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Interview With CBB5 Top Brass

In anticipation of Celebrity BB5 getting going, BBO caught-up with the show's Commissioning Editor Angela Jain and Executive Producers Paul Osborne and Claire O'Donohoe, to ask a few questions.

BBO: What's different about this year's Celebrity BB?

"There’ll be lots of surprises, twists and turns, although we can't go into too much detail obviously. The house has been redesigned and some of the ex housemates from last summer's main series will be back, acting as our roving reporters. There will be more celebrities than ever before and we’re hoping that CBB5 will be the best series yet."

BBO: Is the House smaller or larger than before?

"Well, Big Brother 7 had an 'inside/ outside' theme which was more suited to the summer period. So, we’ve had to remodel it quite a bit for the winter weather, but it's essentially the same house: bold and ornate, with nowhere to hide."

BBO: What's the winning formula in choosing all the celebrity housemates? Was there a pressure to find big characters such as CBB4's George Galloway and Pete Burns?

"There's no real formula to casting the show to be honest. The producers spend a lot of time meeting the celebrities and they make their decisions based on these meetings, along with gut instinct. We just hope that we get it right, but it's always hard to know how a celebrity will behave once they enter the BB House."

BBO: On that note, do you think that celebrities in general are getting wiser to Big Brother and worry about the risks involved?

"Most celebrities who agree to participate believe that they fully understand the show. We make sure that any prospective celebrities have thought about it very carefully before signing-up, and they must also have read the Rules. However, many candidates underestimate the fact that when they become a housemate, Big Brother really does take over their lives. The great thing is that when people rebel against Big Brother it just adds to the viewers' enjoyment."

BBO: Which of last year’s celebrities surprised you the most?

"In hindsight, one of the biggest surprises was the Preston/ Chantelle romance and subsequent wedding. Who knew that there would ever be love in the Celebrity Big Brother House? It was also surprising that George 'The Cat' Galloway gave himself so completely and that a celebrity didn't actually win!"

BBO: How far have you cast the net in terms of the nationalities and professions of potential celebrity housemates this year?

"We always aim to create as diverse a cast as possible. As in the past, we don’t necessarily stop at choosing UK celebrities though."

BBO: Are you saying that there'll be a lot more non-British housemates this time around?

"Aha, that would be telling! You’ll just have to wait and see who gets out of the limos on launch night."

BBO: How do you keep the housemates' identities secret before they go into the House?

"Only a select group of people know the identities of the chosen celebrity housemates; the housemates themselves are asked to keep it a secret. The newspapers always try and guess who's going in the House, but you'll have to wait until launch night to find-out for sure."

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