Big Brother executive producer Rebecca de Young has promised that the new series will be "funny and very exciting".

The show's team are planning to freshen up the format and have decided to take a similar approach to Big Brother 5, which saw a complete overhaul following the criticism of Big Brother 4's "Back to Basics" approach.

"We've got some big new plans and ideas for Big Brother 8 and want this year's Big Brother to feel fresh, funny and very exciting," Rebecca told The Sun. "The Big Brother house will have a bold style and some new quirky surprises that are exclusive to Big Brother 8 – all will be revealed by Big Brother in due course.

"Big Brother 5 was a lot of fun because we changed the way that we did some things – which makes it exciting. There’ll be plenty more of that this summer; all I can say is, watch this space!"