The 2025 series of Celebrity Big Brother has begun on ITV with EastEnders star Patsy Palmer, singer Chesney Hawkes and TV presenter Trisha Goddard among the contestants revealed so far.
Presenters AJ Odudu and Will Best opened the show saying “13 celebrities are about to become Celebrity Big Brother housemates, who wins, you decide”.
Odudu continued: “A brand new series of Celebrity Big Brother starts now, so if you like a bit of unfiltered celeb realness, you’ve come to the right place.”
The series’ 13 contestants are being unveiled on Monday’s show, which comes after last year’s explosive series saw controversy with X Factor judges Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne making remarks about other celebrities.
Singer Hawkes was unveiled as the first housemate to join the 2025 series.
As he was announced on the show, The One And Only singer revealed he was “a little bit of a nudist”.
He said on the show: “I am the one and only. See what I did there?
“I had absolutely no idea what was ahead of me when I released that record 34 years ago. Before that, I was playing piano in pubs, and then I was headlining arenas, it was that quick.
“I think my kids like my music, my son has to be a fan because he’s my guitar player.
“One thing that people don’t know about me, I am a little bit of a nudist. I do like to get naked, just saying.”
As he entered the house, Big Brother challenged Hawkes to introduce himself to the next four contestants as “the one and only”, adding that he would win prizes depending on how many times he could say the phrase.
US singer JoJo Siwa became the second contestant to enter the Celebrity Big Brother house, telling fellow contestant Hawkes: “Oh wow, your new house is beautiful.”
Siwa said: “The fans have dubbed me the CEO of gay pop, that’s me, baby.
“My name is JoJo Siwa, and I am a singer, performer, I’m an influencer, I’m a superstar, baby. My social media following is crazy, my followers tally up to around 80 million. I don’t think there’s any hiding me in the Big Brother house.
“When people first meet me, they’re like, who is this 21-year-old? Oh my god, she’s going to be so annoying. And then they get to know me, and they’re like, wait, this bitch is funny.
“Can I swear in the Big Brother house? Good, oh god, this could be great, or this could be horrible. See y’all in the house.”
Her fans in the audience held up signs which read: “JoJo to win.”
TV presenter Goddard became the third contestant to enter the Celebrity Big Brother house.
Being introduced on the show, she said: “I’m doing this for 3.4 million people living with cancer and six million people living with chronic illness.”
She continued: “In the house, I do not want to play the role of mother, if you need a mummy figure, get therapy.
“I have stage four metastatic breast cancer, it’s part of my new normal. When I go to chemo, I always say, ‘Hello, ladies, I’m here for my three-week spa’.
“I’m going into the Big Brother house to show that you can’t be so scared of dying that you become frightened of living.”
The crowd chanted the presenter’s name as she entered the house, and Goddard then revealed she went to the same primary school as Hawkes.
Reality TV star Chris Hughes was the fourth contestant to enter the house.
Hughes, who featured on Love Island and presents ITV’s horse racing coverage, said: “I’m Chris Hughes, I am a television presenter, but I’m probably best known for Love Island, back in 2017.
“I didn’t quite meet the love of my life, maybe I’ll find it in the Big Brother house, who knows.
“I grew up in a farm in the Cotswolds, so I didn’t actually do too much farming myself, but I look after my hands, I get manicures and pedicures.
“So my passion is horses, and I now present horse racing on ITV. What people get from dogs, I get from horses.
“So if I could have a horse live in the house with me, then he or she definitely would.”
EastEnders star Palmer became the fifth contestant to be revealed for the 2025 edition.
She said: “My name is Patsy Palmer and I’m an actress best known for playing Bianca on EastEnders.
“Home for me now is Malibu in Los Angeles, I really love it, I live in nature, I have the beach, we can see dolphins.
“It’s just a really beautiful place, I love anything spiritual. I pray a lot, I like meditating. Maybe Big Brother is the biggest spiritual experience that anyone ever has, I’m just going with the flow, baby, bring it on.”
A spin-off show called Celebrity Big Brother: Late And Live will follow on ITV2, which will see the return of last year’s winner, reality star David Potts.
