The ultimate reality TV experiment, Big Brother, is back after five years off our screens – with a whole new house and on a whole new channel for 2023.
Sixteen housemates have been chosen – after 18,000 people applied – to battle it out over the next six weeks in a bid to win £100,000, with AJ Odudu and Will Best hosting proceedings.
The first person to enter the house for the 2023 series was Jenkin, 25. He screamed… a lot. “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Why is it so big?” he yelled, to himself, as he ran around the house.
Over the next month and a half, the Big Brother house will play host to all the action – tasks, nominations and live evictions will be back. The public once again plays a crucial role, voting throughout the series and ultimately determining the winner.
Meet the housemates here…
Jenkin
(ITV)
The 25-year-old barman from Bridgend said his friends would describe him as “loud and messy and irritating probably”. On what he predicts he’ll be nominated for, he said: “Just talking about people, I’m not gonna lie. I can’t keep secrets, I really struggle.” He joked that his dream housemate would be Queen of Clean Kim Woodburn as she’d do all the housework.
Farida
(ITV)
The makeup artist from Wolverhampton, 50, said she chose to go on Big Brother because she believes that “Asian women and Asian culture is underrepresented on TV”. She added: “A lot of people think that wearing a headscarf might stop you from having opportunities, whereas for me, it’s been completely the opposite. I embrace it with confidence and it’s actually given me lots of opportunities. I want to let people know that us Muslims, we really aren’t suppressed. I’m far from suppressed – I used to be a holiday rep!”
Tom
(ITV)
Somerset butcher Tom, 21, said he thinks he “might potentially offend some people” on the show because his “mouth moves faster than” his brain. He said he was excited to go into the house to “sit there and chat s*** with people all day”. His dream housemate, he said, would be Karl Pilkington. “I love him, he’s just a laugh.”
Hallie
(ITV)
The 18-year-old youth worker from London isn’t a total stranger to fame. “I once accidentally swallowed magnets and I was in the news because I had to get them surgically removed and everything!” she said. Hallie added that she is most likely to be nominated for “being lazy and having an opinion”.
Trish
Trish is a 33-year-old mother from Luton. She said that a big part of why she wanted to go on the show is to “humanise refugees and immigrants, especially in this political climate”. She added: “I want people to see that behind the stats and figures, there are real humans. We are important simply because we exist, not only when we participate in capitalism. We matter because we are alive and breathing – no human is illegal!”
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Yinrun
Hailing from Harrogate, Yinrun is a 25-year-old customer support agent. “My boyfriend would describe me in three words – quirky but lovable,” she said. “My friends in China think I am like the crazy mother because I always take care of them. I’m very playful.” She added that her dream housemate would be the comedian Michael McIntyre. “I would love to meet him. He is so hilarious!”
Jordan
The 25-year-old lawyer from Scunthorpe said: “I was quite disillusioned with life so I suppose boredom made me apply to some extent. I honestly applied on a whim. I’m interested in the social experiments side of Big Brother. I don’t really like the idea of living with people but I thought I might as well give it a try. And I wanted to challenge myself.”
Zak
Zak is a 28-year-old model from Manchester. He said he grew up in the jungle in Thailand and when he was a kid he “used to collect snakes and everything”. He added: “People might judge me because I’m a model. People often have a misconception but I’m a council estate boy. I’m not like a typical model, I’m a down to earth guy. People assume I’m arrogant but when they actually get to know me I’ve got a lot more to offer.”
Chanelle
(ITV)
Llanelli dental therapist Chanelle, 29, said she “applied as a joke”. On what she reckons she’d be nominated for, she said: “Probably just for being annoying. In Wales, we have this saying, ‘I’ll do it now in a minute.’ So like, if I went to make food and I left a dish on the side, I have all good intentions of washing it but I’d be like, ‘I’ll do it now in a minute,’ and it might be three hours later before I do it. So probably for silly stuff like that.”
Dylan
(ITV)
Dylan is a 39-year-old DJ from Coventry. He said: “I always like meeting new people and having new hurdles to jump as an amputee. It’s going to be an interesting journey to see if I can do whatever we’re asked without having any problems with staying on my leg for a certain amount of time and doing all the tasks. I’m excited for the challenge.”
Noky
The 26-year-old banker from Derby is a former Miss Great Britain. She said: “I want to show people what pageant girls are really like and disprove a lot of stereotypes around them. I also want to show what it’s like being a woman who’s worked in male-dominated fields. I want to show that women are capable of doing anything they want.”
Matty
A doctor from Isle of Mann, 24-year-old Matty said doing Big Brother is part of his bid to “experience everything before I die”. He said: “I used to watch Big Brother when I was like, 9 or 10 past my bedtime with my mum. I grew up in such a small place on the Isle of Man where I didn’t really see many people who felt like me. I remember watching Big Brother and I could see myself in all these characters from a cross section of society, and I thought like, oh, maybe I would fit in there.”