George Galloway, the cat who got the cream: the best and worst of Celebrity Big Brother

Big Brother
Jade Goody, Vanessa Feltz, Pete Burns and George Galloway in their respective Celebrity Big Brother series Credit: PA

Celebrity Big Brother has been the unstoppable peeping tom of C-list celebrity culture for eighteen years, briefly extending the careers of such illustrious names as thong aficionado Sisqó, the very beautiful Samantha Brick, H from Steps, Heather off EastEnders, and much of the cast of TOWIE.

Alongside moments of undeniable TV gold, it's also exposed the good, the bad and the plain ugly of international fame, with a laundry list of names having argued, fallen in love and screamed racial slurs within its hallowed walls. 

As it returns to our screens, we've taken a look at back at some of the highs and lows of the past 19 series.

All work and no play makes Vanessa Feltz lose her marbles (2001)

Vanessa Feltz was responsible for Celebrity Big Brother's very first scandal, her appearance in Channel 4's week-long, celebrity-filled Comic Relief edition (were we ever so innocent?) seemingly causing her to go stir crazy.

The vision of a mumbling Feltz scribbling obscenities across a table in chalk was so shocking that even Anthea Turner paused her washing up to take a look.

Feltz subsequently claimed the whole episode was in fact a joke to stave off boredom, and criticised the show for editing her to look like "Jack Nicholson in The Shining". She didn't harbour too much ill-will, however, and she returned for Ultimate Big Brother, Channel 4's all-star send-off series, in 2010.

"Yeah, I'm Jackie" (2005)

Sylvester Stallone's mother and professional buttocks astrologer Jackie Stallone was only in the Celebrity Big Brother house for four days, but still managed to pack in a lot. She mended fences with former daughter-in-law Brigitte Nielsen, was dubbed "the Bride of Frankenstein" by fellow housemate Lisa I'Anson due to her excessive plastic surgery, seemed perpetually confused by her surroundings (then again, she was 83), and made the most iconic CBB entrance in history with an instantly-memorable, vaguely-slurred "Yeahhhh, I'm Jackie".

"My coat has been arrested?" (2006)

The late Pete Burns may have been responsible for a number of 1980s hits, but many of the tributes to his death last year couldn't help but mention his foul-mouthed, zinger-laced appearance on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006.

It didn't take long for Burns to be immersed in scandal: he gleefully boasted when entering the house that the flamboyant fur coat he was wearing was made of gorilla pelt. The police subsequently launched an investigation, only to discover it wasn't actually made of gorilla, but rather an entirely different endangered animal.

Burns also had a lengthy feud with glamour model and body-builder Jodie Marsh in the house, which culminated in the line: "There's only one thing I'd like to try with Jodie Marsh and that's ripping her head off and s_______ on her headstone." Charming.

"Would you like me to be the cat?" (2006)

The politician and former Respect Party MP George Galloway claimed his participation in the 2006 series was "good for politics", and attempted to justify his choice by crawling around the floor and imitating a cat.

As part of a task to see whether humans can successfully communicate with animals, Galloway purred, walked on all fours, licked his lips, and pretended to lap cream from the hands of actress Rula Lenska.

Hillary Armstrong, then Labour Chief Whip, said at the time that the scene made him cringe, while Labor Assembly member John Biggs, now the Mayor of Tower Hamlets, subsequently dubbed Galloway "one of the biggest laughing stocks in London politics since the Second World War."

"I'm in Kandy Floss... with a 'k'" (2006)

Professional Paris Hilton lookalike Chantelle Houghton entered the Celebrity Big Brother house as the show's first and only non-celebrity... though that is questionable in light of appearances by Winston McKenzie, Katia Ivanova and something called Prince Lorenzo.

Chantelle's task was to convince her fellow housemates that she was a member of a pop band called Kandy Floss, best known for their top 40 smash I Want It Right Now. After warbling her way through a rendition of the track, she successfully tricked her co-stars into buying her story.

Chantelle would go on to have a short-lived marriage to fellow contestant Preston (her autobiography the instigator for his notorious Never Mind the Buzzcocks walk-off), along with a fling with cross-dressing mixed martial artist Alex Reid. Their union produced a daughter, Dolly, as well as the jaw-dropping headline: "Chantelle Houghton opens up about the harrowing four days that Alex Reid turned their home into a sex dungeon."

All work and no clean underwear makes Leo Sayer flee (2007)

Leo Sayer had an array of hit singles in the 1970's. He's also a massive fan of clean underwear. In protest at Big Brother bosses refusing to give him fresh drawers, Sayer fled the house, smashing open a fire exit and demanding he be allowed to leave.

Amid a stand-off with security guards, in which he shoved cameras and flung obscenities, Sayer shouted that he wanted to return to his adopted home of Australia.

"I want to leave this stupid f------ country and get the hell out of here," he yelled.

It quickly became the biggest scandal in Celebrity Big Brother 2007... until the whole series completely imploded days later.

"I'm not a racist person at all. My cousin is married to an Indian man" (2007)

Goody
Credit: Reuters

The pinnacle of Big Brother scandal arrived later in that same series, sparking international riots, record complaints and even comment from then-Prime Minister Tony Blair. In the house, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty was subjected to relentless bullying from housemates Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara, much of which was speculated to be racially motivated.

Amongst the ignorance leveled at Shetty included Goody's mother Jackiey refusing to learn her name and instead calling her "the Indian", Goody referring to her as "Shilpa Poppadom" and saying she "needs a day in the slums", Lloyd laughing that she should "f--- off home", and O'Meara mockingly imitating her accent.

Shetty expressed her sadness to fellow housemate Cleo Rocos.

"Is that what today's UK is?" she asked. "It's scary."

Shilpa
Credit: PA

All three women denied they were racist, O'Meara notably defending herself by claiming that she couldn't possibly be a racist as her cousin "is married to an Indian man". Ahem. Goody, considered the ringleader of the bullying, was booted out in an eerie, audience-free live eviction, where she apologised for her behaviour.

She subsequently travelled to India to try and make international amends, and bonded with Shetty outside of the house. She was diagnosed with cervical cancer while appearing on the Indian Big Brother in 2008, and died several months later at the age of 27.

"I always felt we were connected in a strange way," Shetty later said. "She was a catalyst and the architect of my fame in Britain. I discovered a new Jade compared to the one I saw in Big Brother. I admired her spirit and the way she coped with her illness. This whole experience has made me realise that life's too short to hold grudges."

The unlikely duo of Ulrika Jonsson and Mini-Me (2009)

An off-key duet between Austin Powers star Verne Troyer and TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson became a viral hit in 2009, the pair tasked with singing a rendition of the Diana Ross and Lionel Richie classic Endless Love.

The surreal scene, which saw Troyer warbling from underneath an enormous afro wig, was viewed over 200,000 times in less than a month.

"It was difficult", Jonsson later said in the Diary Room. "I'm not the best singer in the world. But bless him, Verne can't hold a tune for toffee."

Darryn Lyons' Cronenberg-esque stomach (2011)

Stomach

When you're competing against the likes of Kerry Katona, Tara Reid and Jedward, it takes a lot to stand out, and for Aussie paparazzo Darryn Lyons, it wasn't just his flamboyant parrot 'do that created ripples.

Early on in the 2011 series, Lyons revealed his bizarre stomach: a result of something called 'body contouring', a form of plastic surgery designed to enhance your pre-existing muscles.

"It takes away all the fat around it and actually lets your natural abs be there," he told My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding star Paddy Doherty. "Basically it's the male version of a boob job. I'm over the moon with it."

No one was willing to tell him he looked like a silly-putty Action Man, and unsurprisingly the look didn't take off.

Look who's drunk (2012)

Denise

Loose Women star Denise Welch may have ended up winning her year of Celebrity Big Brother, but she has come to regret her drunken antics on the show.

"The presenting side of my life had taken over and I became a celebrity and had done things like Celebrity Big Brother, which was not my finest hour," she told Closer last year.

When not feuding with Michael Madsen, Welch spent much of her CBB time completely sloshed, notably pulling the pyjama-bottoms off an understandably offended Playboy model and romping topless in a jacuzzi with X Factor punchline Frankie Cocozza. It was a gift for his 19th birthday, apparently.

When Charlotte Crosby needed some Pampers (2013)

Before all the face work and inspirational fitness DVDs, Charlotte Crosby's biggest claim to fame was urinating all over herself. The Geordie Shore star had a heavy night of boozing with fellow housemate Mario Falcone, and subsequently woke up in a puddle of her own urine the next morning.

"I've weed me bed," she shrieked. "'It's a disaster. I'm having a disaster and I'm lying on it."

Crosby is now a multi-millionaire weight loss guru.

So bad they couldn't even be trusted to be evicted (2015, 2016)

While Celebrity Big Brother gets much of their mileage from has-been celebrities being inappropriate and embarrassing, there have been times in recent years where things went so far south that all the production team could do is remove contestants all-together.

Baywatch actor Jeremy Jackson was ejected from the early 2015 series for sexually assaulting fellow contestant Chloe Goodman, while two days later saw the dismissal of Coronation Street star Ken Morley following lude comments directed at female housemates. Only last year saw Christopher Biggins removed from the house for making Holocaust jokes.

Then there was strange MTV relic Tila Tequila, who was booted out of the house after viewers unearthed self-penned writings the star had posted online that praised Hitler. She has since become an alt-right pin-up girl.

When Perez Hilton met Katie Hopkins (2015)

The highest-rated Channel 5 series of Celebrity Big Brother saw an array of genuinely high-profile contestants (for Big Brother, anyway) competing for the win, among them Katie Hopkins, Katie Price and Patsy Kensit. But it was online gossip pioneer Perez Hilton who quickly became the series' most reviled housemate, sparring with fellow contestants, using vulgar language during arguments, comparing the Big Brother experience to having Aids, and at one point even licking Katie Hopkins in an attempt to antagonise her.

He resigned much of his ire to the professional newspaper provocateur, at one point telling Hopkins that he would kill himself if he were one of her children. Hilton later said he regretted appearing on the show, but refused to apologise for any of his behaviour on it.

"You've got your cheque, now get on the plane and f--- off!" (2015)

MTV-Teen-Mom-turned-porn-star Farrah Abraham was a regular beacon for conflict in the CBB house itself, but it wasn't until she was evicted that the police finally caught up with her.

During an appearance on sister show Bit on the Side, Abraham feuded with former Big Brother contestant Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, the latter saying she ought to "get on a plane and f--- off".

Abraham retaliated, calling Horgan-Wallace a "hag", and got a drink thrown in her face for her efforts, forcing the live show to be immediately yanked off-air.

Details of the subsequent brawl remain a mystery, but it reportedly involved weave-pulling, Janice Dickinson throwing a chair, and someone from 'Allo 'Allo being glassed. Assault charges against Horgan-Wallace were later dropped.

"David is dead" (2016)

Somewhere in the collective grief of David Bowie's death in early 2016 came this shining nugget of TV brilliance, where Bowie's ex-wife Angie, after being informed of the sad news in the Diary Room, confided to fellow housemate Tiffany Pollard that "David is dead" after succumbing to cancer. Unfortunately, Tiffany believed that Angie was referring to their fellow housemate David Gest... who was napping in the next room.

Against all odds, this elaborate game of mix-up went unchallenged for nearly three minutes, Tiffany weeping in the garden and informing the rest of the house about the tragedy, before finally pulling back David (Gest)'s bed covers to reveal him alive and well.

Gemma Collins: disgrace to humanity (2016)

Who knew one of television's greatest feuds would occur between a lazy Essex blonde with a voice like nails down a chalkboard and an American reality star who found fame trying to marry Flavor Flav?

TOWIE menace Gemma Collins gifted Tiffany Pollard her shoes in one of the 2016 series' early episodes as a birthday present, but later expressed her eagerness to have them back ("Them shoes, my darlin', are to be on someone's feet that are very beautiful," she sniped).

A soundbite of Collins' revelation was subsequently played back to the housemates, leading to an argument. Later, in the diary room, Tiffany matter-of-factly articulated her feelings, calling Gemma a "disgrace to humanity".

"The shoes that she gave me were not something that I would particularly buy for myself," she said. "They were old-maiden type of shoes, and she said that those shoes were meant to be worn by a beautiful woman, and since that is the case, she should have put them back on the rack and she should never have purchased them, because she was unqualified to own those shoes."

 

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