CELEBRITY Big Brother anchor AJ Odudu has revealed a huge change to the ITV house – which she vows will “heighten drama.”
The presenter, 37, let slip the show tweak after we reported how bosses were moving the TV compound after two years at Garden Studios in Harlesden, West London.
The Sun then exclusively revealed how a fan-favourite feature of the Celebrity Big Brother accommodation had, as a consequence, been ditched for the new series – which kicks off next week.
The Mezzanine floor – which was introduced by ITV when it rebooted Big Brother in 2023 – has been scrapped.
Now, following the re-location to a “secret” space AJ has told how the house is smaller as a result – meaning contestants will be in even closer quarters.
At a CBB media event she said: “There’s always twists and turns with Big Brother.
“The house is in brand new location and it’s got a brand new layout.
“I know the house has been made slightly smaller which might heighten drama.”
Fans were quick to react to her spilling the tea, with one taking to Reddit to write: “Smaller is way better imo.”
A second put: “100%, I loved how it was before but it was a little too big.’
One then joked: “Hope the bit of budget saved went to better celebs!”
An insider previously told The Sun of the compound re-vamp and said: “ITV moving to a new location means the Big Brother house is getting a full revamp – starting from the top down.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”This Morning star reveals she TURNED DOWN Celebrity Big Brother despite ITV bosses’ big money offer” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6370688950112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]“The house layout is returning to a single story, just like when the show was based at Elstree Studios during its time on Channel 4 and C5.
“It’s exciting for fans who love the pre-series build up and ITV are going all out especially with the new studio move.
“There’ll still be plenty of new spaces for housemates to gossip and work on the house is due to begin imminently ahead of the new series.”
Big Brother has been relocated to Titan Studios in West London, a short hop from its former abode.
Titan Studios is a ex-distribution centre with two stages with over 200,000 square foot of production space and is located next to Versa TV Studios.
Bosses will rebuild the live eviction set and garden adjacent to the studio.
The Sun recently reported how Corrie star Jack P Shepherd had signed up to star.
Previously, we told how EastEnders star James Bye had also been lined up.
So far other names linked to the show include former Love Islander Chris Hughes and Towie’s Ella Rae Wise are among the other names rumoured to be going into the house.
A spokesman for ITV previously said: “Any names linked to the Celebrity Big Brother line up are purely speculative.”
Celebrity Big Brother 2025 is set to start on April 7, 2025.
