Coronation Street star Colson Smith knows what he’s talking about when it comes to Celebrity Big Brother, having finished in third place last year.

Now, co-star and friend Jack P Shepherd, who plays the iconic David Platt in the ITV soap, has taken up residence in the Big Brother house, much to Colson’s delight.

So far, Jack has faced every eviction, having been nominated by his fellow housemates, but has been kept in by the voting public.

‘I think he’s well positioned now, we’re slowly getting to see more of him,’ Colson enthused.

‘I want to see more of him but everything we see of him I’m liking, and I think everyone at home is liking him too. Everybody’s backing him.’

As Corrie’s resident Celebrity Big Brother expert, Colson reckons he knows why Jack has been nominated so many times.

‘Jack is the person who is so unphased, he’s an easy nomination at the moment,’ he told us.

‘I actually think he’s having fun. We’re seeing glimpses of the Jack who is excitable and playful. I think he’s doing really well. I think he’s really well poised.

‘I would love him not to be up for eviction this time round, and I think the dynamic in the house has slightly changed and we might see people vote for different people.

Having been on the other end of some big twists in the Big Brother house, Colson has predicted what could be on the cards for the next set of nominations.

‘I also have a sneaky feeling it might be face to face nominations, which is different.’

Colson has finished filming at Coronation Street, having announced his departure from the role of Craig Tinker, who he’s played since the age of 12.

Away from the cobbles, he is still regularly in touch with Jack and Nick Tilsley actor Ben Price, with the trio hosting a weekly podcast, On The Sofa.

Celebrity Big Brother fans were left asking if they are ‘missing something’ after barely-seen Jack P Shepherd received a slew of shock nominations in Thursday’s episode – for everything from ‘having a game plan’ to wearing too much aftershave.

Viewers saw Corrie star Jack, 37, and former Conservative politician Michael Fabricant, 74, receive the most nominations from their fellow housemates.

Jack received a whopping eight nominations from Angellica Bell, Chesney Hawkes, Danny Beard, Donna Preston, Ella Rae Wise, JoJo Siwa, Patsy Palmer and Trisha Goddard.

Giving her reasons, Angellica told Big Brother: ‘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.’

Meanwhile, Donna’s reason raised eyebrows among viewers as she said that it was because he wore ‘too much aftershave’.

She quipped: ‘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. Jack uses three different sprays a day and it’s like a cocktail.’

Chesney revealed he’s questioned whether he has a friendship with Jack as he’s quite ‘stand-offish’.

The singer reasoned: ‘I’m quite a demonstrative person, touchy-feely, everybody in the house seems to have that sime 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.’

With perhaps the most bizarre reason of all, Patsy explained that she was nominating Jack because he reminds her of The Joker.

In the Diary Room, she explained: ‘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.’

Elsewhere, Danny claimed that the Corrie actor likes ‘messing with his mind’ as he 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.’

And Trisha even compared him to a snake, telling Big Brother: ‘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*.’

And JoJo and Ella hinted that they think soap actor is in it for himself and even ‘has a game plan’.

JoJo said: ‘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.’

And Ella quipped: ‘I do feel like he has quite a big game plan. He’s very osbervant 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.’

Confused fans of the show penned on Twitter: ‘Jack is getting so many nominations, I’m so shocked?! #cbbuk.’,

‘jack getting voted because he doesn’t like being touched? god forbid people like their personal space with strangers??? #cbbuk.’,

‘we’ve clearly missed some footage of jack #CBBUK.’,

‘what the hell did jack do to everyone #CBBUK.’,

‘I’m gobsmacked at everyone hating Jack. Wtf is he doing? #cbbuk.’,

‘JACK HAS HAD ABSOLUTELY ZERO SCREEN TIME BUT HE’S TRAUMATISED EVERYONE?? #CBBUK.’,

‘I didnt even realise jack was still on the show, what r we not seeing, is he really that bad? #CBBUK.’,

‘omg the entire house HATE ar jack p shepherd #cbbuk.’,

‘Damn what did jack do to these lot #CBBUK.’

Friday night will see the first eviction from the Celebrity Big Brother house with either Jack, Michael or Mickey being the first to leave.

Most people already know Jack as Coronation Street’s David Platt – a role he has held for the last 25 years since 2000.

However, fans may not be as familiar with the actor’s real life off-screen, as he’s set to marry his glamorous fiancée Hanni Treweek just months after his stint in the iconic house.

Jack and his long-term girlfriend Hanni got engaged during a romantic safari holiday in the Serengeti in June 2024.

At the time, the couple posed for loved-up snaps in their safari getups to announce the happy news on social media.

Jack and Hanni have been dating since 2017, after meeting on the soap when she worked in the press office.

She later became a storyliner on the ITV show, before quitting to work as a fashion influencer.

Before his relationship with Hanni, Jack was engaged to ex Lauren Shippey, who he had been dating since he was 14 and shares two children with – Nyla and Reuben.

However, in 2010 their relationship hit the rocks when the Coronation Street actor had an affair that led to a pregnancy.

Lauren threw the actor out of the house after he cheated on her and fathered another child called Greyson following a one-night stand with sales executive Sammy Milewski.

It is understood that Jack does not have a parental relationship with Greyson other than to pay maintenance, according to The Sun.