The Celebrity Big Brother winner is clear – I’ve known it since day one

Rarely, if ever, do you get a Celebrity Big Brother final with six worthy winners in their own right.

But there can only be one and surely it has to be Danny Beard.

When the Celebrity Big Brother cast was first leaked days before the live launch, it was clear this was going to be a spectacular series – Mickey Rourke aside – for all the right reasons.

It was a line-up that was packed with star power, but not reliant on it.

The last series, and first on ITV, made an obvious mistake, casting Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh. Although they made great television as a pair, there was little else to celebrate and more importantly they didn’t capture the essence of Celebrity Big Brother. 

All Big Brothers, celebrity or otherwise, only really need a handful of players to really root for. It’s easy to throw in characters that will inevitably create drama but without stand-out winners, it very quickly becomes a slog and last year’s CBB was often hard work.

Skip to 2025 and we’ve had one of the best CBBs of all time, thanks to finalists Danny, Jojo Siwa, Donna Preston, Chesney Hawkes, Chris Hughes, and Jack P. Shepherd, with an honourable mention going to Patsy Palmer, whose comical misery was by far my highlight.

Though everyone still in the house has brought something special to the screen, Danny captures everything about a champion. 

Since Danny walked into the house, they’ve commanded the room with ease and been friendly to all housemates, regardless of having different viewpoints – take his early camaraderie with ex-Tory MP Michael Fabricant, for one.

I’ve laughed at Danny’s quick comebacks and cheeky pranks, like when he tricked Donna into crawling around on all fours while they were dressed as house cats.

But more than this, Danny’s fierce advocacy for gender non-conforming identities is powerful to watch, particularly when outside the house, unknown to them, the trans community have been dealt a cruel blow with the UK Supreme Court ruling that trans women are not women.

Platforming trans people and drag queens has never felt more important, and Danny winning Celebrity Big Brother could be a true testament to how a huge portion of the country really feels about trans men and women, and anyone who doesn’t fit inside the confinement of binary gender identities.

But the politics around gender aside, Danny is a Celebrity Big Brother winner through and through, even when he’s now up against five contestants who, in many other series, would instead take the gold medal.

I expected they would be a clear winner from the get-go but actually he had tougher competition than anyone could have predicted.

Chris became a huge front-runner after proving himself as a somewhat unexpected ally to Jojo, when she was subjected to vile homophobic remarks from the now-disgraced Oscar-nominated actor Mickey Rourke.

Meanwhile, Jojo has been on the biggest journey out of any contestant in there, redefining her own gender and her relationship with her sexuality after having the space for the first time in her life to sit with herself and explore who she is away from the limelight.

It’s been such a joy to watch this global popstar, who has been more gracious and humble than anyone could have imagined, discover so much about herself in such a short space of time.

I’d never heard of Donna before she entered the Celebrity Big Brother house and my only regret about this series is we didn’t see more of her. She’s been at the centre of all the comedy, which is CBB’s greatest strength, and has had me howling with one-liners and general nonchalance about the competition. 

And then Chesney Hawkes has lived up to his reputation of just being the nicest guy in pop, who has kept a career going off the back of one song for over 30 years, largely because he’s just so bloody lovely. 

Jack too has grown so much since the beginning, from being nominated by an overwhelming majority of the house for sulking and winding people up, to coming out of his shell and being one of the most popular housemates in there.

But for me, if this series is celebrated for one thing, it’s the wicked sense of humour of Danny, which comes in the package of a fabulous drag queen and is delivered with so much warmth, a stunning example of the very best of the queer community.

Danny said his humour is his secret weapon, but I disagree – it’s his wisdom.

He has been such a comfort in the house, and has shown empathy to others few in his position would have. He went in admitting he was fearful of Olympic gold medallist Daley Thompson, but he gave him a chance, they talked through their perspectives and formed a friendship.

He’s given much-needed guidance to Jojo when her own journey has taken her by surprise. They may not have struck up the close connection they expected to until these final few days, but Danny was still the role-model full of LGBTQ+ intelligence and experience Jojo needed, whether they were close at the time or not.

But someone as fun and sharp as Danny just inevitably brings out the best in everyone around them too.

Danny can absolutely be serious when they need to be, but just being in the room you can see it’s immediately lifted. 

To be fair, after they fell into a pile of boxes dressed as a Stepford housewife, they deserved the trophy there and then – but they’ve had so many meme-able moments like every CBB legend should.