Davina McCall Claims She Was Turned Down For ITV’s Big Brother Reboot

Davina McCall has claimed she offered her services as a presenter when Big Brother was first rebooted by ITV, but to no avail.

The British presenter is probably best known for fronting Big Brother during its original 11-year run on Channel 4, after which it aired on Channel 5 with Brian Dowling and Emma Willis taking over as its hosts, when Davina made the choice not to return.

More recently, the long-running reality show was revived by ITV, where AJ Odudu and Will Best are its current co-hosts.

However, during an interview on the podcast Business Growth Secrets, Davina confessed she’d initially approached ITV bosses about reprising her role as host.

“I’ve got a secret to tell you actually,” she recalled. “When they started Big Brother on ITV, I put myself forward to present it. And they went with new presenters.”

Even then, she claimed she’d told them: “Look, can I please just be pre-titles, and just go ‘fancy another one?’. But they didn’t want me to do that, and I was like, ‘fuck’.”

HuffPost UK has contacted ITV for comment.

During an appearance on The Chris Moyles Show back in 2023, Davina opened up about why she wasn’t back to present the Big Brother revival.

“I think they wanted to go fresh. New start, fresh start, younger,” she claimed. “I do understand and I think it’s quite a good idea.

“Of course I would have done it, I’m being really honest now. But in retrospect, I don’t think it would have been the right fit for me.

“It’s nostalgic for me. It’s come a long way since I hosted it and I am a different person.”

AJ Odudu and Will Best will be back to present a third season of Big Brother in its ITV era later this year.