Imprisoned OJ Simpson rumoured to join Celebrity Big Brother line-up

OJ Simpson has been rumoured to become a possible addition to the Celebrity Big Brother line-up, according to reports on Saturday (11 March).

The rumours emerged after it was reported this week that Simpson, the man at the centre of one of the most famous and controversial murder trials of recent times, could be due for release from prison in October this year.

Though Simpson was famously acquitted of the murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994, he was later sentenced to 33 years in prison in 2008 after he was found guilty of charges relating to armed robbery and kidnapping. However, with Simpson eligible for parole after nine years, he could be released months from now.

According to reports, the current high levels of interest in Simpson thanks to 2016's multi-award winning TV mini-series The People v OJ Simpson, makes the 69-year-old a prime target for the show's producers.

A spokesperson for Channel 5, which airs Celebrity Big Brother, told the Daily Star: "We don't comment on speculation about future housemates."

If the show's producers' hearts are set on landing Simpson for the long-running reality programme, they may yet be disappointed. Under the UK government's regulations on granting visas to visitors from outside the EU, those who have served more than four years' imprisonment for criminal offences are subject to a mandatory ban on entry to the UK. Only in "exceptional" cases would any such person be permitted entry.

A number of high-profile applicants have been denied entry to the UK in the past. Though convicted- rapist Mike Tyson was controversially allowed entry to the UK by then Home Secretary Jack Straw for two fights in 2000, he was later denied a visa in 2013 after a change to immigration law.

US rapper Snoop Dogg was also denied visas in 2006 and 2007 after a 1990 conviction for trying to sell cocaine and an arrest ahead of the latter application on charges including possession of a gun, cocaine and marijuana. The ban was lifted the following year.

The late Amy Winehouse was also denied a visa for the US in 2008 for her then ground-breaking win of five Grammy awards, because of drug-related incidents.