Lisa Elizabeth Wallace (born 12 February 1968) is the oldest contestant in the series who entered the House with a distinctive pink mohican haircut, which she shaved off during the series. She became the third person to be rewarded with housemate status when she answered a ringing telephone. She was evicted on day 90 in the final eviction of the series with 68.59% to evict.

Marcus Akin (born 10 August 1973) was made a housemate as the result of a public vote on Day 4. On Day 29, Marcus was warned about comments he made to fellow housemate Sree, which Marcus hotly denied. On Day 50, he helped Kenneth Tong escape from the Big Brother house. Marcus was the twelfth housemate to be evicted with 64% of the vote on day 86.

David Ramsden (born 2 September 1980) is a clothing recycler from Dewsbury, near Leeds in West Yorkshire. He entered the House on Day 44 with four other new housemates. With them he was tasked with ensuring that Noirin and Halfwit received the most nominations, but the new housemates failed their task and faced the public vote, though the eviction was ultimately cancelled. On Day 91, David celebrated his 29th birthday, and he received a birthday message from fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, who he claims is his hero. David has also been on UK television show Golden Balls. He finished 3rd.

Saffia May Corden (born 14 October 1981) is a beauty consultant from Hucknall, Nottingham and single mother of two children. She became a housemate for successfully walking barefoot on broken sugar glass, believing it to be real glass. She walked from the House on Day 8.

Thomas "Tom" Oliver (born 3 April 1982) entered on Day 44. On Day 53, Tom voluntarily left the Big Brother after 9 days.

Sree Dasari (born 14 September 1984) is from India. A students' union President, he was in the United Kingdom studying for a master's degree in International Business at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield. He was made a housemate as the result of a public vote on Day 4. On Day 31, with 85% of the public vote, Sree became the fifth evictee and crowned Best Housemate Award for the season 10. He attempted suicide by slashing his wrists shortly after being evicted.

Rodrigo Lopes (1 December 1985) is a Brazilian student living in Leeds. Rodrigo was the twelfth person to enter the house and earned housemate status after convincing Noirin to allow her eyebrows to be shaved and to draw a moustache and glasses on her face under the order of Big Brother. Lopes transitioned in 2014 and is now known as Rebekah Shelton.

Siavash Sabbaghpour (born 25 April 1986) is an event organiser who left his homeland Iran at an early age to live in London. Siavash was made a housemate as the result of a public vote on Day 4 and finished in second place.

Charles Andrew "Charlie" Drummond (born 3 January 1987) is a 22-year-old Jobcentre customer Service advisor from Cleadon.

Karly Ashworth (born 14 April 1988) is a part-time glamour model from Fife in Scotland. She was polled as one of FHM's Top High Street Honeys. She became the seventh housemate after being tricked into believing that she had a motorbike ridden over her stomach. On Day 39, Karly was nominated for eviction by her fellow housemates. Karly was evicted on Day 44, the same night as her boyfriend, Kenneth, entered the house as a new housemate.

Sophie/Dogface Victoria Reade (born 18 May 1989) is a glamour model from Nantwich, Cheshire, has appeared in Hot Shots Calendar and was the winner of the series. Reade changed her name by deed poll to Dogface, to become a house-mate during the show's first week. On Day 33 Big Brother told Reade that she had to remain silent until 2 am as punishment for discussing nominations; she failed to keep quiet and therefore faced the public vote. Reade had a romantic relationship with Kris in the House. On Day 39 she and Siavash were punished by Big Brother for talking about nominations, and told they were not allowed to swear before 3 pm; they both failed and faced eviction. On Day 72, as a special prize, Dogface (Reade) legally changed her name back to Sophie. Since Day 88, Sophie was the bookies' favourite to win. She left the house to huge cheers and a lively crowd chanting her name.

Cairon Reon Austin-Hill (born 5 July 1990) is a student and the youngest contestant in this year's Big Brother.

However, the series has also received praise from various parties. For Example, Gerard Gilbert of The Independent argued that in comparison to contemporary TV dramas, Big Brother provides much more entertainment, psychological depth and social impact. Gilbert also commented that the storylines of the programme were equal to that of the works of Samuel Beckett. Craig Phillips, the winner of the first series of Big Brother, and the programme's presenter Davina McCall have responded to the criticisms of the programme's decreasing viewing figures, respectively arguing that the programme achieves low numbers due to the different way in which viewers can watch the programme and that the programme is achieving well considering its timeslot and broadcaster. Brian Dowling, who won the second edition of Big Brother in 2001, defended both the programme and the reality genre as a whole, telling BBC Breakfast that producers were simply providing viewers what they want, such as extreme participants. The Guardian's Heidi Stephens also complimented the series by claiming that it has "seen the emergence of some truly fascinating personalities" and welcomed the return to the basic format of the programme. Stephens went on to compare the storylines and characters of the programme with that of a John Hughes film. Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, who came third in the seventh series, and Big Brother 2003 winner Cameron Stout praised the selection of housemates, both claiming that the quality of the programme had improved on previous years. Entertainment website Digital Spy was also complimentary of the series, naming Sophie "Dogface" Reade and Kris Donnelly as two of the sexiest housemates of the past ten years and Angel McKenzie as one of the most outrageous. Towards the end of the programme's airing, Neil Boom of The Independent argued that the series is "one of the best ever" despite a decline in the number of viewers. He claimed that there was still high interest on internet forums and that the lower television ratings might be due to the removal of the 24-hour live feed. He praised the selection of housemates and highlighted Siavash, Freddie and Marcus as particular examples. Following the end of the series, Davina McCall also considered Big Brother 10 to be "Big Brother at its best."

Three special, one-off programmes aired on E4 before the launch to commemorate ten years of the programme. The first of which, entitled Jade: As Seen On TV aired on 26 May and commented on the life of Big Brother 2002 contestant Jade Goody and the infamy that surrounded her. The most successful Big Brother housemate worldwide, Goody died of cervical cancer two months before the programme aired. The programme was watched by 305,000 people; 1.8% of the TV audience.

Noirin Kelly also appeared on The Real World: Sydney in 2007 as the girlfriend of fellow contestant Isaac Stout. She was granted housemate status when she allowed Rodrigo to shave her eyebrows and draw a moustache and glasses with permanent marker on her face. She had to do this every day until further notice. On Day 58, Noirin was evicted from the Big Brother house with 60.0% of the public vote. Outside of the house in September 2009 Norin appeared on the front cover of Nuts and 10 pages of the magazine consisted of pictures of her and an interview with her.

The main television coverage of Big Brother 10 was screened using daily highlights programmes, narrated by Marcus Bentley. These episodes summarised the events of the previous day in the House. Alongside these highlights shows were spin-off programmes, Big Brother's Big Mouth and Big Brother's Little Brother, that commented on fandom, cultural reaction to the events within the House and included interviews with celebrities, former housemates and family and friends of housemates. On Fridays, a live eviction programme was hosted by Davina McCall in which the evicted contestant left the house and received an interview from McCall and two guests. For 2009, BBLB returned with George Lamb presenting five weekday evening programmes and one Sunday edition per week. Big Mouth was also fronted by McCall and was broadcast on E4 on Friday nights for an hour after the main eviction programme.

The programme included 22 participants, four of whom left the programme voluntarily whilst the fate of the others was decided by the public vote. The housemates were originally competing to win a £100,000 prize but, due to rule-breaking by the participants, this was reduced to £71,320. The series, which was sponsored by Lucozade, achieved significantly less media coverage and viewing figures, resulting in it becoming the least-watched series in Big Brother UK history until Big Brother 12 in 2011. This series also attracted controversy, with accusations of bullying between contestants drawing complaints and criticisms levelled at the welfare of housemates after they left the programme.

Sophia Brown was made a housemate as the result of a public vote on Day 4. On Day 6 Sophia was nominated for eviction by her fellow housemates. On Day 9 she became the second evictee with 91.2% of the public vote. Sophia died on 17 May 2012.

In comparison with other contemporary reality television programmes and previous editions of Big Brother, this series has received lower viewing figures and less press coverage. Bookmakers have also reported that this series has attracted the lowest amount of bets placed for any reality programme in the last decade. Four weeks before the programme began, former chat show presenter Michael Parkinson was critical of the programme; "I object to the exploitation of the underclass in shows like Big Brother. It is the modern version of Bedlam, where you pay to see the poor benighted people making asses of themselves". Charlie Brooker of The Guardian said that the series contained forgettable participants and that the producers were alienating the viewers with confusing tasks that seemed to take place "every four minutes". Simmy Richman of The Independent wrote that the programme had become predictable after ten editions and that it had a "here-we-go-again feel". They also complained that the format had become clichéd and the housemates stereotypical, and they criticised the producers for enrolling participants who were using the programme as "a springboard to a Heat magazine cover and temporary free entry to dodgy nightclubs". Maggie Brown, writing in her book A Licence to be Different — The Story of Channel 4, believed that the programme limited its broadcaster as the cost to produce the programme were not justified by the number of viewers it attracted. Mark Lawson, also writing in The Guardian, suggested that the lack of viewers linked with a tired format and minimal press coverage, claiming that the newspapers had become preoccupied with stories such as the outbreak of swine flu, death of Michael Jackson and MPs' expenses scandal. Lawson also believed that the death of Big Brother 2002 participant Jade Goody prior to the launch of Big Brother 2009 contributed to the low viewing figures. Journalist James Donaghy branded the programme a "sorry atrocity" and Celebrity gossip Blogger Darryn Lyons said that the series had been "massively disappointing", pinpointing Isaac Stout's entrance as a "desperate stunt" to attract viewers. Despite returning to the House to participate in a task, former housemate Dean O'Loughlin has also been critical of this series, describing it as "way too superficial".

Day 18, the first day of week three, began with a day-long hippy-themed celebration of Halfwit's 24th birthday, in which Big Brother gave him the "Gift of Normality" that he could keep for himself or give to either Dogface or Noirin. He chose Noirin, freeing her from the obligation to draw a moustache and glasses on her face each day. The housemates failed every part of the Tudor-themed shopping task and received only a basic budget. During the task, Siavash, playing King Henry VIII, was called upon to ban one housemate from nominating and to grant another immunity. He chose Charlie and Marcus respectively. On Day 21, the housemates nominated against the clock in a live programme, resulting in Angel and Halfwit facing the public vote.