Davina McCall has opened up about the changes Big Brother has undergone since first hitting our screens in 2000. McCall hosted the Channel 4 iteration of the reality series until 2010, at which point it moved to Channel 5.
Emma Willis and Brian Dowling hosted the show at its new home until it was cancelled in 2018, before being revived in 2023.
Since ITV brought Big Brother back, it has been hosted by Will Best and AJ Odudu, but McCall revealed that she put herself forward to return to the show.
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"When they started Big Brother on ITV, I put myself forward to present it, and they went with new presenters," she began while talking to the Business Growth Secrets podcast.
"But I was like, look, can I please just be pre-titles and just go, 'Fancy another one?', but they didn’t want me to do that, and I was like: 'F**k'."
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Despite the disappointment, she went on to explain that the show had changed and will "never be what it was at the beginning" when she first hosted.
"I love that show so much, it was in my DNA, and interestingly it’s changed now and it will never be what it was at the beginning, because [the housemates] know what it is," McCall said.
"They know what to expect. They know what’s going to happen after. They always kind of semi-know they are being watched.
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"Whereas people at the beginning, it really was an extraordinary human experiment. It was incredible at the time."
Before the rebooted series on ITV, Odudu revealed that McCall had given her her full support, telling Grazia: "The queen herself has given me her blessing.
"She sent me an amazing video when I got the gig saying: 'You are going to smash it'."
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