Celebrity Big Brother launch date revealed – and star-studded show’s return is just days away
CELEBRITY Big Brother’s launch date is just days away.
The eagerly anticipated series will return to ITV1 and ITVX on Monday April 7 at 9pm, The Sun can exclusively reveal.
The star-studded version of the reality show returns with hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best.
The format was first revived by ITV in 2023 with a Celebrity series airing in March of last year.
It drew the highest ratings for a series of Celebrity Big Brother since 2015 thanks to star housemates including Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh and Fern Britton.
This year, ITV have made a major change to the Celebrity Big Brother house ahead of its new series.
We previously told how bosses were moving the TV house after two years at Garden Studios in Harlesden, West London.
And now we can reveal a fan-favourite feature of the Celebrity Big Brother has been ditched for the new series.
The Mezzanine floor – which was introduced by ITV when it rebooted Big Bro in 2023 – has been scrapped.
Over the last two years it’s often been a safe space for housemates to complain and talk about each other, after the smoking area was pulled from screens.
An insider told The Sun: “ITV moving to a new location means the Big Brother house is getting a full revamp – starting from the top down.
“The house layout is returning to a single story, just like when the show was based at Elstree Studios during its time on Channel 4 and C5.
“It’s exciting for fans who love the pre-series build up and ITV are going all out especially with the new studio move.
“There’ll still be plenty of new spaces for housemates to gossip and work on the house is due to begin imminently ahead of the new series.”
The show has also been rocked by a schedule shake-up, meaning that some episodes will now be screened even later.
The news has left supporters of the long-running reality format fuming after they have blasted ITV‘s decision as a sure-fire way to ensure ratings will decrease on the show.
There has been confirmation that Sunday episodes will now be screened at 10pm.
Last year, the show broadcast six episodes a week from Sunday-Friday at 9pm on ITV1.
However, this year, all Sunday episodes will be broadcast at 10pm owing to ITV1’s commitment to showing new drama content on Sunday evening between 8pm and 10pm.
In the series’ expected run, it will only air twice on a Sunday with the show expected to launch on Monday, April 7 and conclude a little over two weeks later.
It will also mean spin-off show Late & Live which airs directly after the main show on ITV2 will be broadcast at 11pm until 12:05am on Sundays.
The move has infuriated fans more given that there is no episode aired on a Saturday and as such, two days have to be crammed into the Sunday offering.