Who's in the house with Hampshire glamour girl Lucy

Age: 41

Occupation: Writer and broadcaster

On a reported salary of £175,000 to appear on the show, Jonsson is thought to be the highest-paid contestant this year.

With four children by four different fathers, and with Sven Goran Eriksson and Stan Collymore in her past, producers must be hoping that Jonsson will spill the beans in the house about some of her eventful relationship history.

The blonde Swede shot to fame as a weather presenter on TV-am.

In the early 1990s she moved into mainstream presenting, appearing on shows such as Gladiator and the Big Breakfast.

She proved she could take a joke as a team captain on the BBC's Shooting Stars with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer. The show was recently revived for a special episode.

Jonsson has tattoos - three crowns on her ankle and a red devil on her bottom.

She hopes the housemates will make her laugh. Her biggest challenge is how to overcome missing her family.

Jonsson hopes Eriksson is not going into the house, according to those behind the show.

She does not want to win and, to her, winning is leaving quite soon.

Jonsson previously made a rape allegation in her autobiography, describing her attacker as a high profile television presenter. She never named him and did not make a complaint or pursue the matter with the police.

Chat show host Matthew Wright later inadvertently linked John Leslie to the allegation after blurting out his name during a live studio exchange on Five.

In July 2003, the Crown dropped charges accusing Leslie of indecently assaulting a young actress and he left court an innocent man.

Michelle Heaton

Age: 28

Occupation: Singer and presenter

The former Popstars contestant formed Liberty X with other rejects from the show.

Heaton was married to Andy Scott-Lee, brother of former Steps singer Lisa Scott-Lee, but the pair have since split up.

Heaton featured in an ITV1 documentary called The Truth About Binge Drinking in which she deliberately downed huge amounts of alcohol to show its harmful effects.

But the Geordie singer, who has regularly been snapped the worse for wear on the showbusiness party scene, had to give up after her body was brought within the brink of collapse within three weeks.

She thinks the public will find it surprising that she's not actually a ''p*** head''.

Her biggest ambition is to perform on a West End stage - her ultimate role would be Roxie Hart in Chicago.

Heaton has a tendency to moon, although she has promised her boyfriend she will not moon in the house.

Mutya Buena

Age: 23

Occupation: Singer and songwriter

Buena was one of the original line-up of the Sugababes, forming the group with friends Keisha Buchanan and Siobhan Donaghy.

The group went on to become one of the most successful British female groups with their soulful music.

Buena left the band in 2005, following the birth of her daughter, and was replaced by Amelle Berrabah.

Buena has enjoyed varied solo success. Her song Real Girl was a big hit.

The former Sugababe's motto is ''Don't take life too seriously'' but she has a fear of spiders and creepy-crawlies and also sleeps with her eyes open.

Her name means ''muse'' or ''pearl'' in Tagalog - the language in the Philippines.

Buena has 14 tattoos, including her daughter's name, a prayer in Latin, a black rose, a heart, a princess and her surname in case she forgets it.

As an owner of seven dogs, two snakes and a parrot, Buena hopes the house will be peaceful.

She said: ''The public think of me as being feisty and bitchy and I'm totally opposite, I'm actually laid back and quiet.''

La Toya Jackson

Age: 52

Occupation: Recording artist and writer

Growing up under the spotlight as one of the famed Jackson family, La Toya's success has been more muted than that of her brother Michael or sister Janet.

She originally wanted to study business law as she felt it was necessary for the family to have someone with a legal background.

She also wanted to work in McDonald's, be a nurse and a police officer. But her father had other ideas and as soon as La Toya was introduced to the stage at 16, she knew that was right for her.

In 1989 she posed for Playboy magazine - selling eight million copies, with the issue becoming the then-bestselling issue ever.

Jackson has filed for bankruptcy and in 1992 became the highest-paid performer at the Moulin Rouge, Paris, after signing a multimillion-dollar deal.

Relations with her family have at times been strained and she has penned a ''tell-all'' autobiography called Growing Up In The Jackson Family.

She said: ''The CBB experience is going to be great because I still don't know the world. I have been sheltered, this is going to be great.''

Lucy Pinder

Age: 25

Occupation: Model

The glamour model is said to have all-natural 32G breasts.

Pinder, who hails from Winchester, was ''spotted'' sunbathing on a Bournemouth beach in 2003.

She signed a professional modelling contract with the Daily Star and her modelling career snowballed.

A men's magazines favourite, brunette, brown-eyed Pinder is an advice columnist, penning The Truth About Women for Nuts magazine.

She has appeared on The Weakest Link, but was voted off.

Pinder would love to be in EastEnders and thinks she would make the perfect ''James Bond villain''.

She describes herself as ''officially the most indecisive person'', not ''very rock n roll'', easy-going and a good listener.

Pinder is coulrophobic which means she is frightened of clowns. She is a lifelong Southampton Football Club supporter.

She has three cats - Tabby, Jackson and Mason. Describing herself as ''a bit of a Tory bird,'' Pinder most admires Margaret Thatcher for being the first female prime minister.

Her lifetime ambition is to hold a monkey and her guiltiest pleasure is expensive face creams.

Tina Malone

Age: 46

Occupation: Actress

Malone is most famous for playing the brash and belligerent Mimi Maguire on Channel 4's drama Shameless.

She has also played Mo McGee on Brookside and a nurse called Bobbi on Dinnerladies.

Malone owns an acting school in Liverpool. The school produces plays in local Liverpool theatres and is known as To Be Frank Productions, named after her late father, Frank Malone.

She would like to lose all her weight and play Sally Bowles in Cabaret.

Malone has said: ''Being fat is the most socially unacceptable aesthetic there is because it's associated with greed.

''I have never lacked confidence but I did lack self-esteem. I ate to get comfort. I felt I deserved to be fat.''

She decided to seek help and last March she had a gastric balloon fitted.

Her body rejected it but she went on to lose 4st 7lbs.

She had the balloon removed and her healthy habits have stayed as it has helped train her in her eating habits.

Malone hopes being in the house will make her ''nicer, more diplomatic and tolerant'' and thinks she will appeal to women because she is ''very confident... intelligent, well-read, well-travelled''.

She said about Big Brother: ''It is a unique opportunity.'' It is a chance for her to show her ''vulnerability and intellect''.

She said: ''I am OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder sufferer) ... neurotic (and) hormonal. I can't do anything in moderation, I can't have a couple of glasses of wine, or a piece of the chocolate, or sex is pointless for 15 minutes.''

Ben Adams

Age: 27

Occupation: Singer, songwriter and producer

In 1997, Ben joined a band called A1 and between 1999 and 2002 they released three albums, had a string of number ones and top 10 hits across the globe.

Adams was voted sexiest man in the Smash Hits poll in 2001.

Prior to A1, Adams was one of the UK's top choristers.

He won a scholarship based on his musical talents where he was based at St Margaret's, Westminster Abbey, regularly performing for eminent audiences including the Queen and the Pope, touring all the major cities in Europe and recording two classical albums.

He described himself as ''a very sweet, very innocent and wouldn't say boo to a goose, just a very young happy guy'' but also said: ''I can be stubborn at times, funny at times, very normal really.''

His bad habit is that he snores, and Christmas, music and his family make him happy.

Adams's guilty pleasure is eating too much junk food but he has a phobia of wooden lolly sticks. Adams is currently single and if he could date anyone, it would be Dawn French.

Verne Troyer

Age: 40

Occupation: Actor and stuntman

The 2ft 8ins Austin Powers actor, known for his partying and success with women, sometimes gets about by sitting on pals' shoulders.

Troyer is best known as Dr Evil's sidekick Mini Me in Austin Powers.

The actor was spotted celebrating his 40th birthday, which fell on new Year's Day living it up at London nightspot Mahiki before entering the house.

Troyer reportedly said he wants people to look beyond someone of his stature being like an ''elf or a leprechaun''.

Troyer said: ''I don't consider myself as having a disability.

''I don't know what it's like to be tall and you don't know what it's like to be small.''

He set up the Verne Troyer Foundation, which helps little people to go to college.

As a frequent visitor to the Playboy mansion Verne shot a layout for Playboy magazine, where he was dressed as a ''Mini-Hef'', surrounded by nude Playmates.

In 2004 Verne married yoga instructor 6ft 2ins Genevieve Gallen, but only weeks later they filed for an annulment.

Troyer admits to an evil game plan: to ''sabotage everybody in the house, take their stuff and hide it, pick (my) nose and put it in their food and get everybody blaming everyone else.

''(I'll) play the nice guy but deep down (I'll) be evil''.

Troyer would like to win and is prepared to do anything and if that means ''screwing someone over, then OK, it's all about the competition!''.

His message to the British public is: ''I'm a nice guy, I am sarcastic... I'm just about having fun and if I have to be evil sometimes I may be.

''So don't take me lightly - I'm definitely there to compete.''

Terry Christian

Age: 48

Occupation: Broadcaster

Radio presenter Christian is best known as host of late night Channel 4 show The Word, the must-see post-pub TV show for Britain's ''yoof'' in the 1990s.

Other presenters on the music and chat show, famous for its toe-curling stunts and shambolic guests, were comedian Mark Lamarr, Dani Behr, Katie Puckrik, Amanda de Cadenet and Hufty.

In the days before TV was swamped with unknown wannabes, the programme featured a section called The Hopefuls in which people did repulsive acts in order to be featured.

Memorable performances from stars included a slurred rendition of Wild Thing from a bare-chested Oliver Reed, who was interviewed by Christian as someone waved a plastic dinosaur behind Reed's head.

Another encounter saw rapper Snoop Dogg looking unsettled as he met Rod Hull and Emu on the show.

Behr recently appeared as a contestant on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!.

Gobby Mancunian Christian lists his interests on MySpace as ''depravity of almost all kinds''.

Christian thinks someone on the street would probably say he is the annoying t**t who did The Word.

Coolio

Age: 45

Occupation: Rapper and actor

Grammy Award-winning rapper Coolio had a massive hit with Gangsta's Paradise in the mid-1990s.

His album titled Gangsta's Paradise shifted more than three million copies in the United States alone.

The American star could be on a winning streak if he goes down as well over here as he has in reality shows in the US.

Coolio won the series Celebrity Bootcamp and was also a champ on Celebrity Fear Factor on the other side of the pond.

At high school Coolio began performing hip hop at contests. It earned him the nickname Coolio Iglesias which was then shortened to his stage name.

Last year, Coolio moved into the catering industry, hosting an online cooking show, Cookin' With Coolio.

He thinks cooking is like therapy and says he is a ''gourmet chef''.

Coolio also says he is in the top 10 list of greatest lovers. He has six children.

By the time he was 17, Coolio had been arrested and was serving several months in jail for larceny.

In 1999, he got 10 days in jail and 40 hours of community service after pleading guilty to illegal weapons possession.

Because of this, Coolio says sharing a house with strangers will not be a big deal as he has been in jail before.

Coolio hopes there is somebody in the house that he is attracted to and that they are attracted to him - he will be sneaking in the condoms.

Tommy Sheridan

Age: 44

Occupation: Politician

The Scottish socialist politician has had various prominent roles within the socialist movement in Scotland and is currently one of two co-conveners of the left-wing Scottish political party Solidarity.

He became the leader of a mass non-payment campaign, the Scottish Anti-Poll Tax Federation and as a result he was jailed for six months for being present at, and helping to prevent, a warrant sale (debt collection).

Sheridan has been jailed a further two times as a consequence of his campaigning, making him a high profile figure in Scottish politics.

He was elected to Glasgow City Council as a district councillor while he was still in jail.

Sheridan is studying law at Strathclyde Law School, on the two-year fast-track degree and believes you should not go into politics for a career.

''Go in because you want to change things. Go into politics because you want to change not just your own lives but everyone in society.''

Sheridan has been good friends with previous Celebrity Big Brother contestant George Galloway for 20 years, although they have disagreements politically.

His biggest fear about his personality is that he will not be very interesting in the Big Brother house.

His guilty pleasure is his twice-weekly sun-bed and he plays football, tennis, badminton, squash, goes jogging and boxes.

He thinks the Big Brother house will be more regimented than prison.