List of Celebrity Big Brother housemates

Programme

Nineteen editions of Celebrity Big Brother have been made, involving a total of 231 housemates. The programme has been the centre of controversies over the actions and inclusion of some of its housemates. For instance, viewer and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) complaints prompted Hertfordshire Police to remove a coat from the 2006 edition after Pete Burns claimed that it was made from gorilla fur and therefore against the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species agreement of 1975. However, after an analysis at the Natural History Museum, it was later discovered that the coat was made from the fur of Colobus monkeys. Fellow members of parliament criticised George Galloway's participation in the same series, stating that Galloway had missed important debates regarding his constituency, Bethnal Green and Bow, and rejecting claims that Galloway took part to raise political awareness amongst the British youth. The family of Stuart Lubbock, a man who died in Michael Barrymore's swimming pool, criticised the programme makers for paying the entertainer £150,000 to participate on the programme. The mental states of the contestants were called into question during the first series; psychologist Mark Griffiths highlighted behaviour displayed by Anthea Turner and Vanessa Feltz as examples of the negative effects of the programme. Germaine Greer voluntarily left the 2005 series after accusing the producers of using "superior bullying" tactics against contestants; commentators such as Graham Norton have argued that the housemates are not "actual celebrities". During the 2009 series, 527 viewers complained to Ofcom, the majority concerned about Coolio's conduct towards female contestants, but it was decided that the broadcaster's code was not breached. Comments made by Heidi Fleiss also proved controversial during the final series to air on Channel 4 of the programme in 2010; she accused Ivana Trump of smuggling drugs onto the programme, a claim that Trump's spokesperson denied, and made comments about abortion that attracted criticism.

During the 2007 series, comments directed to and made about Shilpa Shetty from Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, Jo O'Meara and Jack Tweed caused an international racism controversy. The British and Indian governments commented on the issue, while Ofcom decreed that Channel 4 had been guilty of "serious editorial misjudgements" after 54,000 viewers claimed that Shetty had been the victim of racial discrimination. The broadcaster was made to air a series of on-air apologies, and the programme was not included in Channel 4's 2008 schedule; it was replaced by Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack. In 2009, Channel 4's director of television Kevin Lygo announced that Big Brother "had reached a natural end point" and the 2010 edition was the final celebrity series to air on the channel. However, Channel 5 stated in April 2011 that it has signed a two-year deal with Endemol, the show's creators, to air both version of the programme for a reported £220m. The series started on 18 August 2011 and former Big Brother winner Brian Dowling replaced Davina McCall as the programme's presenter. Dowling presented the programme until January 2013, his final series being Celebrity Big Brother 11. Since the twelfth series of the show, Emma Willis has presented.

Housemates

Notes

Statistics

^*Heidi & Spencer (Celebrity Big Brother 11) & (Celebrity Big Brother 19) were up for eviction a combined total of 6 times during their two appearances.

Deaths

2009

2011

2016

Guests

On some occasions, celebrities have entered the house for a short period of time as guests.