About Us ThisisBigBrother.com

Callum · 28-12-2011, 12:45 PM

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Guess who's back... back again. Celebrity Big Brother returns in the New Year, and there's a bagful of reasons for us to rub our hands gleefully at the latest run of the daddy of reality shows.

With probably the show's coolest ever promo campaign, a whole heap of exciting rumoured housemates (Cocozza! Giggs! Lohan!) and the promise of a more "evil" Big Brother second time around on Channel 5, there's should be no excuse for not tuning in on January 5.

To get you in the mood for the show's return, Reality Bites gave Brian Dowling a call to find out the latest Big Brother gossip.

It feels like Big Brother only just ended and it's back again?
"That's because it only just ******ing has, Alex! It only just has."

What's the recipe for a great Celebrity Big Brother?
"A recipe for a great Celebrity Big Brother would be a spoonful of glamour, a teaspoon of aggression and a big helping of fun."

When do you find out the lineup?
"Because we've got Christmas and New Year, I'll probably find out on January 3, the day of our first proper rehearsal. They'll take me in a locked room with no phone line or internet, tell me the lineup and then leave me there until the launch."

I know people who work on the show already know the lineup. Do you not ask for some details?
"All the time. I've offered sex and alcohol for details, but nobody has accepted. But do you know what? I'd rather wait and find out as late as possible. I enjoy the build-up and excitement. Even letting me [know on] the day of the launch is a bit of a risk because I will just tell everybody."

Who is on your Celebrity Big Brother wishlist?
"There are a lot of people on my wishlist. Barbara Windsor, Jane McDonald, Britney Spears."

Why Babs Winsdor and Jane McDonald?
"I think someone like Barbara Windsor, everyone loves her and it would be great to see her on a normal everyday basis. Jane McDonald has lived a great life, she worked on a cruise ship, she's very funny and would be amazing."

Who are your favourites ever celebrity contestants?
"I quite liked George Galloway when he pretended to be the cat with Rula Lenska. 'Ohh you're a naughty cat... purrr'. That was amazing. I thought Pete Burns was a brilliant housemate. I thought Jade Goody was a great housemate with her family. I thought that was a great year. It was a very controversial year, but putting her family in was something that hadn't been done before. Obviously the first one with Claire Sweeney and Vanessa Feltz was great as well. We had a proper meltdown with Vanessa in the house."

Why do you think the celeb version is still such a ratings draw?
"I think it is fascinating. It's getting to see celebrities in the parts of the day we never get to see. From the moment they get up to the moment they go to bed. When we see that part of them in Big Brother, we see what they are really like. I think if you attach the word celebrity to anything people are just interested."

Do you keep an eye on rival reality shows like I'm a Celebrity?
"I watch I'm a Celebrity. I think a lot of people thought the names weren't that good this year. But I think that's a quite good thing from the casting team. We then watch the show and we see different sides of people and we see their characteristics. I don't think you need A-list celebrities to have a hit celebrity reality show. I think it's about the characters, the situations and the trials that they have to do."

It's usually the people you've never heard of that are the most interesting?
"I like that. If you already know everything about people and have views on them already it's less interesting. I think that's what was great about Paddy Doherty in the last series. He won the series, but at the start nobody knew anything about him. People warmed to him through the show, he showed a vulnerable side and people loved him and voted for him because he showed himself to be a lovely, gentle man."

Do you think Big Brother is still relevant in the era of scripted reality shows?
"I think the thing about Big Brother is that it's an original reality show. It's a proper reality. What you see happens. With these new scripted shows, a lot of it is false, a lot of it is fake. It's been edited together. In Big Brother, you see the start of something, the middle and the end. It's not scripted. And it is, and always will be, the original reality show.

"There are a lot of scripted reality shows out there doing well, but I think Channel 5 have responded to that by making Big Brother much slicker. I think the packages are better, the music's better, it's more American - I like that. That was something about different Big Brother this year. It targeted a a younger audience and I think the number of 15-35 year-olds trebled from what it was before. We're now making a show for younger people."

Source: Digital Spy