Channel 5 director of programmes Ben Frow has spoken publicly about his decision to replace Brian Dowling with Emma Willis as the main presenter of Big Brother 2013.
Dowling was dumped from the show in April, having been its frontman since its revival in 2011, in Frow’s first major move since he took up his post at the broadcaster.
Last week, the executive explained why he promoted Emma – who’s been hosting BB spin-off shows since 2010 – at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.
“I knew I wanted Emma as the host, they [production company Endemol] agreed with the idea of that, and I think that repositioned it very nicely,” commented Frow.
“Who doesn’t love Emma? Girls have crushes on her, gays have crushes on her, I love her, my flatmate loves her, everybody loves Emma Willis. Putting her in primetime and saying, you are a sort of face of 5 – I know she works for ITV too – was a great move and it did very well.”
Frow added that he is pleased with performance of the current Celebrity series so far – despite admitting to not knowing who half of the housemates are.
“It was good, very happy with the overnights,” he said of Thursday’s launch show.
“It’s been a brutal one to pull together this Celebrity one, a very brutal one. I have to say, whoever is leaking the *******ing names to the Sun, I’m really really pissed off with you because you’re making our jobs very very difficult!”
Previously, Frow was the head of programming at Irish broadcaster TV3, where he commissioned Dublin Wives – the reality show that made CBB contestant Danielle Marr’s name.
Explains why she got the gig then
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