New online show Big Brother Simon Says is launching with iconic guests from the reality series
Former Big Brother contestant Simon Gross is launching a new online discussion show which will focus on the new series of the reality TV show and feature a host of guests from the regular and celebrity versions of Big Brother.
New online show Big Brother Simon Says is launching to give fans of the reality show a weekly Big Brother fix.
The show will be presented by Big Brother 2015 housemate Simon Gross and Simon Hood and will air weekly on Fridays at 5pm, streamed live on YouTube and online. It is being produced by CTRL Studios, based in Old Street, London.
The show will feature iconic Big Brother housemates from both the regular and celebrity versions. Upcoming guests include Alex Reid, Craig Phillips, Bez, Nick Bateman aka Nasty Nick and Paddy Doherty, as well as evicted housemates from the new series, which kicks off on ITV2 this Sunday (13.09.26).
Each week, there will be a group of invited BB super-fans in the studio to participate in lively discussions.
Former Big Brother housemate Simon said: "I have lived and breathed Big Brother since my appearance in 2015 as the first male contestant to be evicted within two hours ever.
"I was also lucky to share my Big Brother experience with one of the biggest icons in Big Brother history, Nikki Grahame. I remember in the house she said to me, 'This is a once in a lifetime experience, lap it up, relish every moment, rejoice and celebrate it.'
"Nikki and I had a wonderful bond. We used to sing show tunes together. She had a big love, like me, for musical theatre, every morning I would make her a cup of tea and hot water bottle.
“I miss Nikki terribly. She was a ray of sunshine that lit up the room. I want to celebrate Nikki but also relive the old school Big Brother as there are so many wonderful housemates and characters that are forgotten.
“It's time to bring old school Big Brother back with a nod to the new Big Brother audience!"
Big Brother Simon Says will launch on Friday 18 September at 5pm.
Grahame - who was from Northwood in north-west London - took part in the seventh series of Big Brother in 2006 and is remembered as an iconic housemate thanks to her romance with eventual winner Pete Bennett and her Diary Room outbursts, such as her famous "Who is she?" rant about new housemate Susie Verrico.
Nikki is also the first and only housemate to have been voted back into the house after being evicted, before eventually finishing in fifth place.
She died at the age of 38 on 9 April 2021, a few weeks after being admitted to a private hospital with an eating disorder.
Nikki had suffered from anorexia nervosa from her teenage years and she had made attempts to end her life when growing up. She hid her psychiatric history from Big Brother producers when she applied to be a contestant on the show.
In a 2020 interview with The Guardian newspaper, Nikki insisted she looked back on her time as a Big Brother housemate with nothing but fond memories.
She said: "I hold fond memories of Big Brother, even though there were times where it looked like I was having a meltdown.
"Those meltdowns really were me, though. What you see has always been what you get - I can't be any other way."
