We have one question and one question only: how has it been a quarter of decade since the first series of Big Brother aired on Channel 4?
Yep, 25 years have passed since Craig Phillips won the show after catching out Nasty Nick Bateman and yet we somehow still remember it like it was yesterday. Since then, Big Brother has had two new homes and birthed countless icons including Nikki Grahame, Alison Hammond, Jordan Sangha and Ali Bromley.
Show bosses are said to have big plans for the next series of the ITV2 show ahead of its milestone birthday and are reportedly making a major change for 2025.
According to reports, this year’s civilian series has been extended and will run for seven weeks.
While nothing has been confirmed by ITV yet, dates listed by production company Banijay suggest that the upcoming series could start on Sunday 28 or Monday 29 September and finish on Friday 14 November.
AJ Odudu and Will Best will return to host the show once again, with a brand new batch of housemates set to enter the house.
Big Brother 2024 was won by forensic psychologist Ali, who triumphed over runner-up Marcello Spooks to take home the prize money.
Ali had a rollercoaster ride of time in the house after clashing with fellow housemate Khaled Khaled. Their rows caused a divide in the house, with the likes of Khaled Khaled, Hanah Haji, Segun Shodipo and Marcello Spooks – aka The Core – on one side and Ali, Lily Benson and their pals Nathan King and Dean Quinton on the other.
After winning the show, Ali opened up about her ‘daily meltdowns’ in the Diary Room.
‘I was stressed out. I was having daily meltdowns in the Diary Room, just crying,’ she admitted on the Not My Bagg podcast.
‘I felt like that almost every day, at some point. I had to, kind of, give myself regular pep talks, just to be like, “No, you have to be grateful to be here, you have to be appreciative. So many people applied to get on this show.”’
Ali added, ‘I mean, it was lots of fun in there but it’s very stressful because you can’t escape the tricky group dynamics.’