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Corrie legend, social star, and an Oscar winner: Celebrity Big Brother kicks off

2025-04-08 06:00:13
Mickey Rourke won a Bafta Award in 2009 for his role in The Wrestler

Oscar-nominated actor Mickey Rourke, colourful US personality JoJo Siwa, EastEnders star Patsy Palmer, Love Island's Chris Hughes and former MP Michael Fabricant are getting to know each other after beginning a stay in this year's Celebrity Big Brother house.

The line-up for the latest series is typically varied, with singer Chesney Hawkes and TV host Trisha Goddard rubbing shoulders with Olympic champion Daley Thompson and The Only Way Is Essex's Ella Rae Wise.

Coronation Street stalwart Jack P Shepherd, comedian Donna Preston and TV host Angellica Bell also entered on Monday.

RuPaul's Drag Race winner Danny Beard joined them on the ITV reality show.

JoJo Siwa is a dancer, pop star and actress

Mickey Rourke became a Hollywood star in 1980s films like 9½ Weeks, Year of the Dragon and Barfly, before quitting acting to become a boxer. He made a comeback in 2005's Sin City, and was nominated for an Oscar for best actor for 2008's The Wrestler.

Since becoming a child star on TV show Dance Moms in 2014, JoJo Siwa has forged a career as a multifaceted cultural force, releasing music, acting in Nickelodeon TV shows and films, and setting a trend for inescapable oversized hair bows. Delighting in her rainbow-coloured and sometimes provocative persona, she claimed last year to have invented "gay pop".

Trisha Goddard rose to fame as a talk show host

Trisha Goddard became a household name thanks to her self-titled daytime talk show, which ran on ITV and Channel 5 between 1998 and 2010, before she took it to the US and then joined TalkTV. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, and revealed last year that it had returned and was now stage four.

Daley Thompson was an Olympic gold medallist

Daley Thompson is a legend of British athletics. He won Olympic golds in the decathlon in 1980 and 1984, and went undefeated in all competitions between 1979 and 1987.

Jack P Shepherd is best known as Coronation Street's David Platt

Jack P Shepherd has been a fixture on Coronation Street for 25 years, playing Gail's son David Platt since he was 12. However, his contract ends this year and there are reports he could be leaving Weatherfield.

Patsy Palmer is known as one of EastEnders' most-loved characters, Bianca Jackson

Patsy Palmer has soap opera immortality as Bianca Jackson in EastEnders, a role she first played in 1993. She made her latest comeback in 2024, playing a key part in the 40th anniversary live episode this February.

Michael Fabricant was a Tory MP

Michael Fabricant was a long-serving Conservative MP, sitting in the House of Commons between 1992 and 2024, when he lost his seat. Nicknamed Mickey Fab and known for his lustrous blonde hair, he has been on Celebrity First Dates, and has described himself as the "life partner" of former West Midlands Mayor Sir Andy Street.

The one and only Chesney Hawkes

Chesney Hawkes played the lead role in 1991 film Buddy's Song, but his music career overtook his acting when The One and Only - from the film's soundtrack - spent five weeks at number one and became one of the decade's most enduring pop hits.

Angellica Bell is a TV personality and presenter
Chris Hughes pictured alongside fellow reality TV star Georgia Toffolo

Chris Hughes is one of the breakout stars of Love Island after finishing third in the 2017 series with Olivia Attwood. He also teamed up with co-star Kem Cetinay to release a single and a game show, and now presents horse racing coverage on ITV.

Donna Preston is a comedian and actress
The Only Way is Essex star Ella Rae Wise

Ella Rae Wise has featured on TV series The Only Way Is Essex since 2019, as well as other reality shows like Celebrity Ex on the Beach and The Challenge UK.

Drag performer and singer Danny Beard

Danny Beard is one of the biggest names on the British drag scene, rising to prominence by reaching the semi-finals of Britain's Got Talent, before winning the fourth series of RuPaul's Drag Race UK in 2022.