CELEB NEWS & GOSSIP FERN’S SURPRISESE SLIM-DOWN

The telly star showed off a dramatic new look on CBB

We’ve been eagerly awaiting her TV comeback with Celebrity Big Brother, so all eyes were on Fern Britton as she made her grand entrance into the famous house last week. The former This Morning presenter shocked viewers with her drastic weight loss as she showed off her newly slimmed down figure in a floor-length black dress at the launch of the reality show. Her new housemates, including Strictly Come Dancing dancer Nikita Kuzmin and stage star Marisha Wallace, complimented her. “Wow! You look gorgeous,” Nikita said, while Marisha remarked, “You look fabulous.”

The secret to how Fern, 66, got in shape for her CBB “adventure” is by completing Couch To 5k earlier this year, five months after undergoing a shoulder operation. “Elite athlete alert. I’ve done it! I did it again and I feel amazing,” she said. She previously achieved the nine-week challenge last July, four days before her birthday, in spite of ongoing health issues such as an arthritic knee and shoulder.

The Cornwall-based author decided to take up running, following advice that it could strengthen her knees. She hoped that being in good shape would help speed up her recovery from the surgery. “Of course I’m scared. I’m thinking that I’m fitter than if I hadn’t been doing Couch To 5k, I should recover well,” she said. A keen cyclist, the mum of four – who took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2012 – was prevented from doing her favourite activity because of her arthritic shoulder.

Fern’s latest slim-down comes 18 years after she lost 5st and dropped five dress sizes from a 22 to a 12, when she had a gastric band fitted in 2008.

Despite the controversy surrounding her weight loss, with accusations tha