Celebrity Big Brother 2025 launch – LIVE: Mickey Rourke is final housemate to enter show
A new cohort of stars entered the famous house
Celebrity Big Brother is back on our screens, and a new crowd of famous faces is getting ready to spend the next few weeks living under constant scrutiny, with their every move, meltdown and ill-advised remark broadcast to the nation.
Singer Chesney Hawkes, best known for his track “The One and Only” was the first star to enter the CBB house, followed by US reality star and singer JoJo Siwa and talk show host Trisha Goddard.
They were joined by former Love Island star Chris Hughes, ex EastEnders actor Patsy Palmer and former Tory MP Sir Michael Fabricant, who was tasked with greeting new housemates with a high five as part of the “super secret hush hush game show” challenge.
Retired Olympic athlete Daley Thompson, TOWIE star Ella Rae Wise and TV presenter Angellica Bell were later arrivals, along with RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Danny Beard and Coronation Street’s Jack P Shepherd.
And perhaps the biggest name to sign up was actor and Oscar nominee Mickey Rourke, the 72-year-old star of The Wrestler and 9 ½ Weeks, who is reportedly the highest-paid of this year’s contestants, securing a rumoured £500,000 fee.
Watch the Celebrity Big Brother house getting built
Pretty impressive, right? It’s also somehow mind-boggling that the whole thing gets built from scratch on a random sound stage...
Co-host AJ Odudu is already making herself at home
Yesterday, AJ Odudu shared some behind the scenes photos on Instagram, showing her and co-host Will Best enjoying a ‘housewarming’ ahead of launch night.
What time is Celebrity Big Brother on TV?
Over the next few weeks, Celebrity Big Brother will be taking over the primetime slot on weeknights, airing at 9pm on ITV.
After a break on Saturday nights, it’ll then return at the slightly later time of 10pm on Sunday, to make space for police drama Grace (because nothing, and I mean nothing, stops ITV from airing a dad-friendly detective show on a Sunday evening – I wouldn’t have it any other way...)
Celebrity Big Brother 2025: Dates, times and how to watch
Is there a Celebrity Big Brother live stream?
Ah, the Big Brother live stream. If you’re a TV viewer of a certain age (ie. a millennial like me) then those words probably summon up glorious memories of tuning into E4 when you should have been revising for exams, watching grainy, minute by minute dispatches from the BB house, hastily censored with the sound of artificial bird song whenever the contestants starting swearing (most of the time, then).
Things have, of course, moved on since then. Now, you can keep tabs on this year’s celebs by tuning in to the live stream on ITVX (or STV Player if you’re in Scotland) or heading to YouTube. Ah, modernity.
A peek inside the CBB garden
In the words of Davina McCall, formerly of the Big Brother parish, fancy another one?
What could be more relaxing than lying back on a sun lounger surveying the gorgeous Astroturf around you, with a giant eye symbol lurking in the background to remind you that you’re being watched?
Who's rumoured to be entering the Celebrity Big Brother house?
Here’s a quick reminder of the stars who have reportedly signed up for the show. I’ve listed them alphabetically, because there’s no favouritism here (although by pure coincidence, this means that my personal favourite, CBBC icon Angellica Bell, is top of the list anyway...)
Angellica Bell – broadcaster and former CBBC host
Chesney Hawkes – singer, of ‘The One and Only’ fame
Chris Hughes – Love Island star, of “want me to rap, anyone, to lift the mood a bit?” fame
Daley Thompson –two-time Olympic decathlon gold medallist and world record breaker
Danny Beard – Scouse drag queen and winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season four
Donna Preston – comedian and actor
Ella Rae Wise – The Only Way is Essex star
Jack P Shepherd – Coronation Street actor and on-screen son of Gail Platt
JoJo Siwa – Dance Moms star turned singer
Michael Fabricant – former Tory MP, the one with the hair
Mickey Rourke – Oscar nominated actor and former boxer
Patsy Palmer – EastEnders star
Trisha Goddard – chat show legend, of Trisha fame
A classic Celebrity Big Brother moment from the archives
And as the launch show draws ever nearer, here’s a classic Celebrity Big Brother moment for your viewing pleasure: when Ann Widdecombe systematically failed to use a pair of hair straighteners.
It remains possibly the only time that the ex Tory MP has been a bit relatable.
Let's look back at Chris Hughes' rap career
And while we’re reminiscing... had you somehow forgotten all about rumoured housemate Chris Hughes’ brief foray into the world of rap, alongside his Love Island co-star Kem Cetinay?
‘Little Bit Leave It’ was the biggest ITV reality show musical crossover since, checks notes, Joey Essex released ‘Reem’ off the back of a mildly successful catchphrase in 2011.
Sadly, Chris & Kem weren’t fated for musical greatness; after dropping this track, they never troubled the industry again. But the video remains a time capsule to a simpler time, when two likeable Love Islanders could generate enough public goodwill to merit a budget music video.
The launch show kicks off at 9pm
So consider this your 10 minute warning...
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments