Celebrity Big Brother viewers were left baffled after Thursday’s instalment of the ITV show after Coronation Street star Jack P. Shepherd was nominated for eviction. The soap star is facing the first public vote alongside two other housemates – Mickey Rourke and MP Michael Fabricant after rubbing up some people the wrong way.
Jack, 37 – who has played David Platt on the ITV soap since 2000 – entered the Big Brother on Monday, but after just four days in the iconic house, he received eight nominations from housemates in last night’s episode, meaning that he’s now up for the first eviction of the series.
He’s up against politician Michael, 74, who received seven nominations, and fellow actor Mickey, 72, who received a ‘killer nomination’ from JoJo Siwa, 21, who had received the power as part of a twist earlier in the week. JoJo nominated the Hollywood actor after he made an insulting homophobic slur against her when joking about evictions.
Jack received nominations from the likes of JoJo, Angellica Bell, Chesney Hawkes, Danny Beard and Donna Preston. The other housemates who nominated him for eviction were Ella Rae Wise, Patsy Palmer and Trisha Goddard. After the nominations, fans of the show were asking “what are we not seeing?” as the Coronation star appeared to just keep to himself.
As nomination reasons rolled in, it became clear that everyone’s got something to say about Jack, and none of it’s flattering. Angellica kicked things off, giving her verdict in the Diary Room: “I like to call him the observer because he likes to sit back and sometimes not get so involved in what’s happening. It makes me feel a little bit awkward and so it makes me feel a bit bad.”
That might sound innocent compared to Donna’s take as she said Jack wore too much fragrance. “I think he just goes a bit overboard on the aftershave and it’s just cutting the back of my throat and sometimes it makes me gag,” she quipped. “Jack uses three different sprays a day and it’s like a cocktail.”
Chesney, who questioned if a friendship with Jack ever even existed, said he’s just not that warm. “I’m quite a demonstrative person, touchy-feely, everybody in the house seems to have that same kind of thing. Jack doesn’t, he’s quite stand-offish in that way. It does give me that little bit of oh, maybe he’s not my friend. He just doesn’t like to be touched and I respect that but that’s my reason for nominating.”
In the most surreal confession, Patsy admitted her nomination stemmed from a resemblance to a comic book villain. “I sleep next to Jack and he looked today like The Joker. I have nightmares about The Joker, he could trigger nightmares for me which I don’t like. I don’t like the face of The Joker. I won’t watch the film, I don’t like that face, I don’t like when I see it on Halloween. I’m not saying it’s his face. He’s a nice looking guy but… just gonna give me nightmares.”
While Danny said: “I think his jokes are intentionally to wind people up a little bit. This experience is enough of a mind f** and he enjoys messing with your mind a little bit while it’s going on and that’s just not my kind of sense of humour.”
Trisha didn’t hold back either, likening Jack to something slithery: “He has a really dark sense of humour which while I appreciate, he’s kind of like a snake. He sat there coiled up for the first day or so and then he’ll just say one word or one phrase. He’ll often not be in the group and then suddenly he’s there and hisses.”
JoJo and Ella, meanwhile, questioned Jack’s motives altogether. JoJo shared: “What I’ve observed from Jack in this house is Jack does Jack. If you’re looking for your water bottle, he’s not going to help you find it. If you’re in the kitchen cooking, he might come in and make himself a tea and then keep it pushing. He’s never really asked ‘How are you doing, are you feeling alright?’ I guess especially to do with yesterday’s chaos that happened. I feel like right now’s a time when you need to be really considerate of others, caring for others, passion for others. I have felt that in the group a lot but I have felt that missing from Jack.”
Ella echoed that sentiment, adding: “I do feel like he has quite a big game plan. He’s very observant to the group. I feel like he holds back a lot on who he is 100% himself. I just feel like he has a game plan and he’s being quite tactical.”
Viewers were baffled by the collective pile-on, taking to Twitter to express their disbelief: “Jack is getting so many nominations, I’m so shocked?! #CBBUK.” Another echoed: “Jack getting voted because he doesn’t like being touched? God forbid people like their personal space with strangers??” Someone else added: “I’m gobsmacked at everyone hating Jack. Wtf is he doing.”
“JACK HAS HAD ABSOLUTELY ZERO SCREEN TIME BUT HE’S TRAUMATISED EVERYONE,” another shared. While another quipped: “I didn’t even realise Jack was still on the show, what r we not seeing, is he really that bad? #CBBUK”
Following the news of his eviction nomination, some of Jack’s co-stars from Corrie expressed their support for him on Instagram ahead of the first eviction tonight. They included Julia Goulding, 40, who plays his on-screen wife Shona Platt on the soap.
Julia shared a selfie of herself and Jack – whom she’s worked alongside since 2016 – in her post on the platform this evening. Alongside the photo, she wrote in a message to her followers: “I’m voting to keep [Jack] in! He’s mint!”
Samia Longchambon, 42, also had a message for fans on her account. The cast member – whose character Maria Connor has worked in a salon with David for years – suggested that she was surprised Jack is up for eviction already. Beside a photo of them, she wrote in the caption: “Didn’t think I’d be posting this just yet but drop a vote for our [Jack] to stay in the @bbuk house a bit longer please guys.” She added: “We definitely haven’t seen the best of him yet!!”
Jack’s pal Colson Smith, 26 – who was a finalist on Celebrity Big Brother last year – suggested that he had already voted to save him by sharing a screenshot of a completed vote. He also included a link to the vote in the recent post.
Colson – whose final scenes as Craig Tinker have yet to air – encouraged fans to give Jack “a chance” on Big Brother. The actor – who has a podcast with Jack – wrote in the post on his Instagram Story: “Give the boy a chance!”
It hasn’t just been Corrie stars supporting Jack whilst he’s on Celebrity Big Brother though. Emmerdale cast member Danny Miller, 34 – who plays Aaron Dingle – has also encouraged fans on the platform to vote for Jack. Danny wrote in a post last night: “Vote to save our [Jack]. He’s biding his time, you won’t regret it.”
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