'I went to the Big Brother house - here's what Will Best's favourite thing is'

Big Brother returns on Sunday night and when it does, a host of new contestants will step foot into a brand new house. Before they do, Mirror got a behind-the-scenes tour to learn all the secrets of the show, including what Will Best likes the most about the new house and Big Brother himself's favourite part of the show.

The first thing to say about the house is that Big Brother really is watching all the time - but when you're in the house, you don't notice. There are cameras everywhere. When you're trying to spot them, there isn't anywhere to hide from the camera's view. Every corner, every nook and cranny has at least one camera, often more, watching it. But while the cameras are all painted a boring black or white, everything else is more colourful than a Skittles bag, so there's always something bright and bold to distract you from the 'eyes in the sky'.

As such, it's unbelievably easy to forget you're being filmed. If at any point in the show, you've wondered why someone would lie when they know they're on telly, that's probably the reason. The cameras are so boring and the house is so overstimulating, that just two minutes inside is enough to make you forget not only that you're being filmed but that there is even a world beyond the hyper-colourful building you've just stepped into.

And it's not just the cameras that are watching you. There are eyeballs everywhere - literally. From the Big Brother sign to a realistic sculpture sitting inside a giant, pink teacup mounted on the wall, there's some kind of eye on every surface. The eyes are co-presenter Will Best's favourite part of the house.

"My favourite thing in here, it’s the eyes. It’s the eyes for me,” Will said. “But specifically, my favourite thing is the teacup. For some reason, there is a teacup on the wall with a massive eye on it. You only get that in the Big Brother house!”

The only place that isn't inundated with eyes is the diary room. The new chair is incredibly wide but quite shallow and when someone is sat down on it, all they can see is a bright light emerging from the pitch black in front of them. There's no sound either, as the doors are soundproof. It's just you, a large chair that's impossible not to sink into and the light. Until a voice emerges.

It's Big Brother. He tells me to sit down and asks what it's like to work at the Mirror. Pushing past how strange it is to talk to a voice without a body, I say it's fun. I ask what it's like to be Big Brother. He says it's fun too. When asked what he likes best, Big Brother says: "Just speaking to David Potts, day in day out. A legend."

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After the diary room came the bedrooms, where I could confirm that the beds are comfy enough to make sleeping in a room with several other strangers worth it. So were the sofas, which everyone, including Will, Love Island's Molly Marsh and several TikTok influencers, crammed onto for a game of pass the parcel. After several rounds, one lucky journalist (not me) got to take home a bottle of champagne.

Before everyone sat shoulder to shoulder on the sofas, the living room felt quite big. There was plenty of open space, despite a table bigger than the beds, and nice and airy, if a little warm. But once everyone sat down, it was easier to understand why Gemma Collins felt the need to yell, "I'm claustrophobic, Darren!"

The whole set is the same one that's been used before, so things like the the layout haven't changed. Contestants will have nice new furniture and decor, but the overall house and it's structure are largely the same, including the way the walls trap the heat. So anyone prone to a bit of a meltdown may find themselves as uncomfortable with the house's confines as the iconic GC.

But, nothing is yet known about the contestants for the next series of Big Brother. All will be revealed on Sunday (28 September), when it begins again. Who will be evicted, who will win, who just wants spaghetti hoops on the shopping list? Tune in to find out.

Big Brother: Live Launch airs Sunday at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.

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