Celebrity Big Brother is reportedly facing the axe on ITV, with insiders claiming bosses are struggling to sign up celebrities.
AJ Odudu and Will Best hosted the iconic series (Image: ITV)
Celebrity Big Brother is reportedly facing the axe, according to recent claims.
The legendary reality programme was brought back by ITV, with its 23rd series broadcasting in March 2024, after the spin-off originally launched on Channel 4 in 2001.
Presented by AJ Odudu and Will Best, the revived series has only completed two seasons, crowning David Potts and Jack P. Shepherd as champions, while Nikita Kuzmin and Danny Beard secured runner-up positions in 2024 and 2025 respectively.
Yet despite featuring major personalities such as JoJo Siwa, Louis Walsh, Fern Britton and Sharon Osbourne, reports suggest Celebrity Big Brother may not be making a comeback.
A source revealed to The Sun: “Bosses face a huge challenge trying to sign up celebrities because so many of them are now pressing their agents to get them on The Celebrity Traitors,” reports OK!.
David Potts won the first series of the Celebrity Big Brother revival(Image: ITV)
“That is already causing problems for other big shows, like Strictly and I’m A Celebrity, which rely on star contestants because they now find themselves as second in the pecking order.
“So that is an even greater issue for a show like Celebrity Big Brother because, now it’s on ITV, it needs a certain calibre of contestant which are very hard to sign up now.”
Meanwhile, the insider noted that ITV is simultaneously working to secure two sets of famous faces for I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! alongside its new spin-off programme, The Wild Frontier, which would allegedly broadcast around the same period as a potential new Celebrity Big Brother series at the beginning of 2027.
The reality series had the likes of Sharon Osbourne take part(Image: ITV)
When contacted for a response, an ITV spokesperson told BristolLive: “Big Brother returns to ITVX and ITV2 later this year. No decisions have been made for 2027 as yet.”
Celebrity Big Brother caused quite the stir last year, with Mickey Rourke booted out of the villa for repeated offensive comments.
It was later claimed that the reality programme wouldn’t be returning for 2026, though ITV’s Director of Television Kevin Lygo echoed the broadcaster’s previous comments that they remained “committed” to the show.
Mickey Rourke sparked outrage over his time in the Celebrity Big Brother house(Image: ITV)
Speaking at the 2025 Edinburgh TV Festival, he said: “Celebrity Big Brother we’re looking at. We’re thinking not on the main channel, that’s the answer.
“It’s so difficult now to book big celebrities, famous people, which is what we need on the main channel. Whereas you can go more interesting and niche on ITV2.
“We’re in a battle with [production company] Banijay about the price. It does really well for us on ITVX.
“It’s a really important, crucial show. I love it and it does a tremendous job for us so, yes, it’s coming back.”
Celebrity Big Brother is available to watch on ITVX.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.bristolpost.co.uk ’
