Ten Things You Never Knew About Davina McCall

Summer is here and that can only mean one thing - Big Brother is back! And Davina McCall, despite persistent rumours to the contrary, will preside over the show for the ninth consecutive series. But there's more to Davina than reality TV. Ill-fated forays into sitcom and her own chatshow aside, she's appeared on Question Time, hosted a variety of high-profile events and has three workout DVDs to her name. But what do you really know about the woman who'll be dominating our screens for next 13 weeks? Read on for a few tantalising titbits about Big Brother's big mama.

1. A young Davina was obsessed with Enid Blyton's Famous Five when she was sent to live with her grandparents in Surrey after her parents split. She remembers: "I'd go out with a quiver and arrows I'd made out of kitchen roll and sticks, sit on the gate, and wait for them to come and take me on an adventure."

2. Davina ditched her posh accent at 13 when she left Surrey to live with dad Andrew and stepmum Gaby in London. She says: "I started talking ‘loik vat’ for survival because I thought I was going to be beaten up."

3. A teenage Davina worked as a waitress at the Moulin Rouge in Paris after leaving her exclusive private school. Ooh la la!

4. Davina appeared as a dancer in a video for popstrel Kylie Minogue wearing a striped sweater and beret.

5. Davina is teetotal after beating her addiction to cocaine, ecstasy and heroin in her early 20s. She says: "If I get wellied, my willpower goes out the window. If I were to get drunk and someone said, 'Do you want a line?' I can't guarantee that I would have the wherewithal to say no."

6. It's no coincidence that Davina is often about to pop a sprog while hosting BB - her three children were all born in September. She explains: "We always start trying at Christmas, then I definitely won't give birth during Big Brother. We've got a five-month window to get pregnant, then we have to stop for another year."

7. Davina loves to belt out a few karaoke tunes. "I'm a karaoke queen!" she boasts. And her favourite number? Roachford's 1988 song 'Cuddly Toy'.

8. Davina wed aspiring actor Andrew Leggett in 1997, but the union failed after just four months. Luckily, marriage to former Pet Rescue host Matthew Robertson has been much more successful - eight years on, the couple have three children and a sprawling pad in Surrey.

9. Davina is a vocal supporter of home births and describes her own experiences as "orgasmic". She gushes: "They knocked spots off any drug I've ever taken. When those babies popped out, I wanted to stand naked on the highest mountain and roar with pride. I could do it again and again and again."

10. What does Davina make of the criticism frequently levelled at BB? Not much, apparently. "Who gives a s**t?" she says. "If nobody was watching it and I got a lot of flak then hey, I'd be quite depressed. But it's going really well. I couldn't give a rat's arse." Well, quite.