They do it, on BB, but why should we?

I could understand, for example, Muhammad Ali being called "Ali", or Greta Garbo being called "Garbo", but this is an actor most famous for playing a minor role in "Porridge" we're talking about here.
When was it decided, and on whose behalf, that he was so beloved by ALL of us that only his surname would show the required amount of respect?

Can anyone explain why Samantha Fox is "Samantha" but Christopher Biggins is "Biggins"? Where is the other Christopher that causes confusion?

Cos he's a grade-A twonk.

Why "Heavy D" instead of "Colin"?

It's a nick name. My nickname in school was my surname, as I'm sure quite a few people's is/was.

Indeed, Stephen is being referred by his surname as well (Bear)

and isnt there a person in there calling himself Bear?

Bear is obviously a big Morrissey fan, loving the tender melancholy of the Mancunians work , so foregoes Steven

I always get called by my last name, I didn't choose to be my friends did. lol

It doesn't take as long to type

Bear Grylls calls himself Bear. ...It may be his actual name though, I can't be bothered to look it up.

It's what his parents call him.

I think that's his nickname rather than his surname, if he was like Bear he'd be calling himself 'Grylls'

Because Biggins isn't real. It's a persona for TV cameras.
To call him Christopher Biggins would require people to perceive him as a real person in relation to other housemates.

All BOTS have to do is shout "It's Biggins!!" or something, and his only requirement is to chuckle a bit and everyone sees him as a national treasure.

Call him Christopher and things start to get a bit tricky because people will tend to start looking at him more as a person than as a TV character and may have to actually judge him on the same criteria as everybody else.

do 'National Treasures' go on BOTS, I await Maggie Smith's appearance?

It's just his mononym.

Christopher wouldn't work because it's too common - same as Steven wouldn't work for Morrissey or Harry wouldn't have worked for Nilsson.

His real name is Edward.
That sometimes get shortened to Ted, so I suppose it's for Teddy Bear, really.

Does Bez count?

It's the same with Heavy D. He doesn't have to be Colin, he can just be this character who shouts "Boooom!!" a lot and like Biggins just laughs at everything.
You don't actually have to be a real person, you can just perform as a character. You can use your character name as a mask.

That makes sense.

Salford Treasure maybe?

Colin is actually an actor playing a character on Storage Hunters though. I'm curious to see if he can keep it up.

Perhaps I should watch it and see.

Yes, usually they run out of steam at some point as it's often hard to keep it going.
He'll probably end up collapsing in a blubbering heap of sobs and tears at around week 3.

Now that would be worth watching