Celebrity Big Brother promises profits to tsunami appeal

by Daniel Farey-Jones,, Brand Republic 06-Jan-05, 08:30

LONDON – 'Celebrity Big Brother' is to help out victims of the Asian tsunami after Channel 4 and Endemol decided to donate their share of the profits from voting to the disaster appeal, with some celebrities also nominating the appeal as their charity.

With votes costing 50p, the number of celebrities raised from six to eight and their stay extended to two weeks, the third series looks capable of raising more money than its predecessors.

A proportion of each vote (16p) will be donated to a group of charities chosen by the celebrities. The total money raised by voting revenue will be split equally between them, so each housemate will raise an equal amount of money for their chosen charity.

The remaining profit from each vote (9p) will be donated by Channel 4 and Endemol to the disaster appeal. So for every million votes, at least £90,000 will go to the appeal.

The series begins tonight at 9pm, hosted by Davina McCall and Dermot O'Leary, and sponsored by Talk Talk.

Entering the house are expected to be: Caprice, a last-minute replacement for Swedish model Victoria Silvstedt; former Chelsea goalkeeper Mark Bosnich; Mark Berry (more famous as Bez from the Happy Mondays); and Brigitte Nielsen, actress and ex-wife of Sylvester Stallone.

Other reports have suggested that kiss-and-tell queen Alicia Douvall, who cites P Diddy, Simon Cowell and 'EastEnders' star Dean Gaffney among her conquests, and former Libertines' frontman Pete Doherty are also to star in the show -- although they have not yet been confirmed. Myleene Klass, the former Hear'say singer, was reported to have been considering a £100,000 offer to appear.

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