Celebrity Big Brother - The Special Bets Preview.

Here's Special Bets' Celebrity Big Brother Preview. We'll keep this updated until the show starts proper (Thursday 5th at 9pm).

Open Betting Markets;
Our Irish Friends Paddy Power have the first market to open on the show here; This is in the style of an ante-post market.

William Hill now also now have their market up which you can compare here; to other markets as they become available. PP and Hills markets are not comparable as you get you money back from Hills if your contestant is a "non runner".

TV Coverage;

The CBB Live Launch is at 9pm on Thursday January 5th on Channel 4. E4's Live coverage will follow the show. Big Brother's Little Brother with Dermot Leary has been folded into Channel 4's breakfast output - coverage daily at 8.05am as Celebrity Big Brother's Little Brother. The inaugural Celebrity Big Brother's Big Mouth starts straight after the CBB Friday show at 10pm.
Here are some pictures of the inside of the house;

Contestants & Biographies;

It has been announced that there will be a total of 10 contestants entering the house.
We believe that it is likely that there will also be at least one surprise contestant but given rumours, we would guess 2 or more.

Special Bets believes there are 2 types of contestants mentioned in the tabloids - those mentioned as they are real contestants (such as Barrymore) and those fed to the media such as Esther Rantzen and Macauley Culkin for publicity reasons (and to generate a bit of a smoke screen).

Likely Contestants In Our View;

Dennis Rodman - has a reality background and according to this digispy post he "confirmed" his forthcoming appearance during an unamed interview.
UPDATE - UK Daily Mirror 05/01 pictures Rodman arriving at London's Heathrow airport -
That's good enough for us!

Boy George (AKA George O'Dowd) - Boy George has been a constant mention in the tabloids as a contender after manager Tony Gordon "confirmed" his appearance to The Sun and notably he requested an adjournment (delay) to his court case to "work on musical projects". What else do we know? well BG is booked to DJ in Austria on Jan 14th - although he's known for cancelling gigs at short notice (including this NYE in Brasil). One of the posters on the "everything Boy George" forum said that the man himself had said on his website "IamBoyGeorge" that "George says he's not doing it and that he's no f***ing desperate housewife." but hey.. maybe he just wanted more money (that quote was some time ago) The website is not accessible currently, launch is delayed - busy are you George?

As for Mr. O'Dowd's chances in the show, Special Bets have had a couple of notable personal experiences with the man himself. A member of the Special Bets team used to man the smoke and lights machines at a popular northern house club where he met international DJs such as Roger Sanchez, Todd Terry, Gusto, Jeremy Healy, Judge Jules, David Morales etc.. but only George O'Dowd threw a hissy fit and demanded (Greta Garbo style) to be alone in the DJ booth....then there's another story about a loft party but we'll leave that for another time..

Johnny Vegas - the lovable Johnny Vegas is our current favourite to win the show (if he appears). We can't think of a reason to doubt his appearance as Johnny has a history of experimental TV and being up for a laugh in general. Our only reservation with Johnny is his apparent mental instability.. his wikipedia biog should be illuminating...

Update - Johnny's been installed as favourite check it out;

Michael Barrymore - All we will say about Barrymore is that it is not due to popularity in the UK that MB chose to take refuge in New Zealand - rather the opposite. CBB producers knew that paying the reported £150,000 to this controversial celebrity bankrupt (formerly the highest paid person in UK TV) would generate huge publicity for the show - but we find it very hard to see how this troubled fallen unfunny relic of prime time TV could actually win the show.

Liza and Jimmy Tarbuck - we'll deal with Jimmy and daughter Liza together as that's how we're guessing the producers are. We view Liza as a very likely contestant (she was confirmed by none other that The Sun that she was appearing). We like Liza but don't really see her as charismatic enough to motivate people to pick up the phone and vote for her. Jimmy Tarbuck shares the same agent as former CBB contestant Les Dennis "International Artistes" and his name keeps coming up. We presume that Jimmy is more of a hope and Liza is a reality for the CBB producers although one thought we've had is that Jimmy may well appear later in the show as a surprise guest...regardless we think Jimmy unlikely to resonate. As was seen with Bobby Ball and Tommy Cannon, ghosts of comedy past don't generate votes in reality TV.

Pete Burns - (Wiki here if you haven't heard of him) appeared to drop a major hint on his website confirming tabloid (The Sun) news that he was in the house. Special Bets reckon that Pete is supposed to clash with fellow transvestite queen Boy George but we happen to know that they are friends these days so if they do, it will all be pantomime... we don't see Pete clicking with the voting public (too acerbic) but his appearance should be amusing - he is a known TV "rent-a-gob" unafraid to have "strong opinions".

Derek Achorah -Wow! What can we say about this guy apart from we hope he never appears on TV ever again?Derek's name has appeared often in CBB rumours and he fits the mould of a number of "controversial" contestants - Les Dennis, Barrymore etc -given his background as a low grade football player turned dodgy psychic. Darling Derek is scheduled to appear at Manchester Opera House on January 12/13th and the Liverpool Empire on the 14/15th - can't Dezza see into the future far enough to cancel those dates already?

Joan Rivers - The Sun reported that CBB producers were keen to book elderly comedienne Joan Rivers - another red herring from the producers? - she seemed rather busy; to us... but then we noticed her Jan 11th tour date had been cancelled? Could be a fun house guest but no chance of winning in our view given demographics. (See linked biog).

Jocelyn Jee Eisen - is known for her appearance on seriously unfunny comedy show "3 non-blondes" a show title which we presume was amusingly nicked from the group 4 non-blondes . Rumour has it that Jocelyn has been hired as a stand in... we just hope its true.

Gillian McKeith - We think she may be in. She's the bossy Scottish bird from the "you are what you eat" show. Special Bets finds this know it all Scottish nutritionist very annoying to watch. We presume that she's there to lecture the likes of Johnny Vegas - which we feel will expose her methods to ridicule. Is she in her prime? We think NOT.

Anna Nicole Smith has been mentioned regularly as a likely contender in CBB. Why would she appear on the show? Well she's still fighting for her share of her dead Billionaire husband's estate - so she needs the cash. Special Bets thinks that betting on ANS to win CBB would be akin to setting fire to your wallet... if you don't believe us have a look at this PA from the former Playboy Playmate.. she's a crazy troubled gal...

Daniel MacPherson - who is this guy? Apparently he's the tottie given his wiki entry and has a reality TV past presenting X Factor in Australia. Does being in Aussie soap Neighbours from 1998-2002 make you a "celebrity" in a UK reality show? Special Bets thinks not and given the short duration of CBB, Daniel's chances of winning UK TV voters hearts to be slim.

Jodie Marsh and Jordan (Pictured) - Apparently Jodie "Nose Like A Builder's Elbow*"*Katie Price Marsh is a contender for CBB this year. Special Bets thinks that this has a good probability given Jodie's known rivalry with Katie Price (herself no stranger to publicity). If the CBB producers could architect this on-screen"showdown" (perhaps via one of them being a "surprise" guest) they would jump at the chance however we suspect that Jodie is an uninteresting Contestant "sans Jordan" so without Jo' we reckon there'll be no show for Jodie. We don't think either could be potential winners either so any further debate seems pointless.

Paddy Power's ante post market is here; William Hill now also have their market up which you can compare here; to other markets as they become available. PP and Hills markets are not comparable as we mentioned earlier.

Go Straight to Betfair's market only HERE;