While Jack Dee was a highly respected and well known comedian when he entered the Big Brother house for the first celebrity version on 9 March 2001, his profile was to expand even further when he emerged 7 days later as the clear winner. His refusal to play by the rules and general misbehavior endearing him to the public at large.
During his time in the house, Jack was always eager to leave, pleading for people to vote to evict him and even famously escaping on one occasion for a few hours.
Describing his "great escape" on Parkinson, Jack said the security had been terrible and after originally planning to tunnel out he had discovered that the back gate to the house was open and had walked out! After climbing a couple of fences and making all the way to Stratford he decided he should return to the house and break back in.
The only problem was that his escape had been discovered by this point and security guards were now looking for him Using mud to blacken up his face, Jack decided to make the break in more exciting, crawling about the Big Brother compound and hiding from the guards. Unfortunately, the security guards couldn't find him and having got bored Jack decided to give himself up!
Jack’s housemates for the week were Andrea Turner, the former Blue Peter presenter, Chris Eubank, the monocle clad ex boxer, Clare Sweeney of the soap Brookside, the Boyzone member Keith Duffy and Vanessa Feltz, the broadcaster.
All of the celebrities had agreed to participate in the show on behalf of Comic Relief and none of them were prepared for the level of interest that their participation caused. Jack himself has said that he was very naive when he agreed to participate in the event, thinking it was “just another stunt to raise some cash for charity”. The show raised over £500,000 for comic relief.
Since leaving the Big Brother house, Jack Dee has said that he is disappointed that it is the only thing some people know or remember him for. He has also stated that he doesn't like the way the housemates are treated on the show and has refused to allowed clips of his time in the house to be used again.
