Stars return to Big Brother house after two year break | Television & radio | The Guardian
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George Galloway famously entertained a fellow contestant with his impression of a cream-licking cat. Last night another prominent Scottish politician took his place in the Celebrity Big Brother house, joining Ulrika Jonsson, one of the lesser-known Jacksons, the actor who played Mini-Me in the Austin Powers films, and a one-hit wonder rapper.
Tommy Sheridan, the former Scottish Socialist MSP who won £200,000 in a libel action against the News of the World but has since been charged with perjury, was one of 11 contestants who entered the Celebrity Big Brother house last night for a new series of the Channel 4 reality show, the first since the race row involving Jade Goody and Shilpa Shetty enveloped the broadcaster two years ago.
Weathergirl turned TV presenter Jonsson is reported to have picked up the biggest fee for taking part, earning £175,000 for up to three weeks' work. She is joined by a line-up of actors, models and former members of boy and girl bands including three prominent American personalities - singer La Toya Jackson; actor Verne Troyer; and Coolio, the rapper who scored a worldwide hit with the Grammy award-winning Gangsta's Paradise in 1995 and can now be found hosting an online cookery show.
Jackson and Troyer are both said to be earning six-figure sums for appearing, along with glamour model Lucy Pinder, who is picking up £150,000, according to tabloid reports. Ben Adams, a former singer with defunct boy band a1, is reported to be earning the least, £20,000. Sheridan's fee is as yet undisclosed.
Other celebrities taking part include the TV presenter Terry Christian, former Sugababe Mutya Buena, and actor Tina Malone, best-known as foul-mouthed Mimi Maguire in Channel 4's Shameless.
The publicist Max Clifford said celebrities' potential earning power was down to the "twin gods of bums on seats - in other words, how much are they going to attract in terms of potential audience, and how many column inches they are going to generate".
The celebrities will enjoy a few more perks than before, including slightly bigger beds and gym equipment. Unlike the normal Big Brother, celebrity blushes will be spared with the removal of cameras from the shower and toilet areas. However, they will still be filmed in that Big Brother staple - the hot tub.
The last Celebrity Big Brother proved to be the most controversial, after Goody's alleged racist bullying of Bollywood star Shetty generated more than 50,000 complaints and led to effigies being burned on the streets of India.
TV reality shows such as Big Brother and ITV's I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! rely on controversy to secure the tabloid coverage that boosts the ratings. But with the future funding of Channel 4 in doubt - and the culture secretary, Andy Burnham, due to make a landmark speech on public service broadcasting in three weeks' time - the broadcaster cannot afford a repeat of the controversy of two years ago.
Producers have shown the contestants DVDs of previous series, including the Goody-Shetty race row, and warned them that repeat behaviour will not be tolerated. A welfare team from the programme's producer, Endemol, will monitor each contestant round the clock in case they become isolated or unhappy.
Channel 4 relies on the reality show to pull in big audiences and boost advertising revenue. The last Celebrity Big Brother, won by Shetty, had an average of 6.8 million viewers in 2006. With the audience for its main network on the slide, Channel 4 would welcome a similar ratings success this time round - but without the race row which preceded it.
Big bother: Five troublesome series
1 Celebrity Big Brother began in 2001 as a Comic Relief fundraiser in a rare collaboration between BBC1 and Channel 4. It was won by the comedian Jack Dee. Most people remember Vanessa Feltz yelling obscenities when called into the diary room.
2 Take That singer Mark Owen won in 2002, which ran for 10 days on Channel 4. But the most memorable moments were provided by Les Dennis, who suffered depression in the midst of his break-up from his wife Amanda Holden, and found refuge by talking to the house chickens.
3 The number of housemates went up to nine in 2005. The most memorable moment was the look on Brigitte Nielsen's face when Jackie Stallone, her former mother-in-law, entered the house. This was followed by Germaine Greer's walkout. The show was won by Happy Mondays star Bez.
4 The 2006 series was the only one not won by a celebrity. Chantelle Houghton was given the task of convincing her housemates she was a singer. Houghton became a minor celebrity in her own right and married fellow contestant Samuel Preston, lead singer with the Ordinary Boys. Otherwise the show was memorable for George Galloway donning a leotard and pretending to be a cat drinking milk.
5 In 2007 the show was engulfed by a race row after the alleged bullying of Bollywood star and series winner Shilpa Shetty by Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara. It led to 54,000 complaints and Channel 4 was castigated by the media regulator, Ofcom.
The housemates
Ulrika Jonsson Fee said to be £175,000
The TV presenter and ex-weather girl had an affair with former England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson. She is reportedly being paid more than any other celebrity.
Damage rating (potential to kick up a storm) 7/10
Mutya Buena £50,000-£75,000
The former Sugababe has enjoyed mixed success as a solo artist since leaving the girl band in 2005. Variously described as feisty, formidable and, less flatteringly, gobby.
8/10
Tommy Sheridan Undisclosed
The firebrand Scot won a £200,000 libel action against the News of the World but has since been charged with perjury. The second high-profile Scottish politician to go on Celebrity Big Brother after George Galloway in 2006.
9/10
Lucy Pinder £150,000
Readers of lads' mag Nuts will need no introduction to glamour model Pinder. Famous for her 32G chest, she was discovered by a photographer while sunbathing on Bournemouth beach in 2003. Something of an unknown quantity.
3/10
Verne Troyer £136,000
The 2ft 8in actor is best known for his role as Mini Me in Mike Myers' Austin Powers films. Got his first job as a stunt double for a nine-month-old baby. No stranger to this sort of thing, having appeared in US reality TV series The Surreal Life.
4/10
La Toya Jackson £100,000
The fifth of the nine Jackson children, La Toya enjoyed limited success as a singer. Like Troyer, she has previous experience of reality TV, having appeared in the short-lived CBS series Armed & Famous in 2007.
9/10
Terry Christian £50,000-£75,000
The former presenter of Channel 4's The Word was dropped from his BBC Radio Manchester show earlier this year. Once described by the Daily Mirror as the most hated man on television.
7/10
Michelle Heaton £60,000
A former member of pop group Liberty X, runners-up in ITV reality show Popstars, Heaton has more recently been seen doing culinary battle with Peter Stringfellow in Channel 4 reality show Celebrity Come Dine With Me.
6/10
Coolio
Still best known for his 1995 hit Gangsta's Paradise, for which he won a Grammy, the rapper Coolio has appeared in Celebrity Fear Factor and fronted online cookery show Cooking with Coolio, in which he "teach[es] yo' ass how to cook".
8/10
Tina Malone £30,000
The Liverpudlian actor plays foul-mouthed Mimi Maguire in Channel 4 drama Shameless. Recently lost several stone after having a gastric band fitted. Also appeared in Brookside and the Victoria Wood sitcom Dinnerladies.
4/10
Ben Adams £20,000
Ben who? Arguably the least-known housemate, Adams is a former member of A1, a top-10 boyband who were named best breakthrough act at 2001's Brits. He has since reinvented himself as a dance act and manager of girl band Kissing Freddie.
2/10