Celebrity Big Brother: Presenter Will Best on hosting 'biggest' reality show with AJ Odudu

“I think you want those names that are universally recognised, says 40-year-old Best, who co-presents Big Brother and its spin-off Celebrity Big Brother with Odudu, 37. “It means that everybody at the very beginning of the show can have a vested interest. But as soon as the show begins, it doesn’t matter, because the format is the star really.

“A lot of people always come up to me often and say how much they love – I still feel weird calling it this – the civilian series. It has given us some of the most legendary moments in Big Brother history. Once it starts, the size of the names doesn’t necessarily matter. It’s just how people fit together, and that’s always the most important thing. And I think when they are casting the celeb one, they put as much thought into how the group is going to work together.

"Where will be the tension points? Where will be the alliances? Will this collection of people gel or not? That said, this is the biggest original reality show. You can guarantee there are going to be massive names, household names, people that literally, everybody is going to know.”

In August 2022, ITV gained the rights to Big Brother almost four years after the series last aired on Channel 5. The reality competition follows a group of celebrity contestants, who live together in the custom-built Big Brother house. For an extended period, the housemates are completely cut off from the outside world, and whoever isn’t evicted by public votes, wins.

Every night, after each episode, Odudu and Best, who was raised in Tadcaster, also co-host the after-show Celebrity Big Brother: Late & Live, which provides viewers with more exclusive content about what is happening inside the Big Brother house, with some help from a few special guests.

Best, who had his first presenting role in 2010 with Girls Aloud singer Kimberley Walsh says: “I think for me, the most interesting thing is when you remove people from the trappings of the outside world, in terms of the people who they’re used to hanging out with, and the distractions that they have, people’s political ideas, people’s backgrounds actually don’t matter. Some of the strongest friendships that form in the house are often from people that you would not expect.”

Celebrity Big Brother started on ITV 1 and ITVX yesterday.