Coronation Street’s Jack P Shepherd crowned Celebrity Big Brother champion
By Casey Cooper-Fiske, PA Entertainment Reporter
Coronation Street star Jack P Shepherd has been crowned champion of the 2025 series of Celebrity Big Brother.
As the 37-year-old was announced as the winner of the ITV reality show, he was congratulated by runner-up RuPaul’s Drag Race season four winner Danny Beard, before saying: “Oh my God, thanks, come on, wow.”
The actor, who plays David Platt in the ITV soap, told presenters AJ Odudu and Will Best of his win: “I can’t believe it, I am blown away, I didn’t expect it tonight.
“I mean, what is there? Six in the final? I thought I was a shoe-in for maybe fifth, honestly, and then as people were just disappearing, I thought, surely not.
“When JoJo (Siwa) went my head fell off. I had her nailed down (as the winner).
“JoJo went and then it was me and Dan in the final.”
Departing the house as runner-up, Beard said to Odudu and Best: “I’ve had the best time every single day. I’ve made friends that I know I’m going to have for life.
“And I love this show, so I’ll not sleeping tonight guys, I’m going home, and I’m going to stream every single episode.
“I had the best time, honestly, the best time, and to do the whole thing as me, not with the tape, not with the wigs, the love is, honestly, it’s so emotional.”
US singer and former Dance Moms star JoJo Siwa placed third wishing Shepherd and Beard “good luck” before adding “enjoy your last hours”.
Speaking about her friendship with fellow housemate Chris Hughes, whom she revealed she was playing tennis with on Sunday, she said: “We absolutely love and adore him, he is in my life for forever now.
“I’m so incredibly grateful for him, he has helped me have my hard times in this house, he’s helped me get through them, but more importantly, he has helped me create my happiest times in this house.
“He is more than a friend, he is just such a special guy, I’m so lucky.”
Former Love Island contestant and ITV racing presenter Hughes was the first to be evicted from the house during the final, telling his fellow contestants “love you all, I’ll see you in a minute” as he finished sixth.
Tearing up while speaking about his friendship with Siwa, Hughes said: “JoJo was like a pure rock to me.
“She was someone I can have fun with, and I had fun with her every day, and it was just like, that is to me, it’s like a beautiful friend.
“She to me last night, ‘you’re someone in my life I didn’t know that I needed, or was once missing’.
“She reminded me a lot of this, sorry I might get emotional now, but the thing that fascinated me most about her is not the stuff that she’s done, because I was still finding out stuff she’d done even yesterday, it was what she’s come through, and what she’s been through when she was a teenager.
“And that’s similar to what my ex-girlfriend went through, so kind of seeing how they are both similarly as people, I mean in the respect that she’s come through a lot, and she is purely a nice person, and I’m saying the similarities is in the personality.
He denied rumours that their friendship was romantic, adding: “Do you know what? From a friendship point of view, of course, I love her.
“She’s so close that I don’t mind admitting that. I love my boyfriends, like I love Ches (Hawkes), but in a different way, when I love people, whether it’s platonic or not.”
When asked by Odudu about the pair sharing a bed he added: “We were just messing around, we were being kids.”
Singer Chesney Hawkes finished fifth, exiting the house to his 1991 UK number one single The One And Only, while comedian and actress Donna Preston finished in fourth, tell her housemates “okay honies, love yous” as she left the house.
Before the rankings were announced, footage from the six finalists’ last night in the Celebrity Big Brother house was shown, which saw them share a final meal together, paying tribute to each other.