Celebrity Big Brother is back with a new crop of housemates including soap stars, an Olympic champion and a controversial Hollywood star
ITV rebooted Big Brother in 2023 and aired its first celebrity run, which reunited X Factor judges Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne, last year
This year’s housemates include Oscar-nominated actor Mickey Rourke, EastEnders actor Patsy Palmer and former Tory MP Sir Michael Fabricant
The full list of confirmed housemates for 2025
Chesney Hawkes
JoJo Siwa
Trisha Goddard
Chris Hughes
Patsy Palmer
Michael Fabricant
Jack P Shepherd
Ella Rae Wise
Mickey Rourke
Daley Thompson
Donna Preston
Danny Beard
Angellica Bell
Rourke, whose credits include Angel Heart, 9 1/2 Weeks and Sin City, received an Oscar nomination for his role in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler in 2009. He is this year’s highest-paid contestant, allegedly being paid £500,000.
His Celebrity Big Brother appearance was immediately thrown into controversy when he “ogled” host AJ Odudu, which prompted complaints from viewers.
Palmer is best known for playing Bianca Jackson in BBC soap EastEnders, and is joined by another soap star, Coronation Street’s Jack P Shepherd, who has played David Platt since he was 12.
Meanwhile, Fabricant – recognisable by his distinctive blond hair – lost his seat in Lichfield to Labour’s Dave Robertson at the 2024 general election.
Other housemates include Olympic athlete Daley Thompson, The Only Way Is Essex star Ella Rae Wise, TV presenter Angellica Bell, and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK series four winner Danny Beard.
Two-time Olympic decathlon champion Thompson, 66, set a then-world record at the 1984 Los Angeles games and won the BBC Sports Personality prize that same year.
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Bell, 49, a Celebrity MasterChef winner who rose to fame on CBBC, has presented radio programmes, The Martin Lewis Money Show, and The One Show.
Singer Chesney Hawkes, best known for his 1991 hit “The One and Only”, has also entered the house alongside chat show Trisha Goddard, who has stage four cancer, for which there is treatment but no cure.
The London-born presenter previously recovered from breast cancer some years earlier after a 2008 diagnosis.
Entering the Celebrity Big Brother house on Monday (7 April), Goddard said she wanted to use the show as an opportunity to demonstrate to terminal patients that they should “not be scared of living”.
American pop star, and former Dance Moms reality child star, JoJo Siwa is another high-profile signing, while ex-Love Island contestant Chris Hughes is an early favourite to win the show.
Hughes, 32, who rose to fame on ITV2 reality dating programme Love Island, briefly began a singing career with fellow Love Islander Kem Cetinay before moving to become a sports broadcaster.
Another housemate is Donna Preston, who appeared in Netflix series The Sandman, and ITV comedy panel show Hey Tracey!.
Before the series began airing on ITV, the controversial reality show was last on Channel 5 in 2018 before being cancelled by the channel.
Celebrity Big Brother continues nightly on ITV2 and ITVX.
Additional reporting by Agencies
