| Celebrity Big Brother | |
|---|---|
| Series 5 | |
_series_5&sq=&lang=&file=File:Celebrity_Big_Brother_2007_(UK)_logo.png){kind=logo} Series five logo | |
| Presented by | Davina McCall |
| No. of days | 26 |
| No. of housemates | 14 |
| Winner | Shilpa Shetty |
| Runner-up | Jermaine Jackson |
| Companion shows | |
| No. of episodes | 30 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Channel 4 |
| Original release | 3 January – 28 January 2007 |
| Series chronology | |
Celebrity Big Brother 2007, also known as Celebrity Big Brother 5, was the fifth series of the British reality television series Celebrity Big Brother. The show followed a total of fourteen celebrity contestants, known as housemates, who were isolated from the outside world for an extended period of time in a custom built House. Each week, one or more of the housemates were eliminated from the competition by public vote and left the House. The last remaining housemate, Shilpa Shetty, was declared the winner.
The series launched on Channel 4 on 3 January 2007 and ended on 28 January 2007. Davina McCall returned as presenter, having presented both the regular edition and the celebrity edition of Big Brother since they first began. Eleven housemates entered on launch night, with an additional three being introduced two days later. The series was watched by an average of 4.6 million viewers, the third highest viewed series of the show to date. As with the previous regular series, it was broadcast in 16:9 aspect ratio, as opposed to 4:3 – the first series of Celebrity Big Brother to do so.
The series saw the return of Jade Goody, who had become a media celebrity after appearing on the third regular series of Big Brother in 2002, arriving with her boyfriend and her mother – marking the first time in any series of Big Brother UK where family members entered together. During its original broadcast, Celebrity Big Brother 5 became the subject of an internationally publicised racism controversy. It attracted the largest number of complaints to the UK media regulator Ofcom about a Big Brother series and, as of 2021, the third highest number of complaints about any British television broadcast of all time (after Jerry Springer: The Opera and the BBC's coverage of the death of Prince Philip). Viewer complaints and press attention concerned housemate Shilpa Shetty, and alleged that she was the subject of racist bullying from some of her fellow housemates, in particular Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara. As a result, a protest took place in India; tensions increased between the UK and Indian governments; and a diplomatic incident occurred[citation needed]. Following the broadcast of the series, Ofcom concluded that Celebrity Big Brother 5 had breached the Broadcasting Code, and statutory sanctions were placed on Channel 4.