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woensdag 4 april 2012

Big Brother to stay on Channel 5 for two more years

Big Brother to stay on Channel 5 for two more years

Big Brother producers Endemol UK and Channel 5 have signed a deal to keep the show on air until at least 2014.

The broadcaster, who relaunched the show in 2011, has picked up some of its highest ever ratings with the celebrity edition of the reality TV series.

Channel 4 dropped the format in 2010, after hosting the programme for a decade and making stars out of contestants such as Jade Goody, Craig Phillips and Brian Dowling.

Since moving to Channel 5, the show has helped the broadcaster regularly beat its rivals in the ratings.

Celebrity Big Brother has averaged over three million viewers during its two runs, while the classic series last autumn picked up over 1.7 million viewers on a regular basis.

Frankie Cocozza, Denise Welch, Paddy Doherty and Jedward have been among the stars who have entered the famous compound, since its switch of broadcasters.

Channel 5 announced last month that it had already negotiated a deal with Endemol to broadcast an extra celebrity edition of the show in the autumn as part of its original two-year deal.

Brian Dowling, Emma Willis and voiceover legend Marcus Bentley are all signed up to continue hosting the main programme and spinoff series Bit On the Side.

"We're hugely excited to have secured the return of Big Brother for Channel 5 which will continue to form a key part our programming schedule," said Jeff Ford.

"The show so far has captivated the energy and vibrancy of the channel and we are looking forward to continuing this successful relationship."

Nick Samwell-Smith added: "We are delighted with the success of Big Brother on Channel 5. The show continues to thrive and I'm thrilled to be renewing our partnership with the channel for another two years."

Channel 5's head of factual entertainment Steve Gowans will oversee the new series of Big Brother, which will continue to be filmed at Elstree Film Studios.