Where cast of CBB 17 are now – killer parasites, cocaine abuse and tragic death

Before the days of Love Island, Big Brother was the top reality show of the time, and the 17th series of the Channel 5 show was one of the more shocking editions.

Viewers were left on the edge of their seats as one of the more eccentric lineup of CBB contestants were thrown in one big house.

The series ran during the start of 2016 – from Jan to Feb – and delivered four whole weeks of TV gold and memes which are still recycled endlessly now.

The star-studded lineup of notoriously notable celebs wowed fans at home who couldn’t quite believe the astonishing batch of A-C listers they were given to spy on for a whole month.

As any Big Brother series was, drama and kickoffs were a given but the spats during CBB 17 were unmatched.

From TOWIE’s Gemma Collins to Geordie Shore’s Scotty T- this series brought the biggest TV personalities together – but where are they now? Let’s take a look…

Christopher Maloney

After coming out of the CBB house, the Former X-Factor contestant was due to appear on a celebrity version of The Jeremy Kyle Show but it never aired due to the show being cancelled.

Scouse lad Christopher, 43, has also been busy going under the knife multiple times, including procedures such as three eye lifts, six nose jobs and a hair transplant.

Last year, Christopher revealed that he had a near-death experience when he nearly died from being struck down by a killer parasite.

Christopher ingested the bug while eating a duck pancake that caused his organs to start shutting down.

Danniella Westbrook

In the same month as leaving CBB, it was confirmed that Daniella would return to The Square and join the cast of EastEnders again.

The star returned as Mitchell sister Sam and featured very briefly with her on-screen brother Grant (played by Ross Kemp), for the death of their soap mother Peggy (Barbara Windsor).

The 47-year-old has also since appeared on Loose Women and This Morning and started djing at the end of 2016.

Back in 2018, Daniella admitted that the bones in her face had started “rotting away,” due to osteoporosis from the high levels of cocaine she has consumed over the years.

Daniella, who is now clean, has recently undergone one of four reconstructive surgeries on her face which she was forced to have – after years of cocaine abuse – and now awaits the other three.

David Gest

Music producer-turned-TV star David Gest was tragically found dead at a hotel in London just two months after the CBB curtain closed.

Reports at the time, in April 2016, suggested that he had not left his suite in over two days before his body was discovered.

David was 62-years-old at the time of his death and had been reportedly battling a number of debilitating health problems, which further arose during his time in the CBB house.

Prior to this, the star had been living in Canary Wharf and had set up home in a luxury suite at the former Four Seasons.

Gemma Collins

You would have thought the GC would have needed some time off after her CBB stint, where she delivered the most meme-worthy lines throughout the show.

But instead, the star has been incredibly busy since leaving the show and has added more reality programmes to her roster.

The 40-year-old has since starred in Celebs Go Dating, Dancing on Ice and has even launched her own reality franchise, Gemma Collins: Diva Forever.

The reality TV queen also brought out her own podcast on BBC Sounds, where she was, of course, unapologetically herself.

More recently, Gemma has also been under a gruelling weightloss routine where she lost a whopping three stone since dedicating herself to reaching her fitness goals.

Jeremy McConnell

Inside the house, Irish lad Jeremy took a fancy to fellow contestant Stephanie Davis – which caused a big stir as she was still dating Sam Reece.

The CBB-birthed couple continued to hit headlines after leaving the house with Stephanie announcing she was pregnant with Jeremy’s child, shortly after they announced their split.

The 31-year-old denied the baby was his and went on This Morning to take a paternity test live on air that confirmed he was indeed the father.

The pair went on to reunite following their son Caben’s birth, however, in August 2017 Jeremy was found guilty of assaulting Stephanie.

He was then sentenced to 20 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months and ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service.

In November 2017, he was jailed for triggering his suspended sentence by failing to attend to perform his community service in order to travel to Turkey to receive a hair and beard transplant.

His original sentence was reduced to 18 weeks as credit for community service already completed.

The star became a dad once more in November 2019, when his girlfriend McConnell’s Katie McCreath gave birth to their daughter Storm.

Jonathan Cheban

Kim K’s bestie voluntarily left the show within days and then went on to look for love in the second season of Celebs Go Dating in 2017.

The experts on the show thought it was comical that his ideal woman was basically a Kardashian as he described his dream girl.

The publicist then kept up appearances by meeting up with UK BFF Gemma Collins and featured on her reality show Gemma Collins: Diva Forever.

In late 2019, Cheban launched the podcast Foodgod: OMFG! and also announced that he had changed his legal name to his social media handle, Foodgod.

In August 2020, the 47-year-old was robbed at gunpoint with the criminals pointing a pistol at his mother’s head as he was urged to hand over his $250,000 Richard Mille watch.

Megan McKenna

Right after her CBB stint, fiery Megan began dating TOWIE’s Pete Wicks and followed in his reality footsteps and starred on the show with him during 2016-2017.

The pair broke up in 2017 and moved on to broaden her horizons by opening her own restaurant MCK Grill in east London.

Ditching the Essex boys and the Essex-based show, Megan decided to focus her efforts on her singing career instead.

In 2017, McKenna starred in her own reality series, There’s Something About Megan.

The series focused on Megan travelling to Nashville to begin a career in country music.

The 28-year-old released her debut studio album, Story of Me in 2018 and later went on to win The X Factor: Celebrity in 2019, which won her a deal with Simon Cowell’s label Syco.

In October 2019, Megan also revealed that she had dissolved her lips, stopped drinking alcohol and begun attending therapy.

She is now dating on-off beau Joshua Riley, the director of a luxury male fashion company who is allegedly keen to stay out of the spotlight.

Stephanie Davis

Alongside all of the aggro previously mentioned with ex-boyfriend Jeremy McConnell, the mum-of-one also ended up checking into rehab.

The 28-year-old became addicted to alcohol, attempted suicide and developed PTSD over her relationship trauma with Jeremy.

In May 2018, she resumed her role as Sinead in Hollyoaks almost three years after her sacking from the soap for arriving “unfit for work” back in 2015.

The same year, things then spiced up for Steph when she starting dating Hollyoaks hunk Owen Warner, but publicly spit after nine months when things “got too heavy”.

In recent years, Stephanie spends time with her son and has tried to focus on her music career, releasing a single titled Lights Out in February 2020.

Scotty T

After taking the CBB crown, he was soon announced as the face of boohooMAN.com and was then as a guest stripper on The Dreamboys tour.

But things took a turn for the worst when MTV bosses sacked Scotty from his seven-year stint on Geordie Shore after he was pictured taking cocaine.

It is said to have been his lowest moment and was suffering from a secret mental health battle, having lost several friends in a short amount of time- including Love Island’s Sophie Gradon and her late partner.

Despite his personal issues, Scotty managed to bag himself a presenting job on Series 3 of Just Tattoo of Us alongside Charlotte Crosby but was soon given the boot and replaced by Charlotte’s then-boyfriend Josh Ritchie.

While his time on the show was cut short he impressed MTV bosses and was invited back to Geordie Shore in a smaller role.

But around this time, his company, Scotty T LTD, went bust owing the taxman £147,000 and his accountant a further £1,000.

Since then Scotty T has joined Only Fans in 2020 to help raise some extra cash, with the star charging $14.24 for 30 days access.

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk