Celebrity Big Brother is reportedly set to be axed by ITV after not being seen on screens since April last year.
The long-running reality TV show’s return was rumoured to have delayed by the broadcaster at the start of the year, with tentative plans for it to return in 2027 instead on ITV2.
But now it appears it has been put on ice amid a ratings struggle with BBC One rival The Celebrity Traitors.
‘Bosses face a huge challenge trying to sign up celebrities because so many of them are now pressing their agents to get them on The Celebrity Traitors,’ a source told The Sun.
‘That is already causing problems for other big shows, like Strictly and I’m A Celebrity, which rely on star contestants because they now find themselves as second in the pecking order.
“So that is an even greater issues for a show like Celebrity Big Brother because now it’s on ITV, it needs a certain calibre of contestant, which are very hard to sign up now.’
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The upcoming season of The Celebrity Traitors, which filmed in May at Ardross Castle in the Highlands, attracted the likes of actors Miranda Hart, Richard E Grant, Michael Sheen and Bella Ramsey, Love Island presenter Maya Jama, Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock and comedians Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan.
Last year’s first season saw unlikely traitor Alan Carr crowned the winner in a dramatic final moment which scooped the programme one of its four Bafta TV Award wins.
ITV is said to be finding it increasingly difficult to secure big-name stars for its various reality shows, which also includes the money-spinning I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!.
The insider added that the network was struggling already ‘having to find two lots of stars to compete on I’m A Celebrity this autumn as well as its spin off show, The Wild Frontier, which is expected to air in early 2027’.
They also claimed that this is ‘exactly the same time ITV were hoping to drop the new series of Celebrity Big Brother’.
ITV previously insisted that it was entirely committed to Celebrity Big Brother, which was recently hosted by AJ Odudu and Will Best and had aired over March and April the past two years.
The broadcaster told Metro earlier this year: ‘We are committed to both Celebrity Big Brother and Big Brother beyond 2025, and scheduling for any new series will be confirmed in due course.
‘The show remains a priority reality format for us.’
However, ITV appears to have now changed its tune, with the company no longer committing to plans for 2027.
The broadcaster told Metro this morning: ‘Big Brother returns to ITVX and ITV2 later this year.
‘No decisions have been made for 2027 as yet.’
The original version of the reality series first aired on Channel 4 and then Channel 5 between 2001 until 2018, before being revived by ITV six years later.
In the two seasons that have aired over the past two years, a string of high-profile famous faces including Sharon Osbourne, Louis Walsh, Fern Britton and Patsy Palmer, have taken part.
Since hitting screens again, Celebrity Big Brother has faced a string of controversies over the years – including last year when Mickey Rourke was booted within a week for using offensive language and ‘instances of unacceptable behaviour’.
This included him coming under fire for ‘harassing’ host AJ, grabbing her and twirling her around while she was trying to interview him, and recieving a warning after telling Dance Moms star JoJo Siwa that she ‘would not be gay anymore’ if he stayed – before proceeding to use the F slur and stating he was going to ‘vote out the lesbian’.
He had been set to receive a massive £500,000 payday, but reportedly ended up with just 10% of that fee.
Last year ITV boss Kevin Lygo admitted the channel was ‘in a battle about the price’ of Celebrity Big Brother with its production company Endemol.
He went on to say changing the series to air on ITV2 would allow for celebrity signings to be ‘more interesting and niche’.
Although the show did generate more than 150 million streams on catch-up service ITVX, the most recent season had viewing figures of between one to two million on each night the episodes aired.
Despite Celebrity Big Brother having a break, the civilian series is expected to return to ITV2 in October.