It looks official, Celebrity Big Brother is making a return.
After the success of the reboot of the civilian series on ITV, bosses have decided the celebrity edition of the iconic social experiment should also make a TV comeback. And it appears that execs are looking to sign up controversial names.
In order to do so, it seems that the producers have a big budget that has been put aside in order to secure the star power. A source told The Sun: “Celebrity Big Brother is coming back and ITV want massive names to kick it off.”
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“CBB is the perfect place for stars who are riding off the wave of a scandal, or something big happening in their lives,” the source continued. “Phillip Schofield is someone they’re going to approach, as well as people like Jennifer Arcuri, who had an alleged fling with Boris.”
(Image: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
The show insider told the outlet: They have a lot of cash to splash, just under £2million. The bumper budget should allow for at least one or maybe two big names to set the series alight.”
Phillip Schofield, 61, in initially stepped down from This Morning following a fallout with his friend and on-screen partner Holly Willoughby. He then sensationally quit ITV after he admitted he concealed a relationship with a younger male colleague on the show.
(Image: BBC)
The former Dancing On Ice frontman admitted he lied to colleagues, ITV bosses and even Holly about the behind-the-scenes affair, which also led to him being dropped by his management agency who he also said he lied too.
But the current ITV series has achieved bumper ratings for the network. Figures show that the launch episode was watched by over 3.5 million homes either live or on catch-up.
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(Image: Getty Images)
This was the highest audience for the series since the OG reality series made its debut in 2001 on Channel 4. And the source said that this could be one of the reasons why bosses want to resurrect the format that was axed by Channel 5 in 2018.
They added: “ITV wanted to see if the audience was there for their reboot of the show and the figures have been brilliant. The decision to bring back the stars has been given the green light and they’re now casting for talent. The staff are hammering the phones.”
(Image: ITV)
They added: “The more controversial the line-up the better. They want it to really come back with a bang.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
