Big Brother (British TV series) series 7

Template:In-progress tvshow Template:Big Brother housemates Big Brother UK series 7, is currently in broadcast in the United Kingdom as part of the Big Brother reality television series. It is currently showing on Channel 4, starting on May 18, 2006 and due to end on August 18, 2006, making it the longest series yet at thirteen weeks long. The series has been criticised by many different organisations for the introduction of a man with Tourette syndrome to the house and forbidding, for a short period, contestants to speak in Welsh. On the opening night, the programme obtained a peak audience of 8.1 million viewers, one million greater than the previous year's show.

The show format is unchanged from previous years. A number of contestants (known as "housemates") live in a purpose-built house at Elstree Studios, totally isolated from the rest of the world. Each week, one is evicted from the house, usually by way of a public vote from housemates' nominations, but there are exceptions. The final housemate to leave wins £100,000. There is no runner up prize.

Companion shows Big Brother's Big Mouth and Big Brother's Little Brother are retained this series, with the addition of Big Brother's Big Brain (a psychology show), hosted by Dermot O'Leary. Live action is available online through the official C4 website and, with a 15-minute delay, is available by pressing the red button on E4 via Sky Digital (UK, not ROI subscribers) and Freeview.

Housemates

Of the 22 housemates introduced into the house, fourteen entered on the launch night. This is greater than previous years. Due to the departures of Shahbaz and Dawn, two new housemates — Sam and Aisleyne — were introduced as part of the Meal or No Meal task. George walked from the house on Day 13 as he didn't want to be famous. On Day 23, Susie entered the house as Big Brother's lucky Golden Ticket winner. Finally, five more housemates entered on Day 44 (Jonathan, Spiral, Jennie, Michael & Jayne) to the House Next Door, totalling 22 housemates — a new record.

This series overall has seen the largest number of housemates to leave without eviction, with three so far, beating the third series, where two housemates walked out and had a total of 14, the fifth series, in which two were ejected and had a total of 13 and the sixth series which, because of the "Secret Garden" twist, ended up with 16 housemates. After Lea's eviction, only half of the housemates left in the house were original housemates.

Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace

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Aisleyne in the bedroom

Aisleyne (born December 10 1978) is a model and promotions girl from London, who entered on Day 12 as a prize won during the Meal or No Meal task in week 2. Aisleyne was rumoured to be dating Mike Tyson, after a photograph of them together appeared in the papers shortly after she entered the house. The News of the World claimed that Aisleyne has had romantic relations with former Mr Universe contestant James Jones.

Aisleyne has been accused in the house of "acting black" and has been accused by other members of the house (most vocally by Grace) of being a wigger. She sparked bitching among Imogen, Grace, and Sezer who vowed to give her a hard time in the house. On Big Brother's Big Brain, it was mentioned that according to the Machiavellian test that all contestents took before the show, Aisleyne would be more willing than her fellow housemates to manipulate others in order to succeed in the house. When Grace flung a glass of water at Susie seconds before her eviction from the Big Brother house, Aisleyne was the most vocal housemate, expressing shock and disgust at Grace's actions.

In the sixth week, with five nominations, Aisleyne faced being moved to the secret House Next Door. However, she was unaware of this, believing she was up for the usual eviction. Aisleyne was the housemate with the most votes to move into the House Next Door on Day 44 with 67.3% of the public vote. On Day 49 it was revealed to the housemates in the main house that Aisleyne actually not been evicted, but had moved to the House Next Door. Aisleyne was then forced to evict one of the remaining housemates in the House Next Door; she chose to evict Jonathan and returned with Spiral to the main house.

Bonnie Holt

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Bonnie in the living area

Bonnie Holt (born February 1986), the first housemate to enter, is a care worker from Loughborough, working with people who have Down's syndrome. She was noted for her strong Loughborough accent, which caused some housemates to mistakenly call her "Bonneh". She was the series first evictee, on Day 9, with 78% of the vote. Hence, Bonnie's eviction continued the fact that no male contestant has ever been evicted first in any UK series of Big Brother to date.

Dawn Blake

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Dawn in the living area

Dawn (born September 1967) is an exercise scientist from Birmingham, who thinks "the realities of life are shit". She claims to be the great great granddaughter of poet William Blake, though William Blake had no children. In her audition for the show Dawn claimed that she thinks Gandhi, Bob Geldof and Mother Theresa are rare examples of genuinely "nice" people and everyone else in the world are just "bastards". She also stated that she doesn't have, or need, any friends, and is somewhat of a loner. However, similar to almost all the housemates, her personality in the house seemed to differ greatly from her personality in her audition tape, as she was generally friendly to all the other housemates. On entry to the house, she claimed that if she were to be reincarnated, she would want to come back as either Jesus or Adolf Hitler.

Dawn was ejected from the house after a coded communication with the outside world, thereby breaking one of the fundamental rules of Big Brother. Dawn had asked to leave the Big Brother house after receiving the message; when producers were reluctant to let her leave, she told Big Brother about this rule-breaking, thus forcing them to remove her. When called to the diary room to be informed of her ejection, she consistently talked over Big Brother in order to emphasise that in her view she was not removed, but left voluntarily. During her time in the house Dawn was subject to accusations by fellow housemate Nikki of causing a BO epidemic in the house's towels and clothes; however, Dawn did not find out about this during her stay in the house. When she was ejected from the house she said "Oh, shut up!" 37 times.

George Askew

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George in the bedroom

George (born in September 1986) is a student from London, whose friends include Princess Beatrice of York and Sam Sangster (son of the race-horse owner Robert Sangster). A former student at Ludgrove School (he was there at the same time as Prince William and Prince Harry), he went on to Harrow School. George is the son of a former private secretary to the Prince of Wales. He is a great-grandson of the 4th Earl of Ellesmere (through his paternal grandmother, Lady Susan Askew) and his great-uncle was the 6th Duke of Sutherland. One of his father's cousins married into the Bowes-Lyon family, Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and so it has been claimed he is linked to Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother.

Whilst in the house, George seemed to form an affection for Grace, despite all the other housemates assuming he liked Nikki. Grace seemed rather fond of him too, and until his exit on Day 13 it was thought that he and she might get together.

On Day 13, George left the Big Brother house. He had told Grace his intentions earlier and she could not persuade him to stay. Before leaving he told Big Brother in the Diary Room: "My reason for leaving the Big Brother house is the thought of fame and how I would like to continue my private life – and fame is too much for me." He was not replaced.

Glyn Wise

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Glyn in the lounge

Glyn (born 9 January, 1988) is a student, self-proclaimed "Sexiest Lifeguard in North Wales" and nudist from Blaenau Ffestiniog in Gwynedd. He entered the house in his lifeguard attire complete with buoyancy aid. His first language is Welsh and often speaks to fellow housemate, Imogen in Welsh. Subtitles are used to translate their conversations. Despite having very good English skills, Glyn often doesn't know the correct words to use (e.g. referring to scales as a "weigher") and when he is angered and loses conversation he has difficulty in speaking in English. He has become well known for spontaneously bursting into song. He is the most intelligent housemate according to an intelligence test which all the housemates sat. Other tests revealed him to be the happiest and most perceptive housemate.

Grace Adams-Short

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Grace in the garden

Grace (born August 1985) is a dance teacher from Plymouth but now lives in London. A self-confessed Sloane Ranger. Grace became close to Mikey and George and it was disputed both in and outside of the house as to which one she would "pair up" with, until George left. While in the house, she stated that she would not model for Nuts or Zoo but would for something like FHM. However, soon after her eviction she did a photoshoot for Nuts. She also claimed she would not pose topless due to her job.

Her time in the house heralded a number of exposés of her life, including claims that she was a childhood bully, and a failed pop star .

On Day 23 after Sam's eviction, the housemates gathered in the garden for selection of the Golden Housemate, Susie. Whilst in the garden, Grace heard the crowd outside chanting 'Get Grace Out!', which led her to break down in tears in the bathroom later on.

Grace was evicted on Day 30, throwing a glass of water over Susie as she left, as Susie was the one responsible for putting her up for eviction. She received 87.9% of the vote. Before entering the house, Grace appeared on a TV show called Senseless for MTV, in which her ex-boyfriend fooled her and sent her on a date with a cross-dresser. This was originally shown on MTV on 12 June 2006, four days before Grace's eviction from the house.

Imogen Thomas

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Imogen in the garden

Imogen (born November 27 1982) is a bar hostess and former beauty queen from Llanelli, South Wales. She was Miss Wales in 2003. Up to week 5, Imogen was not allowed to nominate properly. In week 1 she was in the Big Brotherhood, and there were no nominations. In weeks 2 and 3, she was banned from nominating for discussing nominations. In week 4, only the "Golden Housemate" was permitted to nominate, and in week 5, as punishment for yet again discussing nominations she was forced (along with 4 other rule breakers) to nominate one fellow rule breaker in front of the group. Imogen has a very blatant hatred for Richard, which he reciprocates. He has described her as boring, plain, plastic and like "genital warts (she won't seem to go away)". He has also questioned the quality of the Miss Wales competition, stating "well it can't be much good if she won it". In June 2006, a homemade sex tape surfaced from an ex-boyfriend hoping to cash in on Imogen's new found fame.

Jayne Kitt

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Jayne in the bedroom in the House Next Door

Jayne (born January 1970) is a recruitment advisor from Slough, Berkshire. On entering the house, Jayne said she wanted "to show the nation who I am - Jayne Kitt. Live it, breathe it, sleep it. Eat it, want it for breakfast, can't even wash up without thinking about it." Some of the other housemates refer to her as "Kitty Cat". On her first night in the House Next Door (Day 44), she decided to jump on her bed, causing the base to snap in two. On Day 46, Jayne became the first member of the House Next Door to be 'evicted' into the Main Big Brother house and was greeted by the excited housemates.

On Day 54, after consistent rule-breaking, Jayne was told that all housemates except herself would be put up for eviction to make her feel guilty. On Day 56, after Jayne's continued rule-breaking, the house was told that they would not be performing a task and would automatically receive basic rations the following week to increase Jayne's guilt. On Day 58, after fiddling with not only her microphone, but Michael's as well, and obscuring other housemates microphones to hide what they are saying, Big Brother called her to the diary room where she and the other housemates found out Big Brother cut off the bathroom's hot water supply for several hours, as well as forbidding housemates to take a bath. Despite this, Jayne seems unperturbed by her rule breaking, mistakenly spreading around that it was simply due to her bitching about Aisleyne that she was punished. On Day 59, due to Jayne rulebreaking, Big Brother made housemates study the rules of the house and gave them an exam. In order to pass and not received further punishment, housemates would have to answer all questions correctly. Nearly half the housemates received a score of 18 out of 18 questions correct, while the other housemates received 17 out of 18 correct. Jayne however, received 15 out of 18 correct, and was caught cheating off of Spiral's exam, thus making the house receive yet another future punishment. The housemates suspected that Jayne was a mole from the outside, the reason for this suspection was because of all the failing of the tasks that Jayne did.

Jennie Corner

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Jennie in the bedroom in the House Next Door

Jennie (born March 1988) from Liverpool is a sales adviser and student. She is fluent in Spanish, Turkish and French. She entered the House Next Door on Day 44 with 4 others and Aisleyne. She was chosen by Aisleyne to be "evicted" on Day 48, and subsequently entered the main house with Michael. She is a smoker and claims she 'needs fags' to be happy.

Jonathan Leonard

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Jonathan in the living room of the House Next Door

Jonathan (born May 1982), from Cumbria, is a bouncer by occupation. Jonathan entered the House Next Door on Day 44 with 4 others and Aisleyne. On Day 49 he was evicted by Aisleyne from the House Next Door and never entered the 'Main' Big Brother house.

Lea Walker

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Lea in the bedroom

Lea (born September 14,1970) is a single mother and model from Nottingham. Although it appears that she may "alter" her reported age to suit her fancy, her real birth certificate proving the birth date above has been printed in Heat magazine and some of the tabloids. Lea has spent a reported £35,000 on plastic surgery, raising funds by selling her house. She appeared on a documentary about plastic surgery and relationships on the Five TV channel. She has also appeared in commercially available pornography. She also appeared on Trisha Goddard's show eighteen months prior to appearing on Big Brother.

Lea recently made a drunken confession to fellow housemate Pete that she found him attractive, which shocked him, because he always saw her as a mother figure to him, but told her he was flattered and that he was cool with it all. She was evicted on Day 51 with 53.8% of the public vote.

Lisa Huo

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Lisa in the lounge

Lisa (born January 4 1979) is a Chinese upholsterer from Ashton-under-Lyne. She speaks fluent Shanghainese , and lived in Shanghai until she was two. She initially spent most time with Pete, Lea and Richard and admitted to fancying Pete, but as week 3 progressed Lisa's friendship with Pete began to deteriorate, as he made it clear he only liked her as a friend and she appeared to take pleasure in torturing and killing insects, something that upset Pete greatly and led to an angry confrontation. Lisa became known for her regular use of the words "mint" (to describe something good), "alright", and, in particular, "fuck".

In light of her 'rejection' by Pete, Lisa seemingly changed camps, spending less time with her original friends and more time with Grace, Imogen and Mikey. On Day 26 she won the Waiting Task, thereby gaining immunity from nomination for that week. She was evicted on Day 37 having received 60.3% of the public vote. During her interview, Davina showed a clip of her in which she swore 88 times in a 20 minute diary room conversation.

Michael Cheshire

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Michael in the House Next Door

Michael (born December 1982) is an Industrial Relations student (London School of Economics) from Oldham currently living in London. He was announced as the 100th contestant on Big Brother UK. On Day 48, Aisleyne chose to "evict" Michael from the House Next Door, and by doing so, Michael entered the main house with Jennie.

Mikey Dalton

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Mikey in the living area

Mikey (born April 1983, real name: Sahin Michael Hamadani) is a half-Iranian Liverpudlian software developer and model. When he was at school, Mikey changed his name by adopting his mother maiden name and his middle name in fear of a racist backlash. During his time, his activities in the house have been so far been dominated by flirtatious activity with both Imogen and Grace. Although after George's departure he became fairly close to Grace, to the extent that upon her eviction Davina McCall questioned her as to what had happened the night before under the duvet of the bed they shared, and despite his promise to wait for her, he has become physically close to Imogen since. His video package at the start of the series saw him claim that he dislikes feminists and believes that women and men are not equal, which brought him a negative reaction from the crowd.

Nikki Grahame

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Nikki outside the diary room

Nikki (born April 1982) is a model and dancer from Middlesex whose ambition is to marry a Premiership footballer, or a rich person, to use his credit card for unnecessary manicures etc, according to her audition VT.

Nikki has been known to become emotional at the slightest provocation. Her grievances have ranged from a lack of male attention to not being provided with her £16 make-up remover or her clothes. Nikki also demonstrated a distinct lack of aptitude in cooking food (she allowed a wok containing only olive oil to burn) while criticising a meal prepared for the house by Grace.

Nikki is the housemate to have avoided eviction the most times this series (she has been up for eviction four times).

NIkki was evicted on Day 58 with 37.2% of the Vote [1]. Possibly stunned by the extremely positive crowd reaction, she stood crying and screaming the words, "I don't want to go, please don't make me" until Davina came and walked her out of the house.

Pete Bennett

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Pete in the lounge

Pete (born March 22 1982), second housemate to enter, is a rock and roll singer (with Daddy Fantastic) from Brighton, who has Tourette syndrome.

There is ambiguity over Pete's surname. Some claim that it's "Bennett" and some that it's Stephenson. His name is Bennett, but his well-known violinist mother is Anne Stephenson, having remarried . During a conversation with Aisleyne, he said that he too had a double-barrelled name, which explains the discrepancies. Pete's prized possession is a teddy-bear given to him by Robert Smith, lead singer of band The Cure with whom his mother has played.

Pete has had many admirers in the house (including Lea, Nikki, Aisleyne and Lisa), but Big Brain psychologists have concluded that he is only attracted to Aisleyne. There has been some debate over Pete's sexuality, heightened by his confession of having a threesome involving another man. He has been the bookmaker's favourite since week one.

Richard Newman

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Richard in the kitchen

Richard (born August 1972), from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, is a self-styled "sexual terrorist" (for his elaborate homosexual fantasies of sexual relations with other men). He has taken on the role of the "father figure" in the house according to former fellow housemate George. He is also something of an "agony uncle" and is always giving advice to other housemates. He even taught Glyn how to wash his clothes. Richard says that he has a preference for 'big, dumb men' and his ideal weekend away would be spent in prison. He also said his dream birthday present would be a bigger bed, because his current one can only hold two people.

According to the shouting test, he is the loudest housemate. He once referred to Imogen as "dull, boring and plastic".

Sam Brodie

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Sam in the lounge

Born as a male in 1987, Sam is an Indonesian half-Scottish pre-operative transsexual from Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland, and is an unemployed nail technician. Sam entered on Day 12 as a prize for Meal or No Meal. Although not having had a sex-change operation, Davina revealed on the live programming that Sam prefers to be referred to as a female. Sam confessed to the housemates to being biologically male on the same night as entering the house, and said they could act however they wish. Sam appeared to have insomnia and became known for repeatedly telling all the housemates that they are "amazing". Sam speaks fluent Malay, Indonesian and French.

Sam caused some problems in the house as the other housemates felt Sam was "too nice". Sam also caused controversy among housemates by entering or staying inside the bathroom whilst others used the toilet. On Day 23, Sam lost out to Nikki and became the third housemate to be evicted from BB7, with 53.7% of the vote. Although bullied at school, Greenwood Academy in Irvine, it has turned out that Sam is now friends with the bullies.

Sezer Yurtseven

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Sezer in the lounge

Sezer (born February 25, 1980) is a Turkish-Cypriot, claiming to be a stock broker and property developer from London. Sezer previously played cricket for Kent up to under-19 level. He is a former boxer, competing in white collar boxing , and he claims he is the youngest person to have been on the London Stock Exchange floor at the age of 18, but Stock Exchange closed when Sezer was 6.

However, it turns out Sezer is not a complete fantasist. He is registered with the Financial Services Authority as having worked in commodities and foreign exchange trading at three different firms: a brokerage called ADM between 2001 and 2002, then as an independent trader at London Capital Group until 2004, and at a trading arcade called Schneider Trading Associates up to February 2006. Sezer is also a director of three companies, including the eponymous Cezer Trading and Seven International Property (both dormant having never traded). Given his self-declared wealth, it is seen as odd that at 26 year old Sezer still lives at home with his mother. . The Sun revealed that Sezer had been arrested for an alleged date rape in 2004 but the charge was dropped due to lack of evidence.

Sezer was evicted on Day 16 with a record 91.6% of the vote. It is believed that Sezer was evicted because he told fellow housemates that the girls watching would vote to keep him in. He even told Imogen that if they were both up for eviction, he would win because more girls vote than boys. Several housemates later cited this as being sexist. It was this perceived smugness and vanity, and his confiding to housemates that he intended to "bully" at least one other housemate, that probably led to Sezer's downfall. He was self-assured right up to the moment his name was announced, at which point his mouth literally fell open. He walked out to boos and jeering. After watching footage of himself in his eviction interview he admitted he was ashamed of his behaviour and looked visibly uncomfortable.

In the week after eviction, Sezer tried to prove he was a nice guy after all, by completing tasks such as dating Vanessa Feltz and visiting an elderly person's residential home on Big Brother's Little Brother.

Shahbaz Chauhdry

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Shahbaz in the lounge

Shahbaz (born March 1969) is a Glaswegian of Asian ethnicity, and attended Hillhead High School. He styles himself as "the Paki poof" (the "poof" referring to his homosexual orientation) or a "wacky Paki", a phrase that caused offence with at least one housemate. Shahbaz writes poetry in his spare time and longs to get it published one day. He also knits and despite classifying himself as unemployable, according to the Daily Star he once worked as an entertainer in a detention centre for illegal immigrants.

Shahbaz was criticised by some housemates for what they regard as childish behaviour including throwing most of the food in the house in a box in the garden. It was generally accepted that he did not adapt well to life in the house. Through his acting-out behaviour and "theatrical" monologues Shahbaz was cast aside by his fellow housemates, except Pete, Glyn and George. Shahbaz was being monitored by production team psychologists following comments that he intended to commit suicide whilst in the house and he asked to leave the Big Brother house, departing on Day 6. On this final day in the house he was subjected to bullying and being shunned by other housemates, which included them locking him outside in the garden, mocking him, stealing his clothes while he was swimming, insulting him, throwing his breakfast in the bin and then shouting at him for wasting food, and pointedly leaving the sitting room upon his entrance. All housemates present left the living room except George, who stayed in the room claiming that he was his "own man".

After leaving the house, Shahbaz admitted to having understated his mental condition to psychologists during interviews for the programme, therefore cheating the selection process .

Glen "Spiral" Coroner

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Spiral in bed, in the House Next Door

Glen (born November 1983) is a DJ from Dublin. He describes himself as sexy, positive and funny. He lives at home with his parents, and George W. Bush is one of his pet peeves. On Day 49 he was picked by Aisleyne to enter the main Big Brother house - once Aisleyne returned to the house he attempted to form a relationship with her, and jumped out of the shower to hug her whilst wet and naked and has been rejected by her on several occasions. Spiral has been variously referred to as "Splinter" and "Sphincter". He is highly involved in the club scene. He does not drink alcohol.

Susie Verrico

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Susie in the kitchen

Susie (born 21 March 1963, maiden name: Willis) is a model from Kent who entered the house with a Golden Ticket from the promotion with Nestlé Rowntree's. Some of her most notable work during her modelling career was as a stripper in HIM's cover version of Chris Isaak's Wicked Game. She has also been a lapdancer, despite being married to a wealthy businessman husband . In order to gain her entry into the house, her husband had bought sixty boxes of Kit Kats, but they still didn't find a ticket. He later bid £4000 on eBay for one, subsequently winning. Susie also auditioned for the show, as well as Big Brother 3, 5 and 6 (series 5 of which she was a reserve housemate that was not entered). Because of this, several housemates recognised her from auditions and the press carried suggestions that the lottery which ended up with her entering the house was rigged. According to the tabloids, Susie was trained by PR guru, Max Clifford, on how to succeed as a Big Brother housemate and establish a career as a TV presenter.

As the Golden Housemate, for her first week Susie was obligated to abide by the Golden Rules:

1. Susie was forbidden to discuss the outside world with the other housemates.
2. Susie had her own Golden Quarters, including a Golden Bedroom, Golden Toilet and Golden Shower.
3. Susie had to wear gold at all times.
4. Susie was the only housemate to nominate in week 4. The other housemates knew this before the nominations, but were forbidden from telling Susie. The two housemates she chose (Nikki and Grace) therefore automatically face eviction. Any housemate that revealed this to Susie would also have faced eviction.

Following her nominations of Grace and Nikki in Week 4, Susie was bullied by the two for her choices. This included Susie's room being raided and robbed of a bottle of champagne by Grace who then shared it with several close housemates in the toilets, and Grace throwing a cup of water at Susie during her 30 second eviction countdown.

Chronology

Week 1

During week one, "The Big Brotherhood" task was introduced, in which some housemates were elected to "The Big Brotherhood" and hence received their suitcases and were immune from eviction that week. Lisa and Shahbaz, as leaders of "The Big Brotherhood", chose the housemates who would enter this group, until just three were left (Dawn, Glyn and Bonnie). These then faced the public vote (except for Dawn, who was ejected on Day 8) and Bonnie was evicted on Day 9.

On Day 5, Shahbaz hid the housemates' food in the garden. After it was uncovered, Shahbaz admitted to the act and, increasingly ignored and bullied, left the show voluntarily on Day 6.

On Day 7, Dawn asked to leave the Big Brother house after receiving a message from her family that her sister was ill. Dawn admitted to the other housemates that this was code that "things [ie press coverage] were getting too heavy". As a result, the next day Dawn was ejected from the house by Big Brother for rulebreaking.

Week 2

The second task introduced to the housemates was that of "Meal or No Meal" (a pun of Endemol's other television series, Deal or No Deal). The task entailed the housemates answering various questions, in order to win a luxury food budget. At the climax of the task (on Day 12), Pete was asked questions answered wrongly in previous rounds. Getting three out of four right, Pete won the house two new housemates, Sam and Aisleyne. Some of the original housemates adapted badly to the new arrivals, criticising them nearly immediately. Sezer was the main instigator and vowed to bully them.

George left voluntarily on Day 13. That same day, both Sezer and Imogen were banned from nominating due to their discussion of tactics the previous night. In this round of nominations, Richard, Lea and Sezer were revealed as facing the public vote.

On Day 16, Sezer became the second person to be evicted from the house with a record 91.6% of the vote against Lea and Richard.

Week 3

On Day 23, Sam became the third housemate to be evicted from the house, and received 53.7% of the vote against Nikki, making it the closest eviction during the series so far. Susie became the Golden Ticket winner and thus the Golden Housemate after Aisleyne randomly picked a bingo ball out of a bingo-style machine. During this time, as housemates were in the garden and BB was speaking through the intercom, the crowd outside the compound could be heard chanting "Get Grace out!". The intercoms would usually have blocked the noise out with pre-recorded audience banter. Susie must wear gold at all times and was the only housemate allowed to nominate in Week 4, but she was not informed of this until after she had nominated. She nominated Nikki and Grace. After the later eviction, Susie would become an "ordinary" housemate.

Week 4

Week 4's task was called "The State of Susie". The house was designed as a country under Susie's dictatorship. Housemates had to rally at a statue of Susie and swear allegiance to the State of Susie when a fanfare sounded, eat nothing (excluding bread and margarine) but Susie's favourite food (lobster, poached salmon and strawberries) and sing no song except Susie's three favourites. As housemates kept accidentally singing other songs, they failed the task just four hours after the task began, and occurred 11 fails during the first day of the task. Overall, a record 33 fails were recorded, 30 more than that allowed.

On Day 30, Grace was the fourth housemate to be evicted via public vote with 87.9% of the public vote against Nikki. Moments before leaving she doused Susie with a glass of water, leaving the housemates stunned. Aisleyne, the only housemate to stick up for Susie, lost her temper with Grace, but was told to shut up, and was called a moose by Grace, as she cheerfully exited the house, ignoring what she did. It was the first time in this series that housemates were not ordered to close the door, leaving others to see camera flashes and sounds of booing.

On Day 33, five out of the remaining ten housemates were punished by Big Brother for discussing nominations the week before. The punishment required them to each nominate one of their fellow five offenders in view of all of the other housemates. Nikki had the highest number of these nominations and automatically faced the public vote. The other five housemates nominated as normal, without choosing Nikki. Imogen, Lisa and Mikey gained the most nominations and were put up for eviction alongside Nikki.

The housemates' task for week 5 was to perform a baton-twirling routine dressed as Majorettes. Glyn was appointed troupe leader, and led the housemates to pass the task, and earn a luxury shopping budget for week 6.

Week 5

On Day 36, it became apparent that three of the female housemates were attracted to Pete, and a large part of the highlights show was dedicated to their attempts to gain his attention and affection, largely to no avail. Lisa was the fifth housemate to be evicted on Day 37 with around 60% of the public vote and left the house to both cheers and boos.

The next day the housemates were split into three teams and set a task, whereby one team had to scrub one person with a large bar of soap in an effort to completely rub it away. The winning team (Imogen, Glyn and Susie) was rewarded with a luxury health spa, including copious amounts of champagne. Later that night, Glyn became very drunk and revealed his true feelings about some of the other housemates, most noticably his attraction towards Lea. He then vomited several times in the bedroom, bathroom and garden.

On Day 41 it was announced that Aisleyne and Susie would face the public vote to move into the neighbouring house.

On the same day, housemates were given a task where a tank containing 792 pints of milk was placed in the garden. The housemates were told to block plugs with their hands on the tank and keep the milk above a certain level before the 48 hour timer (also placed in the garden) timed out. However, this was not the real task. Big Brother called a housemate to the diary room to collect replacement batteries for the microphones. Imogen answered this call and was informed she must fail the task without the housemates realising she was a saboteur. She succeeded, only 8 hours into the task.

Week 6

On Day 44, Aisleyne moved into the House Next Door. She was accompanied by five new housemates: Jayne, Jennie, Jonathan, Michael and Spiral. She was informed via the diary room that she would return to the main house eventually, but in the meantime would have to evict four of her new housemates before then. However, Davina revealed on that night's live show that the four housemates "evicted" would actually move into the main Big Brother house, and be eligible to win the prize. Aisleyne would then have to return to the main house and face the evicted housemates.

As the new housemates and Aisleyne moved into the House Next Door they were repeatedly told to remain quiet, as the main house may have been able to hear them. During Day 45, housemates in the main house were given a "Silent dance-a-thon" task. They would have to wear skimpy dance outfits, blindfolds and listen to an MP3 Player and continue to dance on a platform for as long as possible. The winner would get to open a "box of good things" which was kept outside the Diary Room during the duration of the task. Glyn was the last housemate dancing, having done so for over 10 hours and until 2am. The prize was a miniature trophy, engraved with "Big Brother Dancing Champion 2006".

On Day 46, Aisleyne was suddenly forced to "evict" one of the housemates during the live edition of Big Brother's Little Brother. She chose Jayne, only because "(Aisleyne) couldn't sleep the night before". Jayne was then moved into the main house, where screaming was overheard in the House Next Door, leading them to believe that Jayne had moved into the main house.

The next day, housemates nominated for the sixth time. Pete was banned from nominating, having told Aisleyne he nominated her just before she left. Both Lea and Richard received four nominations, the most that week. They were told on Day 48 they would face eviction.

Later that night, having been told to pack their suitcases, the housemates "next door" were informed that two would be "evicted". Aisleyne chose Jennie and Michael, as they both claimed to have volunteered to leave. They were then greeted by the main housemates in the garden where a special meal was provided by Big Brother.

On Day 49, during a special live edition of Big Brother, Aisleyne was called to the Diary Room. All housemates in both houses were then watching her on the TVs, and Big Brother recalled the entire story of the twists involved with the fake evictions and told her she was going to actually evict either Jonathan or Spiral. After stalling for a few minutes, Aisleyne was given a 10 second warning by Big Brother. She then decided to evict Jonathan because "he said he didn't mind if he left". Aisleyne broke down in the Diary Room and was told to return to the House Next Door. She was comforted by Jonathan, who was then evicted. (For the second time in Big Brother (UK)'s history, there was no audience outside for the eviction.) 20 minutes later, still in tears, Aisleyne along with Spiral were called to the diary room, and subsequently entered the main house.

Week 7

On Day 51, Lea became the 6th person to be evicted from the main house by a public vote, with 53.8% of the vote against Richard.

Week 8

On Day 54, the housemates were expecting nominations to happen as usual. However, Jayne was called to the Diary Room. The group knew something was up and watched her on the Plasma Screen in the lounge. Jayne was told by Big Brother that she had broken one of the fundamental rules of Big Brother, as she told her fellow housemates what impressions she had percieved of them before she, Jayne, entered the house. Big Brother told her "You have let yourself down, you've let Big Brother down but most importantly you've let your fellow housemates down. As a result of this rule-breaking all your fellow housemates will face the public vote this week. You, however, will be the only housemate who will not face eviction on Friday". Therefore, Aisleyne, Pete, Glyn, Mikey, Nikki, Imogen, Richard, Susie, Michael, Jennie and Spiral all faced the public vote.

On Day 55, after having since being warned, Jayne had a discussion with Nikki regarding Aisleyne's popularity on the outside world saying that the public knew that Aisleyne was a 'liar'. On Day 56, the group were summoned to the lounge, and Jayne was called to the diary room. She was there told that she had broken the rules again, and would face further consequences. She left the diary room and the rest of the group were concerned about what had happened. Jayne admitted that she had "slagged off" Aisleyne and admitted that she was told off for her behaviour. Big Brother then announced as punishment the shopping task was cancelled and that the group would only be provided with basic rations.

On Day 58, having been warned several times, Jayne broke the rules again, by not wearing her microphone properly and so, Big Brother punished the housemates once again. The house will be forbidden to use the bath tub and will be limited to only 1 hour of hot water for the rest of the week, being turned on in the morning at Big Brother's discretion. Later that evening, Nikki became the 7th housemate to be evicted from the Big Brother house with 37.2% of the votes. After sobbing and crying at the door for a whole minute, Davina eventually walked up to Nikki and gently walked her out. Nikki received huge cheers from the crowd, which Davina described as "Final Night" cheers.

Week 9

On Day 59, housemates woke up to an alarm of clips of Nikki's most memorable moments. As Susie went to the kitchen, she discovered all the food they had was gone. She informed the group in the bedroom, and then Big Brother announced the store room was open. They received their basic rations, of which only milk and bread will be replenished. Later that day, to remind Jayne and the rest of the group of the rules, housemates had to revise for and sit a "school exam" based on the rules. As several housemates didn't answer all 18 questions correctly, they failed this task and were told they would face punishment. The next morning, they found that that the swimming pool was out of bounds.

Nominations and evictions

Main article: Big Brother (UK series 7) nominations table

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Week 4	Week 5	Week 6	Week 7	Week 8
Against Public Vote	Bonnie, Glyn	Lea, Richard, Sezer	Nikki, Sam	Grace, Nikki	Imogen, Lisa, Mikey, Nikki	Aisleyne, Susie	Lea, Richard	All but Jayne
Evicted	Bonnie	Sezer	Sam	Grace	Lisa	Aisleyne	Lea	Nikki

Title sequence

File:Big Brother title sequence.jpg

A screenshot of the title sequence

The title sequence this year contains hidden words, which are clearer when watched in slow motion. At the start is a red screen (blue, purple and orange for BBLB, BBBM and BBBB respectively), containing phrases such as "This is the title sequence for Big Brother", "Not for transmission", and a copyright year of 1903 (written MCMIII), the birth year of George Orwell. Other words flashed on screen include "You are being observed", and, in sequence the text "cam 01", "cam 09", "cam 08" and "cam 04" is show at the top of the screen, making 1984, another reference to 1984.

The House Next Door

House plan with the House Next Door highlighted

After Lisa's eviction on June 23, Davina announced the latest twist in the series. Next to the house is a smaller dwelling, complete with garden. It is connected to the original house via the Diary Room. On June 30, five new housemates entered this house. The public, instead of voting for a housemate to be evicted, voted to transfer one of the current housemates to also live in the new house.

Following "eviction" Aisleyne moved into the House Next Door along with 5 new housemates; Jonathan, Spiral, Jennie, Michael and Jayne. The new housemates had been in seclusion for nine days prior to entering the House, and had therefore had the opportunity to see some of the previous action in the house but were unaware of the twist they were about to become part of. Aisleyne had to "evict" four of the new housemates at various points during the week, face-to-face. However, none of those in the House Next Door were aware that those "evictees" had moved to the original house. Aisleyne then returned to the original house.

The first new housemate she chose to evict from the House Next Door was Jayne, who subsequently entered the main Big Brother house on Day 46. A couple of days later, on Day 48, Jennie and Michael also joined the other existing housemates in the main house.

On Day 49, Aisleyne was called to the Diary Room and told that the 3 housemates that had already been evicted from The House Next Door had actually gone into the main house. She was then told that she would have to evict a fourth person, but that person would actually leave the House Next Door and return to the outside world. Aisleyne chose Jonathan to leave, stating that it was because he had said that he didn't mind leaving. During the time that Aisleyne was in the Diary Room, she was shown on the plasma televisions in both the Main House and House Next Door. Jonathan was evicted, and both Spiral and Aisleyne were put into the Main House. It has been claimed by a newspaper that following the failure of keeping the House Next Door entirely secret this might be the last ever series of Big Brother in the UK, although the house has already been "booked" for another series.

Criticism

More than years previously, Big Brother has been criticised in the media for both its choice of housemates and its practice once the housemates are inside. Initially the programme faced accusations of exploiting a man with Tourette syndrome, by accepting him as a housemate. The Tourette Syndrome Association of the U.K. (TSA UK) "claimed the broadcaster had deliberately cast someone with relatively strong symptoms in order to make him a 'figure of fun'." The TSA UK claimed that this year's contestant, Pete Bennett, could suffer in the house, and also stated that parents were concerned that their children could be subjected to bullying as a consequence of Pete's behaviour inside the house. Channel 4 said Pete's inclusion could educate people about the syndrome. His condition was reported to have been aggravated by drug use. Pete's mum said "I'm angry when people say Pete shouldn't be on the show - that it is in someway exploitative. It's ridiculous. Do we want people with Tourette's to be accepted or marginalised?" In The Guardian of July 11, Rebecca Atkinson remarked "At last, in series seven, and not a day too soon, there is a disabled housemate"

Further criticism arose when contestant Glyn Wise was reprimanded for communicating in his first language, Welsh, to housemate Imogen Thomas. Big Brother deemed this a form of 'code' and issued a warning to Glyn, who retorted "But Welsh is British". Following the incident, the Welsh Language Society complained to Channel 4, Ofcom and S4C, asking "are we moving towards a state where 'big brother' is watching over us and deciding what language we can and cannot speak?" Since this incident, however, there have been numerous occasions on which Glyn and Imogen have been aired speaking Welsh, with the language subtitled for English-speaking viewers. Clearly, there is no longer the problem of the prohibition of Welsh language in the house as Glyn and Imogen have continued to converse in Welsh. Such discussions are broadcast with English subtitles.

The programme attracted more criticism on May 31 for putting a total of five "vulnerable" people in the Big Brother house. As well as Pete, Shahbaz was revealed to be mentally and emotionally unstable and threatened to commit suicide on live television; Lea suffers from Body dysmorphic disorder; Sam has admitted to being shunned by family members because of homosexuality, and possible gender identity disorder; and Nikki has suffered from anorexia and been sectioned in the past due to the condition. A spokeswoman for mental health charity SANE claimed that producers are "playing fast and loose with people's lives." A spokesperson for Rethink commented "The programme should not profit from people having a breakdown." A spokesman defended the show saying that a psychologist is always available for housemates.

See also

• Big Brother (UK series 7) nominations table

External link

• Channel 4 - Big Brother