How could the producers not ask Rex and Marcus?

To be honest, i think that perfectly sums it up. They tried to play it safe. Simple as that.

On BBLB Pete Burns admitted he was shocked he was also never asked. And DS reported that Galloway was in fact asked but turned it down.

Who knows what went on with the casting? You could argue it was rushed because it was only announced the day of BB11's launch, wasn't it? But you'd think Rex, Marcus and Pete Burns would be at the top of the lists of regular and celeb HMs, rather than Preston and Ulrika.

Didnt think it was too bad,but it did fall spectacularly FLAT very soon,if it wasnt for nick and victor if it would'e been a total wash out...And the less said about the BB 11 line up the better.

Rex, Charley, Alex, would have been classic. Although I think Brian is great my favourite I would have gone for Alex

Jen and Dale would've stirred the pot a bit too

If there was a ultimate 2. What lineup would you pick. Mine would be bb1 craig. Bb2 helen. Bb3 alex. Bb6 anthony. Bb7 grace and glyn. Bb8 samanda and charley. Bb9 rex. Bb10 sophie bea and marcus. Bb11 sam. Celeb bb's pete burns, sov, and alex reid

They didn't get the line-up right overall but some of the housemates they picked were right.

I think in UBB they picked certain hms that needed closure or redemption;

Nasty Nick became Nice Nick
Michelle is no longer the psychotic bunny boiler
Vanessa wanted to prove she's a different/stronger person than she was in 2001
Makosi wanted closure after the Anthony thing
Nikki wanted a positive end to BB after her distrastrous comeback in BB7
Chantelle and Preston needed to sort out their feelings
Victor wanted to show he's not aggressive

So in a way the casting was spot on if you add in legendary winners like Brian and Nadia and CBB legends John McCririck and Coolio. The only one that was not needed was probably Ulrika.

It'd be 30 days to allow more HMs and the evictions would be spaced out like CBB3 and 4 rather than rush everyone out at the last minute. Think I've got a mixture of nice, nasty, popular and not...

BB1's Nichola -because she'd still fit in with BB nowadays
BB2's Helen - bubbly, bubbly bubble of love
BB3's Tim - whinge but wasn't THAT bad. He was quite game for BB Panto
BB4's Anouska - she was robbed I tells ya
BB5's Kitten - most likely to walk/be ejected - she threatened to walk during BB Panto
BB6's Science - makes the Slick Man look like mince meat
BB7's Lea - I reckon she'd get on with or clash with Nichola
BB8's Charley - aggression personified
BB9's Rex - because he seems to be popular on here
BB10's Marcus - because he seems to be popular on here
BB11's Sam Pepper - because opinions are so mixed on him

CBB HMs would enter later as a cherry on top. The regular HMs make the main bulk of the cake ;)

CBB1's Chris Eubank - thesp
CBB2's Goldie - voiced his thoughts which is why he was voted out first
CBB3's Jackie Stallone - "Yeah, Brackie!"
CBB4's Pete Burns - because he wanted to be in UBB anyway
CBB5's Jermaine Jackson - keeper of the peace
CBB6's Tina Mallone - drama queen
CBB7's Alex Reid - up for fun

That's a great way of looking at it. I still think Preston wasn't necessarily needed because Chantelle could still have reacted the same way she had just by reliving the BB experience without him. However, like the rest you mentioned, Preston also went in to change the public's opinion of him following the divorce.

it shud have been the winners of each series normal bb with another interesting character from each series that way u wud have still got nick, nikki, nadia and makosi it but then maybe victor wudnt have been there? but deffo shud have been all the winners.

All the winners would have been amazing. Even though everyone has their favourites and beliefs that some winners were not worty there is a great range of winners and the Come Dine With Me proved there'd be entertainment.

They should never have put any celebrities in. CBB had it's farewell. I really like John and Coolio, but this should have been a series to celebrate the people who MADE big brother - the ordinary people. There were 6 'celebrities' put in in total which could have been proper housemates! They really messed up doing that i think. They missed out on some great characters.

For the most part, the housemates that they did put in were all great. I'd have given Michelle a miss, but that's personal preference.

I am astounded they didn't put anyone from BB3 in. Their biggest, most popular series and not one person went in!