Former This Morning presenter Phillip Schofield has reportedly emerged as the top target for the new series of Celebrity Big Brother.
Earlier this week it was reported that ITV has commissioned a new run of the reality show - to air on ITV1 in early 2024 - following the success of the ongoing Big Brother revival on ITV2.
Schofield, 61, had presented This Morning for 21 years but was unceremoniously dropped from all of his hosting duties by ITV in May after he admitted lying to his bosses about having had an affair with a much younger colleague.
Since then he has kept himself out of the public eye, but The Sun says that he could be offered a route to a TV comeback with an appearance on Celeb BB.
Producers have supposedly been given a budget of £2 million to sign up celebs for the show and are also considering approaching Jennifer Arcuri, who allegedly had an affair with former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
"Celebrity Big Brother is coming back and ITV want massive names to kick it off," a source told the newspaper.
"CBB is the perfect place for stars who are riding off the wave of a scandal, or something big happening in their lives.
"Phillip Schofield is someone they're going to approach, as well as people like Jennifer Arcuri, who had an alleged fling with Boris.
"They have a lot of cash to splash, just under £2 million. The bumper budget should allow for at least one or maybe two big names to set the series alight."
The new series is expected to air on ITV1 from March.
Neil Wilkes
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