THE housemates of Celebrity Big Brother have come under fire from the most unlikely of critics – a set of librarians on Orkney.
The professional bookworms in Kirkwall took to Twitter on Wednesday to take a jab at the lack of celebrity among contestants in this year’s competition.
There has already been much criticism over the fact that many of the so-called celebrities in the house are Z-list fodder – unrecognisable as famous names to most of the public.
But the librarians added to the pile by posting a pic showing a nearly empty display of books, captioned: “To be honest we now regret choosing Celebrity Big Brother as our first book display of 2016. Not a vintage year”
The picture shows only two titles on the display – by Danniella Westbrook and Nancy Dell’olio, an ex-Eastenders actress and the ex-girlfriend of ex-England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson.
The pair are apparently the only of the 16 contestants famous enough to have written books held by the library.
The bold comment from a professional group known for their normally shy and conservative character has provoked mirth from Twitter.
And the tweet received a retweet from Sarra Hoy – wife of champion cyclist Chris Hoy – as well as nearly 500 retweets and likes.
But others were quick to point out that there were further books relating to the “celebrities” available.
Lee Randall said: “But Angie Bowie wrote two books about marriage to David. I have them.”
And Josh Hood playfully quipped: “No ‘Simply The Gest’ by David Gest? One of the finest pieces literature of this generation.”
The response prompted an appeal by the library for books on the stars of the show.
On Wednesday night they tweeted: “If you have a book by any other CBB contestants and don’t want it please send our way. Might get this display quarter full by the end.”
This year’s edition of Celebrity Big Brother featured various personalities from other reality shows – including Gemma Collins from The Only Way is Essex and Scotty T from Geordie Shore.
An ex-wife of David Bowie, a former Mr Ireland and an ex-UKIP politician have also taken up residence in the house.
But public reaction to the opening episode of the show – where producers unveil the housemates – was met with a lukewarm reception, as presenters had to explain why most contestants are famous.
Even former co-stars of the contestants were negative about the state of this year’s show.
James Sutton – former Hollyoaks colleague of housemate Stephanie Davis – said he would rather “boil his head” than tune in to the show.
