emma willis
Emma Willis returns to host the next series of Celebrity Big Brother 2018 Channel 5

The new series of Celebrity Big Brother is set to return in January 2018 and it will have an unprecedented element. It was announced today (4 December) that Celebrity Big Brother will kick off with just female housemates to celebrate a historic landmark.

The Channel 5 show's spokeswoman said: "In January 2018, as the nation marks 100 years since women won the right to vote for the very first time, Celebrity Big Brother launches this series with an all-female cast of celebrity housemates in a salute to a centenary of women's suffrage on Channel 5."

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It was also confirmed that Emma Willis will be hosting the reality show once more. "Presented by Emma Willis, Celebrity Big Brother will initially explore how the all-female housemates interact, from politicians to performing artists, as they enter the house first, ahead of the celebrity male housemates," the spokesperson added.

There was no confirmation of when exactly the male celebrities would be entering the house.

The official statement said: "Over the course of the series, as the male counterparts enter the house, the housemates will take part in a series of entertaining tasks and hidden experiments which will test their – and our – assumptions, challenge gender stereotypes and reveal fascinating truths about what it is to be a woman and man in the 21st century."

While the participants haven't been revealed as yet, the new series promises to be "celebratory, surprising and insightful."

It was also revealed that Rylan Clark-Neal will be hosting Celebrity Big Brother's Bit On the Side on weeknights.

Celebrity Big Brother Final
Sarah Harding and Amelia Lily were the last women standing in the CBB house Channel 5

Some of the previous women winners of the reality show include Katie Price, Charlotte Crosby, Denise Welch and Girls Aloud's Sarah Harding ,who took the crown last year.

In 1918, after long periods of struggle, women over the age of 30 were granted the right to vote. Only ten years later in 1928, the voting age for women was lowered to 21, putting them on par with men.

However, viewers weren't completely sold on this TV gender experiment and took to Twitter to express their criticism:

There were also those who welcomed the announcement:

Celebrity Big Brother