I mean 18 should be at the bottom of any list. I agree 20 was dull, but it was watchable. 18 was the earliest I have EVER quit a series of BB (Saira's eviction.) I could just tell what direction the series was going in. There were too many twats left for the series to have any form of happy ending, even if they did some stupid triple eviction and the unbearable support for the eventual winner online and on here was utterly nauseating. I didn't think any series would top Channel 5's first CBB as the worst ever, but bloody hell did it do it and by a million miles.

I don’t think either series were really watchable. 18 was horrendous in terms of what was going on, whilst 20 had literally nothing going on. There’s not a lot in it.

Hindsight can be a wonderful thing..


I can actually remember 2011 relatively well. 15 years of age, my favourite reality tv show (in fact, probably the only reality tv show I loved at the time) had been off air for a while. UBB seemed like a distant memory.

Then, the rumour mill really started to get going. Talks of Channel 5 buying the show hit and I couldn’t have been more excited. 24/7 live feed, the “biggest brother ever” and most importantly, the return of the show had all been promised in some form. It was finally announced, and it was all going to begin with a series of CBB to kick things off. I believe I joined here just before the launch and the entire forum was a buzz.

I’ll admit, I loved CBB8 at the time. Not for any reason in particular, I would have fawned over any season that was put out. Candy had been taken away and was being given back (although retrospectively, it was candy which had since rolled under the sofa). I was blindly enjoying what I would eventually realise to be garbage.

The terrible editing (and I mean really terrible) seemed “fresh” and “new” at the time, the woeful production (3 evictions with a 7 person final?!) went over my head and the awful housemate selection (Bobby Sabel? Darren Lyons? That Lucian bloke?) seemed captivating. No storylines of note, a focus on showmances/abs/Amy Childs in a bikini and a really awful boot order didn’t seem to matter. Fact is, I was just happy to have the show back, no matter what form it came in.

I’ve since come to realise that CBB8 was awful, and went on to set us up for some very shoddy series of the show indeed. For shame, producers... for shame.

Nominated: CBB9 | CBB10 | CBB11 | CBB12 | CBB13 | CBB14 | CBB15 | CBB16 | CBB17 | CBB19 | CBB21 | CBB22

Evicted: CBB20 | CBB18 | CBB8

i- :skull:

He practically always got the abuse hurled back at him, many times worse than whatever it was he was actually doing or saying to that person :shrug:

The season was extremely entertaining, dramatic, explosive... in large part thanks to Bear :joker:

Slightly better than what we’ve seen so far, but only just..


We’ve now reached what I consider to be the “not awful, but pretty below average range” of CBB series. And boy, do we have a long way to go.

I don’t believe I’ve watched anything from CBB11 since its inception. Not even clips on Youtube; I’m sure that there’s a 6 minute long “Paula Hamilton - Best Bits” clip floating around somewhere (and if there is, I’d appreciate someone pointing me in the right direction), but nothing about this 23 day long series entices me to go back. And why would it?

2013s first edition of the show is known for one thing and one thing only: Spiedi vs pretty much everyone else. If, like me, you’d had no real interest in such matter, this series was always going to bring a multitude of eye rolls.

Spiedi vs Rylan, Spiedi vs Clare from Steps, Spiedi vs Razor Ruddock.. I’m sure you get the idea. It was always only going to be a matter of time before the pair wore thin, and once the novelty had worn off, you were left with a pair of self-consumed morons who in reality squirmed and whimpered at the first sign of actual confrontation. They were fine acting up in the diary room and controlled situations, but the second there was a genuine kick off, they were crying for security to step in. It’s also worth baring in mind that these two brought the only real talking points of the series because pretty much everyone else were so bloody boring.

Gillian? Tricia? Toadie? Sam? Lacey? Need I go on? Paula showed promise but she was out as quick as she was in. It doesn’t help that we also had the most obvious winner since Pete in BB7.

Nominated: CBB9 | CBB10 | CBB12 | CBB13 | CBB14 | CBB15 | CBB16 | CBB17 | CBB19 | CBB21 | CBB22

Evicted: CBB20 | CBB18 | CBB8 | CBB11

A well intended message can only get you so far..


I actually feel pretty bad for ranking this series so low on the list. After years of manipulation from production, screaming matches between housemates (see CBB16) and some pretty awful cases of blatant sexism, Celebrity Big Brother 21 promised to be different. This was, the year of the women.

And at first, they genuinely delivered. The cast was varied. The topics being discussed were interesting. There wasn’t a “who said this about who” task to be seen. CBB21 felt clean.

India was arguably the biggest talking point of the series and, low and behold, as soon as she was evicted the series came to a pretty fast halt. The discussions about transgender issues were interesting (if not a little uncomfortable) and India had brought a nice slice of drama to the table (just enough to not be draining). So when she was evicted, it was a case of “ok, so what exactly is it I’m watching now?”.

We were left with Ann being a bit of a close minded dick (a shock), Ashley and Genuwine giving us the standard boring showmance, the odd discussion about women’s rights etc.. Shane J/Courtney and Andrew’s relationship was nice to watch and the wonderful Amanda and Wayne provided us with quick dashes of humour between the dull parts. But that’s about it, really.

My other issue with this series is the lack of ability from the producers to keep with the empowering theme. “Year of the women” soon turned into “men vs women”, with absolute awfulness like “can women change a tyre quicker??!”. Really? That’s the best you could come up with?

I liked CBB21 and I liked what the intention was. But I think that this series proved that to make a great series you have to have the right balance between interesting housemates/discussions and a good amount of drama (the latter of which CBB21 was lacking in).

Nominated: CBB9 | CBB10 | CBB12 | CBB13 | CBB14 | CBB15 | CBB16 | CBB17 | CBB19 | CBB22

Evicted: CBB20 | CBB18 | CBB8 | CBB11 | CBB21

I think even if India had stayed, CBB21 would've been a mediocre series. Drama revolving around the same housemate gets boring really quickly.

The rest of the Rankdown gets a lot tougher from now on

CBB20 was better than 8, 11, 18 and 21 for me.

Imo cbb21 had a pretty decent cast on paper. India, Amanda, Rachel, Jess and Wayne all had potential. After India left nobody was provoked or being put on the spot or anything and we were left to the painful attempt at an Austin and James by Andrew and Shane, and Ann just being all round boring. India could’ve been the catalyst for something greater, the same way Perez and Katie Hopkins brought out every other housemate that series.

The second of many good (if slightly unneeded) summer celebrity series


(Before any of you start, I‘m fully aware that CBB8 was a summer series, but this was the second “second-yearly” celeb series after CBB10!)

The 12th celebrity series was good. Far better than the ones I’ve reviewed so far. It was a vast improvement on CBB11 and dare I say that I even preferred it to BB14! Bite me!

The series had a great deal of humour (necessary after the winters more moody tone), mainly due to Lauren Harries. From the first day, she constantly provided and made what could have been a very mediocre series into something very enjoyable.

Add in Louie, Carole, Vicky and Courtney (probably not the most memorable of housemates, however her relationship with Lauren was actually very endearing) and you had something of a diverse cast. Sure, Ron was the “formerly disgraced star who isn’t really necessary” token cast member and Mario just isn’t necessary in any real given situation, but the majority of them provided. Danielle vs Louie was something I never knew I needed and Carole talking about wanting to get Vicky out in her sleep was a scream. Sure, the winner wasn’t the best, but then when are they?

It probably feels like the least memorable summer series to me, but it certainly wasn’t a bad one.

Nominated: CBB9 | CBB10 | CBB13 | CBB14 | CBB15 | CBB16 | CBB17 | CBB19 | CBB22

Evicted: CBB20 | CBB18 | CBB8 | CBB11 | CBB21 | CBB12

CBB12 is so underrated. A scream of a series!

I hardly ever read series rankdowns but I’m so here for this one :clap1:

Agreed! It was a fun and light series!

I liked CBB12. I agree it's underrated.

Terrible winner tho.

You STANK’AN FRENCH SLLLLUTTT!


Now, before I get into why CBB14 isn’t necessarily a fantastic series, I’ll begin by why I think it’s a pretty good one.

The bar was set high with CBB13 and it would be pretty hard to follow it up. BB15 obviously failed in that department miserably, so here was another summer celeb series to take the bitter taste of Helen’s win from our mouths. And wow, did it get off to a good start.

CBB14 may just have the best first week of any celebrity series on CH5, period. It’d even give CBB3/4 a good run for their money, too. Everything was insane and absurd and perfect. It took no time at all for tensions to rise yet it was all so bloody hilarious. Leslie Jordan screeching at Gary Busey over what CGI was short for, all whilst wearing a directors hat <3 Frenchy being sent to the “celebrity scratch heap” (as she pronounced it) with an equally confused Gary <3 Lesie vs Frenchy providing some of the best quotes the series had ever seen <3 Ok, so it wasn’t all pretty. Kellie cleary wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be in such a tense environment, and it showed (especially in her treatment to Leslie). But it was still all fascinating to watch, and I will never forget the noise made by White Dee as Leslie went to strike Frenchy for her tearing up his expensive underpants <3333.

Ok, so what went wrong?

Well, CBB14 was the victim of a veryyy unfortunate eviction order. Like, catastrophic. So yay, David went first and no-one cared but then Leslie?? Frenchy??? In a VTS? Ok, so two people going consecutively doesn’t exactly sound series-breaking, but they were both massive characters who made the beginning so fantastic. Unfortunately, what was at first a 10/10 series became more of a “good but not great” one towards the end.

Still, it’s ranked where it is for the first 12 or so days. Amazing.

Nominated: CBB9 | CBB10 | CBB13 | CBB15 | CBB16 | CBB17 | CBB19 | CBB22

Evicted: CBB20 | CBB18 | CBB8 | CBB11 | CBB21 | CBB12 | CBB14

A horrific mess, yet constantly entertaining


CBB16 should have been awful. Like, dreadful. On paper, the line-up was poor. The launch show was as tacky as could be. The theme already sounded disastrous and seemed more like something which could have barely fulfilled a shopping task, let alone an entire series. The “task” at the end of the live launch (firing cannon balls at cut outs of other housemates, for some reason) was a disaster. It all felt grossly unnecessary and a massive step down from the fantastic CBB15. But my opinion soon changed.

I get that CBB16 wasn’t for everyone and it’s easy to see why. After the argument filled previous Celebrity series and the potential-filled yet ruined BB16, people were probably hoping for something light-hearted. Fun. Easy to watch. And here’s the thing: I found the majority of this series so down-right ridiculous, messy, almost even pathetic, that I couldn’t help but enjoy it.

After how much producers had meddled in BB16, this felt like it had massively been stripped back. Ok, so yes, it was still a Channel 5 series which meant we had to endure the shoddy editing and such that came with, but the housemates were pretty much left to their own devices. Janice helping herself to Jenna’s kosher fridge (and proceeding to eat the celery from within in front of her when confronted about it).. Farrah arguing with, well, everyone.. Gail waking into the garden mid-slanging match asking if Janice wanted anything on her toast.. Natasha finally combusting at Austin.. Producers didn’t really have much room for spoon-stirring because the cast were taking care of things themselves; like CBB15 in that sense, although that series was a lot darker and probably less fun.

Had it not been for Austin, I’d probably have placed this series higher. I know that probably sounds contradictory; he did, after all, provIde a lot of the drama the series is know for. However, unlike Farrah (who was so ridiculously over-the-top it was hard not to laugh at how embarrassing she was), he was such a negative force. Constantly shouting and screeching about things which really didn’t require such an attitude, being an absolute dickhole to Chloe-Jasmine (remember how pissy he was that she wasn’t there to toast a drink to his brother in the garden, because she didn’t want to be around alcohol), but above all, the way he treated Janice. He was absolutely disgusting in all forms to her. A particular stand-out of his was telling her how disgusting she was and that she was a shit mother and that she should learn a trade (because what is it you do for a living, Austin?). And the public rewarded his behaviour. Loathsome.

Still, a very good series nonetheless and Austin got his comeuppance in CBB19 so all was not lost.

Nominated: CBB9 | CBB10 | CBB13 | CBB15 | CBB17 | CBB19 | CBB22

Evicted: CBB20 | CBB18 | CBB8 | CBB11 | CBB21 | CBB12 | CBB14 | CBB16

Far too high. 16 is in the bottom three.

To even DARE suggest it's better than 14 is OUTRAGEOUS and I want you DEAD you SLAG

when leslie was evicted tHE SERIES WENT WITH HIM

Good writing pieces, its a shame that CBB21 was so dull considering it had the most famous line up on paper for years, and because c5 had already nailed even CBB into the ground, no one gave a ****.

I actually think it would have been a better series without the pretentious theme which really came off as desperate, at least past series admit they were tacky. And if all 16 celebs came in on launch night (and the majority of them were proper celebs!) it would have generated a bigger buzz imo but then again, if it wasn’t for the theme, people like Ann Widdecombe and Rachel Johnson probably wouldn’t have done it.

CBB16 had Janice Dickinson which automatically makes it a fantastic series tyvm :hmph:

CBB15 won

CCB14 had one of the best first weeks ever to a series. Frenchy and Leslie made that week. How can Lauren and Ricci, two of the worst and most boring housemates, stay over the two most entertaining housemates. :umm2: That series is a perfect example of how VTS is just as bad as VTE. Gary was fantastic and a well deserved winner.

I enjoyed CBB16 at the time, although I hated how repetitive it was. Farrah was a great housemate but it got tedious watching her arguing with someone in every episode. And the cast bar Farrah, Jenna and Janice were trash. Still a good series and one of the strongest summer series.