"We have been amazed that so many people are able to drop everything to become a housemate, " said a programme spokesman.

So have we. After multiple tabloid newspaper and radio competitions, eBay bidding and random un/luckiness, the golden ticket winners included a chef from Antrim and a reporter with Dublin radio station Q102. Eventually, following last Friday night's eviction of transgender 'Sam', the housemates inside picked a lottery ball. It turned out to be number 14, and the corresponding numbered hat wearer outside made for the house. Immediately, she strutted towards the paparazzi and posed like a pro.

As it turns out, she is a pro.

'Susie' is a 43-year-old "commercial model" who bought 60 boxes of Kit Kats (the poor waif probably didn't even risk eating one finger of them) and eventually resigned herself to convincing her boyfriend to buy her a golden ticket for £4,000. Love isf "You didn't win the golden ticket, I remember you from the auditions, " blurted Liverpudlian Mikey when Susie eventually pushed the door of the house open. "We can't talk about that!" blurted another housemate, adding to speculation that other housemates knew each other prior to coming on the programme, as many of them appeared to recognise each other when they first entered the house.

"She knew who I was, she didn't even ask my name and said 'hi Grace', " said Grace, who failed to make the connection between the TV show she is on, and the fact that people, yes, even Susie, are watching it in 'the outside world'.

Poor 'posh' Grace was subjected to outside world noise earlier in the evening, overhearing the audience outside chant "get Grace out". Presumably, they meant her by name.

Despite this latest twist injected by the producers of the programme, Big Brother 7 is suffering.

In a leaked ITV monitoring survey, half of viewers surveyed said they did not want Big Brother to return to their screens next year.

So far, the in-house antics of the contestants have been overshadowed by their bitchiness towards each other, which has served to diminish the general entertainment value.

Even the contestants themselves are getting bored. Shabaz, a Glaswegian self-labelled "Paki poof" removed himself after threatening to commit suicide live on air. Then Dawn was ejected by producers for "communicating with the outside world". She has since gone on hunger strike, saying footage of her was edited to make her look bad. George, whose mother worked as a private secretary for Prince Charles, also walked, after making the announcement that his mission to change the stereotype of public schoolboys had been achieved.

Quite.

Perhaps this year, producers have overestimated Big Brother's staying power. In an attempt to scupper ratings for ITV's Celebrity Love Island, the show began broadcasting earlier than usual, and believe it or not, there are 13 . . .

yes, 13 . . . more weeks to go until one housemate is catapulted into the stratosphere of z-list celebrity.