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With the end of a very successful Celebrity Big Brother drawing near, I feel a sense of sadness at the departure of Z list celebrities making fools of themselves on national television.

Celebrity BB has proved a massive hit for Channel 5, who took over the rights from Channel 4 after eight months of negotiations. Since it began on the 18^th of August, the show has been watched by an average 2.35million viewers for the 9pm show and 2.25million for the 10pm show. When comparing the audience figures year on year, looking at the same time slots, Celebrity BB has increased Channel 5’s audience by approximately 740,000 between 9-10 and a huge 1million. The launch night alone was viewed by 5.08million people (actually peaking at 5.58million people just after 10pm), making it the fourth biggest Channel 5 show of all time. The numbers speak for themselves…

Big brands including Orange, McDonalds, Asda, Ford and Lucazade secured ad spots during the five ad breaks of the launch night which all ran between Freederm’s sponsorship indents – Freederm being the official sponsor of BB 2011 – and I’m sure they paid big bucks, which have no doubt been of a huge success to them.

But it’s not over just yet. I am happy to report that on Friday 9^th Sept, the ‘normal’ Big Brother is going to burst onto our screens! Be honest now, who’s missed it? The bitching, the crying, the tasks, the possible blooming romances? I have! But to be frank I’m more intrigued about who will invade our screens in the twelfth year of Big Brother and let’s face it, there have been some ‘characters’ in past BBs. So on that note, I’m going to take a trip down memory lane to my top favourite BB characters of all time.

As you will all be aware by now, Big Bro’s original Mamma Davina McCall has been replaced by Brain Dowling, who I think is doing a fab job. I do miss Davina’s somewhat excited banter, and have happy memories of guessing what latest black outfit she might wear, but Brian is definitely worthy of the job, having being crowned the winner of the second series in 2001 and also of Ultimate BB in 2011. But fear not, Davina hasn’t disappeared from our screens. Staying loyal to Channel 4, she currently presents The Million Pound Drop, a show where the average Joe gets a chance to win a huge £1,000,000. This show has proved a major success with a top average of 2.5 million viewers tuning in. The show has also proved to be a massive hit across social networks with currently 225,000+ fans on Facebook and #millionpounddrop being trended as no. 1 worldwide on Twitter. Davina also presents on ITV (Long Lost Family), Sky 1 (Got to Dance) and on Living TV (The Biggest Loser) so if you need your fix, tune into these programmes and you won’t be disappointed.  

 It's been twelve years (yes twelve!) since Craig Phillips won the first ever BB and with a hefty cheque of £70,000 burning in his back pocket, the question on everyone’s lips at the time was 'What is he going to spend his money on?' A car? A house? A holiday? No. Craig gave the money to his late friend Joanne Harris who had Down's Syndrome as she needed money for a heart and lung transplant in America. Within days of winning he had raised enough money to do just that. Not many people could honestly say they would donate ALL their money to someone else but he did. This kind of compassion (and the fact he was a builder before appearing on the show) transformed his career from “Craig the Builder” to “Craig the famous Builder” and has since appeared and presented on many shows including ‘60 minute makeover’, ‘Renovation Street’, both of which were broadcast on ITV, ‘Trading Up’ and ‘Craig’s Trade Tips’ which featured on the BBC. Well done Craig!   

Next up is another of my all-time favourite contestants, Jade Goody. She burst onto our screens in BB3 and instantly split the public down the middle. Some were astounded at her lack of general knowledge – Jade thought that the English city of Cambridge was in London and when corrected and told it was in East Anglia, she thought that "East Angular" was abroad. Duh! Who could forget her “kebab belly” and the infectious laughter that made viewers tune in to watch her? Although she didn’t win, she certainly stole the show. This led onto many projects such as bringing out fitness DVDs and more importantly her own reality show “Living with Jade”, documenting 2 years of her life up to her sad and untimely death at the age of 27 in 2009. The show ran for two years and pulled in over 136,000 viewers on Living TV. I can honestly say Jade will always be remembered by her loyal fans and her funeral showed that when thousands of people attended just to watch it from screens outside the church. Her legacy will live on as she raised cervical cancer awareness and in doing so has increased the number of women between 25 and 64 going for smear tests by 12%. She will be missed.

This guy was a rightful winner in my eyes and his name is Brian Belo. Who could not like the cheeky, eye twinkling Essex lad with phrases such as 'I'm a mackerel" or "I'm a yoghurt top!". Viewers were delighted to watch the blossoming romance between twin Amanda Marchant and himself and it was the sweet display of affection that helped crown Brian the winner of Big Brother 8. Who would have guessed that Nigerian born Brian is in fact a descendant of royalty! Fact! Since leaving BB Brian has dabbled in a few projects mostly cameos in his beloved Hollyoaks and Harry Hill’s TV Burps. In April 2011, it was reported that Brian planned on suing the makers (Lime Productions) of the ITV’s hit reality programme, The Only Way Is Essex, claiming they "stole his idea". He featured in the pilot, provisionally titled Totally Essex but the producers decided to cut him out of the first series. Time will tell whether he receives the £10,000 he’s asked for!

 And lastly, who could forget Jackie Stallone? In 2005 she entered the Celeb house as a ‘surprise’ contestant much to the shock of former daughter-in-law Brigitte Nielsen, who of course was married to Sylvester Stallone. A brilliant twist in this series as it created tension from the moment she opened her mouth to now the now infamous line of “Yeah Jackie!” Sadly her demands and lack of interest in her fellow contestants got her evicted after spending just four days in the house. Brief appearance but in my eyes, a complete legend!

Written by Jenny Nicholls