Seven handy tips to help you identify a Big Brother winner

The UK’s most popular/despised reality TV show returns tonight

chickendinner are Big Brother fans but we find the launch show kind of overwhelming and are often forced to give up watching halfway through. Over the years we’ve gained the ability to bear Davina McCall’s false excitement over trivial things like there being pink wallpaper in the house but with so much going on, it’s a challenge to remember anybody’s name, let alone chose a favourite. This year we’re determined to survive the 1hr 35min extravaganza and to give ourselves something to focus on, we have examined previous winners and gained an idea of what to look out for tonight:

Age: The average age of Big Brother winner’s is around 24.5 but that is hiked up by 32-year-old Cameron’s win in Series 4, where he didn’t have much competition. Five of the nine victors have been aged between 22 and 24 and the last four have all been between 19 and 24 so look for someone young.

Posted: June 4th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Dancing on Ice Series Four: The Contestants

Ray Quinn takes over as favourite as the men get going

If you expect a woman to win this year’s Dancing on Ice, as has been the case in two of the previous three series, then now is the perfect time to get betting. The men have already had a chance to strut their stuff and that means that the odds of initial favourite Jessica Taylor, as well as four of the other five female contestants, have all widened. Here’s our take on all of this year’s contestants:

Ray Quinn evens
The 20-year-old is a quick learner having been an award-winning child actor in Brookside, finished second to Leona Lewis in the X Factor and been in Grease in the West End. Quinn’s partner Maria Filippov has always finished in the top four and at the start of play was the only man in the top six in the betting. In the opening week, Quinn recorded the best ever first week score ever achieved by a male contestant.

Jessica Taylor 4/1

Posted: January 13th, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

Mini-Me is the favourite to win Celebrity Big Brother

Paddy Power price Austin Powers actor Verne Troyer at 3/1

Verne Troyer, who plays Mini-Me in Austin Powers, has been installed by Paddy Power as the 3/1 favourite to win the sixth series of Celebrity Big Brother, which kicks off tonight.

Close behind him in the betting is former A1 singer Ben Adams, who looks a strong contender considering fellow former boyband hunk Mark Owen was victorious in series two. However, it often takes a few episodes to identify whether male popstars can challenge or whether they are going to be peripheral figures, in which case they usually avoid the first few evictions.

Troyer and Adams are a long way ahead of 1990s rapper Coolio and former Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton, both of whom are 8/1. All of the other women are 12/1 or higher as men tend to be favoured by voters. The first three series were all won by men (Jack Dee, Mark Owen and Bez) before Chantelle won series four moreso because she wasn’t a celebrity than because she was a woman then Shilpa Shetty won the most recent series after all the controversy. Four of the five runners-up have also been men.

A full list of housemates, the reason you should be in awe of them and their Paddy Power odds can be found after the jump:

Posted: January 2nd, 2009 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment

I’m a Celebrity: The Men

A mayoral candidate, a popstar, an ex-Eastender and two old men

Brian Paddick’s goal for 2008 was to become the Mayor of London but after losing out to Boris Johnson he altered his aspirations and decided to settle on the next best thing: munching on witchetty grubs for the public’s amusement. Five of the seven previous series have been won by a man: have any of these got what it takes to become the sixth?

Click here to place your bets

Brian Paddick
In the space of six months the former Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner has gone from campaigning to become Mayor of London to accepting a spot on I’m a Celebrity. Paddick is fifty but age isn’t a negative factor: four of the previous seven winners were over forty while series two winner Phil Tufnell was close behind aged 37.

George Takei
At the age of 71, Star Trek’s Mr Sulu will become the oldest contestant in the history of the show. Prior to this series Tommy Cannon was the oldest entrant and he was the voted out first in series five. The last American cult actor to appear was Huggy Bear, who came seventh in series four.

Joe Swash
The popularity of ex-Eastenders has declined since Sid Owen’s third-placed finish in series five and Marc Bannerman was the first person voted off last year. However, despite only being 26, Swash has an interesting backstory: he lost his dad when he was twelve, contracted a serious illness that nearly killed him in 2005 and has a reputation as a party animal.

Posted: November 16th, 2008 by Michael Lintorn | Add Comment