Celebrity Big Sisters
EXPECT fireworks from this year’s Celebrity Big Brother after Ann Widdecombe joined the show’s first all-female line-up last night.
The former Tory MP is a strong advocate of Brexit, a frequent critic of modernday feminists and is no fan of reality stars.
Among her fellow housemates are journalist Rachel Johnson, who opposed her brother Boris’s support for the Leave campaign, transgender newsreader India Willoughby, ex-Greater Manchester Police detective Maggie Oliver who quit over the Rochdale sex grooming scandal and three reality TV stars.
Loyal fans of the Channel 5 show were delighted. Curtis Lee tweeted that Ann “has so much potential to be brilliant”, while Team Toff said “I’ll be howling”.
Even though there is a news blackout in the house, we can promise Ann will still deliver her forthright views in her weekly Daily Express column, after negotiating a deal with CBB producers.
The show launches with an all-female line-up, intended to mark 100 years of women having the vote.
Ann might find an ally in ex-Coronation Street star Amanda Barrie, 82, who played Alma Baldwin for nearly 20 years.
Amanda, who came out as gay aged 67, is a strong believer in the power of the older woman.
She said: “People say ‘I’m 60 now, I’ve been through the menopause, I’m 70, oh now I’m dead’ – it’s the wrong attitude.
“I could drop dead tomorrow but I can’t see any advantage in thinking about it. And I won’t say I’m in my last years because they’re going to find a cure for it – I’m not going anywhere.”
Ann, 70, a former MP for Maidstone, has previously turned down Big Brother offers, saying she “would not feel comfortable”. But she has been on Celebrity Fit Club, Strictly Come Dancing and last year’s Sugar Free Farm. She may also ruffle feathers over the recent Westminster sexual harassment claims.
Speaking in November, she said: “There are serious complaints and those I take very seriously indeed.
“But most of this has been a lot of nonsense.
“I do not consider a mildly flirtatious remark sexual harassment. And actually, I don’t think that the vast majority of the nation do.”
Other contestants include Malika Haqq, 34, of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Made In Chelsea’s Ashley James, 30, and Ex On The Beach’s Jess Impiazzi, 28.