UK TV reportedly cancelling Big Brother after 18 years on-air

Contestants in the Big Brother house. Photo / Getty Images

Big Brother and its celebrity spin-off are reportedly set to be axed after 18 years on air.

The Daily Star reported that Channel 5 are set to 'pull the plug' on the show, which started out on Channel 4 before making the move in 2011, wrote the Daily Mail.

Insiders claim dwindling ratings and a lost interest in the show due to rival successful shows such as the widely-popular Love Island means the programme is 'just not worth the price tag' for the channel.

The 21st series of Celebrity Big Brother is currently on air - however news surfaced that this could be one of the last.

Show insiders told the publication: "There have been conversations between the execs about not renewing the contract for both Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother. It would be the end of an era but they feel the time is right to end.

"There is still time for the bosses at Channel 5 to change their mind but it is not looking likely. Even if they drop it, another channel or a streaming service may decide to pick it up in the future."

Earlier this year, host Emma Willis revealed producers are currently casting housemates for the summer edition of the civilian show.

With Love Island as a rival it was claimed this week that CBB bosses were meeting to discuss pushing back its summer series to avoid clashing with the ITV2 show.

In July last year, the show hit an all-time low when The Sun reported one episode garnered just 650,000 viewers on average and 540,000 at its lowest point.

The show faced its lowest ever ratings when it launched with an average audience of just 2.1 million viewers - down 200,000 from last year's launch. They went down again with the highlights episode after the launch to just 1.4 million viewers.

The show has spawned hundreds of stars since its pioneering start as a social experiment in 2001 - after which it became a national phenomenon.

Controversy has surrounded the show for many years with housemates seen having sex live on air, race rows springing up and horrendous fights taking place.

The 2007 series of Celebrity Big Brother saw Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty being subjected to racial abuse from housemates Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara. The trio mocked her Indian accent and referred to her as 'Shilpa Poppadom'.

Things took an X-rated turn during Big Brother 6 thanks to eccentric housemate Kinga Karolczak. After getting drunk with housemates, the buxom blonde told the guys that she planned to "pleasure herself" with an empty wine bottle.

She was seen running out to the garden, lying in the grass and then pretended to commit the lewd act.

In her exit interview with show host Davina, Kinga insisted that the whole debacle was a joke and she was only pretending.

Meanwhile, Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby hit the headlines after wetting the bed following a booze-fuelled night with Mario Falcone and Carol McGiffin.

The show's original presenter, Davina McCall, said of the programme in 2005: "It's a fascinating insight into life. The people that go into that house are a cross-section of British culture. They're not freaks".