The original reality show returns to UK screens next month, and hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best say the programme’s bosses will be working on one particular area of improvement
New Big Brother hosts AJ Odudu and Will Best insist duty of care for the contestants will be a priority for bosses, ahead of the new series starting next month.
And that is certainly a good thing, given, as they put it, the poor contestants are basically going back into lockdown. Will says TV chiefs have honed their care over 20 years. Producers oversaw Love Island’s revamped measures, which were overhauled in the wake of two former contestants’ suicides.
“The level of care that the housemates are going to get going into the show, and the aftercare coming out, is unmatched in TV history, basically,” he says. Will also believes the contestants will be more prepared for life in the house post-pandemic, adding: “They’re going back into lockdown, so they’re gonna be fine.”
That duty of care extends to keeping the house free from its original inhabitants: a coup of chickens. AJ reckons producers would not be allowed to have any pets, while Will agrees: “I think it will be a livestock free house.” But AJ believes the show will return to its humble beginnings in other ways, with rows escalating over the most mundane issues: “The arguments all start because of the shopping list,” she laughs to the Dish podcast. Someone’s had more cheese…”