How does Celebrity Big Brother recruit housemates?

Wednesday, 30th December 2009. By Dave Harland

Ever wondered how Channel 4 convinces B to Z list celebrities from all over the world to spend up to a month locked away in the confines of the Big Brother house? Well we’ll tell you…

We got the inside goss from Celebrity Big Brother Executive Producer Shirley Jones, who told us how she and the Big Brother producers go about landing the showbiz stars they want.

“We have our celebrity bookers, and we all come up with a list of people we’d be interested in meeting,” she said.

“It can be difficult with celebrities, by the very nature of what they do, you don’t always get to know the real person underneath.

“Part of the beauty of Celebrity Big Brother is trying to peel off those layers and find the real person beneath the celebrity.

“So we want a mix of ages, genders, professions, backgrounds. Ideally we’d like celebrities who have never met one another, but it’s very difficult to be 100 per cent certain of who knows who.

“It’s an interesting challenge to get it right - do you provide great names that might not be as exciting as you hoped, or do you find lesser-known people who are great characters?

“It’s all a bit of a juggling process, but we are confident we have a diverse mix of people who we think will make for compulsive viewing.”

A lot easier

Shirley added it’s been a lot easier this year to sign-up the celebrities at the top of their wish list: “A lot of people have turned out to be interested this year, some of whom have really surprised us," she said.

“They’ve said that as it’s the last one, they’re interested. That’s really nice, because it means we’ve got a wider pool of celebrities to choose from.”

But you won’t find out who’s going in until launch night, Sunday 3rd Jan, 9pm, Channel 4.

Photo: Channel 4