Celebrity Big Brother roundup: Chantelle Houghton wins

The most expensive pantomime in British television history came to an end on Friday night, and Cinderella finally got to go to the ball, when the previously unknown 'non-celeb' Chantelle Houghton won Celebrity Big Brother by a landslide public vote.

The final order ran like this: first out was Traci Bingham, then Pete Burns, followed by Samuel Preston, then Maggot, then Michael Barrymore -- and Chantelle was crowned the winner of Celebrity Big Brother 2006.

You can say what you like about the reality TV format, but Big Brother stands head and shoulders above the rest in terms of construct; it can really only be described as car-crash television at its best - and utterly captivating viewing, even at its worst. Who cares if it's mostly scripted and produced by cynically-minded manipulative TV execs? It's still a great watch, and this year's gang of paranoid, self-obsessed B-list nutcases gave us 23 days of insanely brilliant television.

No-one will be able to forget MP George Galloway mimicking a cat, or Pete Burns with a face like he'd been in the Aardman fire, or Michael Barrymore's obsessive cigarette hoarding, or Dennis Rodman's hyper-libido, or Traci Bingham's preening and pouting, or Jodie Marsh on the end of incessant bullying.

But most of all, it'll be remembered for making a mockery of showbusiness by placing a novelty non-celebrity into a group of desperate wannabes and handing her an career overnight.