas the openly gay star is a single father.
Enraged, he screamed: “How dare you bring my child into this! Shut the f*** up, b****,” and later accused Katie of homophobia.
5. Perez Hilton versus Calum Best
Tensions had been gradually increasing between Perez and George Best’s son Calum, until the model exploded one night.
“Shut the f*** up you f****** power tripper. You’re a piece of s*** and nobody likes you!” he cried.
“Don’t bother talking to me for the rest of the time, you c***!”
But it got worse and Perez went on to receive a warning from Big Brother following a shocking confrontation with Calum in which he used language pertaining to sexual assault.
In an argument between the pair, the reality star told Perez to “be the d***,” which prompted the outspoken contestant to reply with a graphic exclamation of where he would “shove it”.
This was the final straw for Calum, who let off steam about the incident to Big Brother.
6. Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt versus Rylan
The stars of US series The Hills became a phenomenon in the UK following their combative CBB appearance in 2013.
Speidi, as they are collectively known, quickly established themselves as public enemy number one with eventual winner Rylan – at that time, best known for The X Factor – that stood out.
During one altercation, they enraged the Essex-born star by labelling him as a “fake”.
“Then you need to get your f****** glasses mate, cos I am not playing up to one f****** camera,” he seethed to the couple.
Spencer wound him up even more. “You can’t be a normal person, this is an act.”
“A normal f****** person? I am a normal person mate! I live in the f****** real world out there!” Rylan exploded.
But that wasn’t the end of their feuding.
Celebrity Big Brother is broadcast on Channel 5 from January 5
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