Little Britain star Lucas on Big Brother spin-off
Artists Jake and Dinos Chapman, Little Britain star Matt Lucas and Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren have signed up for the new spin-off Big Brother.
Match of the Day pundit Ian Wright, Evening Standard art critic Brian Sewell, outspoken US comedienne Joan Rivers, comic Jimmy Carr and Bo’ Selecta! Character Keith Lemon are also on board.
The celebrities will take on the role of Big Brother – maintaining control by setting tasks, handing out punishments like removing food, and listening to housemates in the Diary Room.
The contestants for Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack are expected to be young scientists, athletes, acrobats, and Mensa members.
More celebrity names are expected to join the month-long E4 show.
McLaren’s decision to join comes after he pulled out of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! Last month, saying it was “fake” and “he didn’t have the time”.
The Chapman brothers are famed for their bizarre artworks, including a group of sexually-mutated child mannequins with genitalia sprouting from unlikely places, and Hell (1999-2000) a swastika shape of over 5,000 tiny Nazi figures acting out the roles of victim and executioner.
A Big Brother spokeswoman said of the celebrities: “Just what they will be getting up to as they take control of the house and who else will join them as celebrity hijackers remains a closely guarded secret.”
Dermot O’Leary will present the series – his last Big Brother job. Davina McCall returns in the summer.
The last series of Celebrity Big Brother caused a huge furore over the racism row.
Channel 4 decided to replace the show this year with Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack.
The house has been given a makeover and Banksy-style stencilling and graffiti adorns the walls.
The E4 show kicks off on January 3 at 9pm.
