Davina McCall reveals Big Brother secret: ‘I put myself forward to present ITV’s reboot’

Big Brother hosting legend Davina McCall says she was turned down for the ITV reboot (Picture: Shutterstock) Davina McCall has revealed that she contacted ITV to host the Big Brother reboot but was roundly rejected. The TV personality, 58, became a household name during her time hosting Channel 4 ’s iteration of the hit reality series that puts a bunch of strangers into a house where they’re monitored 24/7. After a decade helming the series, the show came to an end in 2010 and jumped over to Channel 5 , where Davina turned down the offer to present, instead being taken over by former winner Brian Dowling and, eventually, Emma Willis. After the Channel 5 version wrapped up in 2018, it returned to screens once more – this time on ITV – in 2023 with brand new presenters AJ Odudu and Will Best . At the time, Davina posted saying she had serious ‘fomo’ and said in a separate interview: ‘New start, fresh start, younger. I do understand, and I think it’s quite a good idea.’ But now she’s revealed her ‘secret’ that she actually approached the network to reprise her role in some way, either as a host or even just voicing her trademark catchphrase – fancy another one? She hosted Big Brother from 2000 to 2010 on Channel 4 (Picture: Shutterstock) Speaking on the Business Growth Secrets podcast earlier this month, hosted by entrepreneur Adam Scott, she said: ‘I’ve got a secret to tell you actually. ‘When they started Big Brother on ITV, I put myself forward to present it and they went they went with new presenters. ‘But I was like, 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: “F**k”.’ She later added: ‘I love that show so much, it was in my DNA and, interestingly, it’s changed now and it will never be what it was at the beginning, because people know what it is. ‘They know what to expect. They know what’s going to happen after. They always kind of semi-know they are being watched. ‘Whereas people at the beginning, it really was an extraordinary human experiment. It was incredible at the time.’ In a new podcast, she revealed she even offered to do a pre-titles voiceover (Picture: Danny Martindale/Shutterstock) The knowledge that Big Brother icon Davina could have been the face of the ITV reboot has utterly gutted fans. ‘ITV fumbled so bad, Davina IS Big Brother,’ Lewis wrote on X. ‘This certainly would have enhanced the credibility of the show immeasurably. The OG back with the OG “Big Mother”. It’s really shocking they let Davina slip through their fingers…’ BB_Superfan declared. ‘Diabolical decision from [Big Brother] there,’ Demi shared. ‘INSANITY. What a dreadful decision!’ Matt agreed. ‘As much as AJ and Will have grown on me and I like them as