Celebrity Big Brother – who’s going into the house?
We round up the latest gossip and rumours ahead of the summer 2013 run of the reality show – and rate the likelihood of each contestant’s appearance...
Abz Love
It’s been far longer than five years since Five were raking in the mega-bucks so the natural next step for tattooed pop star Abz Love is to do the rounds on the reality circuit. Five’s hedonistic heyday was well documented in the papers but following years of drug problems and bankruptcy, Abz retired to a remote rural farmhouse and no one ever saw him again... until The Big Reunion earlier this year. Born Richard Abidin Breen but known to fans as “Abs”, he changed his name in 2008 because “I got a bit annoyed of everyone referencing the six-pack”. So Abz Love was the logical next step? Right...
Rumour rating: 9 out of true
Courtney Stodden
Courtney, who? Well, this 18-year old is described on her Wikipedia page as a “television personality” and hit headlines (in America?) when at 16 she married 51-year-old actor Doug Hutchinson. When she’s not being a “personality” she releases country/pop records – she’s basically a real life Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) from Nashville. Courtney is also subject of a long(ish)-running “has she/hasn’t she” had breast enlargement speculation debate… Well Mr Desmond’s Daily Star needs someone to go on the front page for the next three weeks, right?
Rumour rating: 8 out of true
Helen Flanagan
Having coped so well in the jungle on ITV - where she took on five Bushtucker trials and failed to win a single meal - the Street’s Rosie Webster now looks ready to try her hand at communal living on Channel 5. No stranger to controversy (she posed for a snap on Twitter with a gun to head mere hours after the Sandy Hook shootings), Flanagan should up the cringe factor considerably. If she wants to resurrect her Corrie career, she’d be wise to think before she speaks.
Rumour truth rating: 7 out of true
Big Boi from OutKast
Rumour rating: 4 out of true
(Big) Ron Atkinson
Former football manager and disgraced pundit ‘Big Ron’ has reportedly been offered a six-figure salary to make his mainstream tele comeback, 9 years after his racist remarks about black Chelsea player Marcel Desailly were caught live on air.
The 74-year-old is just one of many ignoble sports pundits who pressed the career self-destruct button thanks to unguarded comments. With mics picking up every dodgy diatribe in the CBB house, maybe this isn’t the wisest gig for the one-time Man Utd manager.
Still, maybe his infamous Ronisms will keep him from being chucked out of the house ‘early doors’ – if anyone understands what he’s getting at.
Rumour rating: 7 out of true
Louie Spence
Rumour rating 8 out of true
Mark Morrison
Wooaahhoooo… come on! Who could forget those insightful lyrics from the ultimate Mac Daddy – Mark Morrison? Known for his bling gold necklaces and ‘90s chart topping R&B single Return of the Mack, fame didn’t last long for wannabe gangster Morrison. Just as his single was breaking in the US, he got convicted for trying to bring a gun onto an airliner and went to jail. Things went from bad to worse for Morrison; after his release he got into a fight and was convicted of affray. Luckily, he got a light community service sentence, but in all his wisdom he hired a look-alike to do the community work for him and got found out. He was sent back to prison for a year. With reports that Big Boi has dropped out of the show, Morrison could well be the ‘bad boy’ to fill his shoes.
Rumour rating: 6 out of true
Sophie Anderton
“Who said a woman couldn’t get pleasure from something soft?” Not our words but the words of the Gossard underwear ad that helped catapult Sophie Anderton into the limelight back in '96.
Sophie's subsequent success turned her from an ordinary everyday supermodel into an It Girl, and led to a well-publicised relationship and shared cocaine addiction with Australian goalkeeper Mark Bosnich.
How likely is Sophie to enter the Celebrity Big Brother house this year? As a former contestant on I’m a Celebrity, Love Island and Celebrity Fear Factor, she's no stranger to reality TV. And she has BB previous too, having appeared two years running on Big Brother’s Efourum. In our opinion, Sophie Anderton would make a model CBB housemate (ahem).
Rumour rating: 8 out of true
Lucy Spraggan
The comic singer-songwriter was the nation’s favourite for several minutes last autumn, with her X Factor auditions going viral and everyone tipping her as possibly the new Pam Ayres. Spraggo will be trying to live up to that immense pressure next month, with the release of her debut album. It’s set to feature the classics Last Night and Tea and Toast, but perhaps it’s not too late for Why Have You Nominated Me, No Toilet Roll (On The Shopping List) and Hot Tub Nights.
Lucy’s well-papped night out with Rylan Clark proves she’s no stranger to partying in public, too.
Rumour rating: 5 out of true
Charlotte-Letitia Crosby
Anyone who’s seen Charlotte’s toe-curling antics on Geordie Shore will surely agree her rumoured appearance on Celebrity Big Brother is a match made in reality TV heaven. Anyone who hasn’t need only know she frequently spurts batty comments and, er, vomit – the result of many a booze-fuelled night out on the Toon. Potty-mouthed Charl has already spoken out about her special CBB skill set - “We have cameras filming us 24/7 so I think Big Brother will be a walk in the park” - and Geordie Shore's roudy nights regularly make Speidi's endless whining pale by comparison. She's also got a clothing line to plug.
Rumour rating: 10 out of true, surely?
Chris Fountain
Chris Fountain – aka Weatherfield resident Tommy Duckworth, aka rapper The Phantom – was fired from Coronation Street recently, after it emerged he had spouted lyrics about rape and violence in an online music video. Following ITV’s announcement, Fountain issued his own statement accepting his punishment and blaming the lyrics on “a moment of madness”. He may well be keen to make his apology even more public, and give his side of the story – and what better forum to do it in than Celebrity Big Brother?
Rumour rating: 6 out of true
Sam Faiers
TOWIE cast member Sam spends her days running Minnie’s Boutique with her sister Billie while trying to keep her turbulent love life under control. The former squeeze of Mark Wright has recently been dumped by on-off fiancé Joey Essex so she’s single (again) – and quite possibly ready to mingle with some new CBB housemates...
The bubbly blonde certainly wouldn’t be the first TOWIE star to cross the Essex border and head into the house. Amy Childs and Kirk Norcross have already bared all on the reality show. And Sam has said before that she’s keen… could this be her year?
Rumour rating: 6 out of true