LONDON—Across the pond, the BBC recently announced cast members for the next installment of Celebrity Big Brother, and fans and critics are accusing producers of playing fast and loose with the word “celebrity.”
Apparently it’s not just Americans who dip deep into the C- and D-level talent pool when it comes to casting “celebrity” versions of reality TV shows.
Of note to the adult industry is that the upcoming season, which is themed U.K. vs. USA, features three women who have been nominated for AVN Awards (and in some cases were winners).
Jenna Jameson, Farrah Abraham and Tila Tequila are among the cast members for the BBC show, which began airing Aug. 29 on Channel 5.
Already, critics—including Eamonn Holmes, host of ITV1 in the U.K.—are lashing out at the women, with most of their venom targeted specifically toward Abraham, the former star of MTV’s Teen Mom who has since appeared in Farrah Superstar: Backdoor Teen Mom with James Deen and developed her own line of sex toys with Topco Sales.
“Farrah is truly hateful,” Holmes said in an interview. “She’s toxic!”
According to various news reports, Abraham is already stirring the pot and making enemies.
He didn’t hold back when it came to Jameson and Tequila either, saying he doesn’t approve of having three porn stars being in the Celebrity Big Brother house.
To be fair, only Jameson can truly be labeled a porn star. Often considered the biggest porn star ever, Jameson didn’t become a reality TV fixture until after her retirement from the adult industry. Most recently she appeared on VH1’s Couples Therapy. Interestingly enough, a fellow castmate during her season was a previous winner of the American version of Big Brother, Evel Dick Donato.
Farrah was on reality TV before she agreed to appear in a sex tape for Vivid. And Tila Tequila was a model and star of MTV’s A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila and A Shot At Love II With Tila Tequila before she also appeared in a sex tape for Vivid. Her Tila Tequila 2: Backdoored & Squirting beat out Farrah’s release for Best Celebrity Sex Tape at the 2015 AVN Awards.
Celebrity Big Brother is a television reality game show that follows a number of celebrity contestants, known as housemates, who are isolated from the outside world for an extended period of time in a custom-built house. Each week one of the housemates is evicted by a public vote, with the last housemate remaining winning a cash prize for the charity of their choice. The series takes its name from George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
UPDATE (2:52 p.m. Pacific time, Aug. 28): Tila Tequila was removed from the Celebrity Big Brother house on Aug. 28 after producers of the show were alerted to anti-Semitic remarks she had posted on social media. According to news sites in the U.K., producers were unaware of the postings prior to her being cast on the show.
Pictured: Tila Tequila, Farrah Abraham, Jenna Jameson
