Culture reporter
Oscar-nominated actor Mickey Rourke, US media personality JoJo Siwa, EastEnders star Patsy Palmer, Love Island’s Chris Hughes and former MP Michael Fabricant are getting to know each other after beginning a stay in this year’s Celebrity Big Brother house.
The line-up for the latest series is typically varied, with singer Chesney Hawkes and TV host Trisha Goddard rubbing shoulders with Olympic champion Daley Thompson and The Only Way Is Essex’s Ella Rae Wise.
Coronation Street stalwart Jack P Shepherd, comedian Donna Preston and TV host Angellica Bell also entered on Monday.
RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Danny Beard joins them on the ITV reality show.
The 2025 Celebrity Big Brother line-up:
Mickey Rourke became a Hollywood star in 1980s films like 9½ Weeks, Year of the Dragon and Barfly, before quitting acting to become a boxer. He made a comeback in 2005’s Sin City, and was nominated for an Oscar for best actor for 2008’s The Wrestler.
Since becoming a child star on TV show Dance Moms in 2014, JoJo Siwa has forged a career as a multifaceted cultural force, releasing music, acting in Nickelodeon TV shows and films, and setting a trend for inescapable oversized hair bows. Delighting in her rainbow-coloured and sometimes provocative persona, she claimed last year to have invented “gay pop”.
Trisha Goddard became a household name thanks to her self-titled daytime talk show, which ran on ITV and Channel 5 between 1998 and 2010, before she took it to the US and then joined TalkTV. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, and revealed last year that it had returned and was now stage four.
Daley Thompson is a legend of British athletics. He won Olympic golds in the decathlon in 1980 and 1984, and went undefeated in all competitions between 1979 and 1987.
Jack P Shepherd has been a fixture on Coronation Street for 25 years, playing Gail’s son David Platt since he was 12. However, his contract ends this year and there are reports he could be leaving Weatherfield.
Patsy Palmer has soap opera immortality as Bianca Jackson in EastEnders, a role she first played in 1993. She made her latest comeback in 2024, playing a key part in the 40th anniversary live episode this February.
Michael Fabricant was a long-serving Conservative MP, sitting in the House of Commons between 1992 and 2024, when he lost his seat. Nicknamed Mickey Fab and known for his lustrous blonde hair, he has been on Celebrity First Dates, and has described himself as the “life partner” of former West Midlands Mayor Sir Andy Street.
Chesney Hawkes played the lead role in 1991 film Buddy’s Song, but his music career overtook his acting when The One and Only – from the film’s soundtrack – spent five weeks at number one and became one of the decade’s most enduring pop hits.
Angellica Bell is a former children’s TV presenter, hosting on C from 2000-06 including on shows like Xchange and Short Change, before branching out as co-host of The Martin Lewis Money Show and Shop Smart, Save Money, and winning Celebrity MasterChef.
Chris Hughes is one of the breakout stars of Love Island after finishing third in the 2017 series with Olivia Attwood. He also teamed up with co-star Kem Cetinay to release a single and a game show.
Comedian and actress Donna Preston plays Despair in Netflix’s The Sandman and The Dead Boy Detectives. She hosted ITV2’s Apocalypse Wow, wrote and starred in Three sitcom Fully Blown, and is seen playing pranks on Michael McIntyre’s Big Show.
Ella Rae Wise has featured on TV series The Only Way Is Essex since 2019, as well as other reality shows like Celebrity Ex on the Beach and The Challenge UK.
Danny Beard is one of the biggest names on the British drag scene, rising to prominence by reaching the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent, before winning the fourth series of RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2022.
