Shilpa Shetty wins Celebrity Big Brother 07!

Shilpa Shetty wins Celebrity Big Brother 07! (Image credit: EMPICS)

*Shilpa Shetty won Celebrity Big Brother 07* Following the phenomenal success of the original Big Brother series in 2000, Celebrity Big Brother launched in 2001 as a one-off special to raise money for Comic Relief... but soon became a TV fixture on its own. Comedian Jack Dee won the first Celebrity Big Brother with Take That star Mark Owen winning the second series in 2002. Celebrity Big Brother took a break in 2003 and 2004, making way for Teen Big Brother, but returned in 2005 with the Happy Mondays' 'dancer' Bez going on to win. Last year, promotions girl Chantelle Houghton stole the thunder of the actual celebs in the Celebrity Big Brother house: posing as a former popstar she went on to win the series - and the heart of singer Preston. Celebrity Big Brother has served up plenty of classic TV moments. Who can forget Jack Dee scaling the walls, or Vanessa Feltz losing her marbles in series one? The nation watched transfixed as Les Dennis cried A LOT in the second series, while series three saw racing pundit John McCririck arguing with Big Brother over Diet Coke, and Germaine Greer walking out. Last year's Big Brother was the most talked-about so far with flamboyant singer Pete (or Petra?) Burns' fur coat being confiscated by the police and MP George Galloway famously asking Rula Lenska: 'Would you like me to be the cat?' This year's was the fifth series of Celebrity Big Brother and its line-up was even more perplexing than years gone by. Alongside the more predictable candidates like stripped Miss GB Danielle Lloyd and S Club 7's Jo O'Meara, Big Brother had lined up some real wildcards - film director Ken Russell, about to turn 80, The A Team's ageing 'face', Dirk Benedict, rock singer Donny Tourette, Jermaine 'brother of Michael' Jackson amnd Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty. No one had any idea when the series started that events in the house would cause an international incident that would have questions asked in Parliament. Relive the whole story in our Celebrity Big Brother blog. Just click The Story So Far tab...

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.