Big Brother 2023: The diverse housemates are to be celebrated

Reality TV fans, your time has come as Big Brother is officially back on our screens after five years and we can't wait for all the drama the new housemates are going to cause.

The ITV series sees a group of strangers locked away from the outside world in a house together in hopes of winning a huge cash prize, and this season has one of the most diverse, inclusive line-up of housemates yet.

There's representation of race, sexuality, gender, religion, disability, among other characteristics in the new season and despite people critiquing the show for being "too woke", we are so here for the new line-up.

From Kerry and Dylan who both have disabilities to Muslim, hijab-wearing woman Farida, it's so refreshing to see on screen and is more important now than ever.

Fans are loving the return of the series and the new housemates, too. "There’s no better serotonin than the feeling of Big Brother UK finally being back on my screen. This cast is so good," one viewer wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).

"Let’s be honest, we were all very nervous when we knew ITV was bringing it back, it could’ve been a terrible Love Island rip-off but this is a cracking line up and is looking to be a very, very promising series," shared another.

But, some viewers weren't so happy and blasted the series for being "too woke" or "ticking boxes". To that, we'd say that you just need to look at previous seasons to know that Big Brother has pretty much always been diverse.

From Nadia Almada, a transgender woman, winning the series all the way back in 2004 to blind contestant Mikey Hughes appearing on the show in 2008, it's always been diverse in comparison to other reality shows (Love Island, we're looking at you.)

On how the housemates were cast this year, Big Brother’s casting executive, Jay Khagram, told The Guardian: "It’s fair to say that society generally has changed a lot through the pandemic, social media, the current political climate, so housemates reflect those changes in society."

"Terms like 'non-binary' and 'gender fluid' were nonexistent in society" when the show was last on screen, he continued, along with "phrases like 'Black Lives Matter or 'Me Too'."

"We've been through a global pandemic since the last series of Big Brother aired," he added, so when choosing housemates, the casting team was "mindful and representative" of "changes in the way we tackle mental health, political viewpoints, empowerment, prejudice and equality."

One of the best parts about a show like Big Brother is how it aims to be reflective of society, and this line-up is just that. It's more important than ever that we're seeing representation on our screens and having housemates like these is a celebration of just how diverse Britain is today.