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Big Brother 8 - A Look Back

Over the past three months during Big Brother 8, we've seen a total of 24 housemates either arrive, get disqualified, quit the show, get evicted or even come back! So, let's take a quick trip down memory lane...

The series began with the arrival of eleven women: Sam and Amanda, Lesley, Charley, Tracey, Chanelle, Shabnam, Emily, Laura, Nicky and Carole. The Twins were the youngest contestants aged 18, and Lesley was the oldest at 60 years of age. Up to 8 Million people watched them all go in.

So, the first few days of the game were dominated by 'girly talk' about hair, make-up and clothes, which was a bit of a shock for first male housemate Ziggy, who arrived on Day 3.

Everything was rosy in the House until the honeymoon period wore-off, and by the end of the third day, mouth-almighty Charley had already caused a scene by arguing with Nicky; a sign of things to come!

Just four days in, Lesley didn't exactly help the cause of 'older' BB applicants by asking to leave and telling Big Bro that she had better things to do. She was duly talked out of it.

Next, Ziggy had to wine-and-dine all the girls in one day in a bid to find the nominees for the 1st Eviction. He chose Emily and Shabnam to go 'up', and got on really well with Chanelle during their lengthy date.

However, a day after the nominees were announced (i.e. Day 9), Emily got booted-out for using the 'n' word in conversation with Charley. The 19-year-old made it immediately clear that she hadn't meant any offence, and her comment wasn't directed at anyone in particular. However, Charley made a fuss about it and BB couldn't take any chances after the Shilpa/ Jade thing during CBB5.

The eviction was therefore cancelled, and a day later Gerry and Seany arrived. Ziggy, who'd spent a week with all the girls, was happy to meet another 'bloke' in the form Seany, not realising at first that the madcap Irishman was gay! As an aside, when the two newbies arrived the crowd had already started chanting 'Get Charley Out'.

On Day 11, Lesley finally wussed-out and quit the show, subsequently sniping that it had 'lived down to her expectations'.

The following day Gerry and Seany interviewed their peers to find two people to help them nominate, and eventually chose the Twins. Carole, Shabnam and Tracey were duly put up, and Shabs got evicted. Just before her eviction, however, Billi, Jonathan, Liam and Brian arrived.

Carole, Jonathan and Seany faced eviction next, and 'Public Enemy No.1' Charley managed to escape the public wrath. Prankster Seany was sent home as the 2nd Evictee, although quite why he went so early, we're not really sure?

Before he left though, Seany had a hand in giving Liam the £100k, having chosen alongside Carole and Jonathan in the Diary Room.

At the next round of nominations, certain housemates' votes were discounted and the upshot was that Billi, Carole and Tracey were up. Billi got evicted after just one week in the House, but not before he'd had a huge bust-up with Charley and then kind-of befriended her.

A couple of days before Billi got evicted, Jonathan threatened to quit, and around a week later the millionaire left the House due to a family bereavement. According to a Poll we ran at the time, fans would have welcomed the 49-year-old back.

Chanelle and Laura went 'up' at the next eviction, and the latter got the boot on the Friday night, Day 38. The lazy 23-year-old had basically spent her time in the House eating, sleeping and bitching.

The following week actress Thaila arrived to play the part of fake Australian BB housemate Pauline, and Charley and Nicky went up for a 'fake' eviction where Charley got evicted, interviewed and sent back to the House. In the same week Ziggy and Chanelle's relationship started to flounder.

Gerry and Nicky were 'up' at the following eviction and on Day 52 the latter got the old heave-ho. 5th Evictee Nicky had become known for being a two-faced 'sourpuss' during her time in the House. At that stage, it was starting to look like Brian was the likely Winner.

The following week, the fans' prayers were answered when Charley went up-against Tracey at the 6th eviction. The gobby ligger had absolutely no chance of surviving and was finally evicted on the Friday night with 83% of the vote. She lasted just over 8 weeks.

The same night Charley was evicted, on Day 59, Amy, David, Jonty, Kara-Louise and Shanessa arrived in the game, and spent the week to-ing and fro-ing between the Halfway House and the main House.

A crass Shanessa and a bitchy David got sent home a week later on Day 66, but during that week Chanelle decided to call it a day, having previously threatened to quit, left temporarily and then returned to the group again. This time, however, she was gone for good, and walked-out on Day 62 after arguing constantly with pseudo-boyfriend Ziggy.

By this stage Jonty had become the 3rd Favourite to Win, but the following week Sam and Amanda became 'one' contestant. Almost immediately, this increased their chances of winning and it was no longer looking like Brian had the game sewn-up. Amy was evicted next on Day 73, having been up-against Jonty, Kara and Samanda.

The task played a part in who faced eviction the following week, as the three Gurus – Ziggy, Samanda and Tracey – ultimately decided to send Gerry home on Day 80. The voting public had put Carole and Gerry up before the Gurus, and really wanted rid of the former.

If you remember, Carole had started moaning at her peers and trying to control them on the second day of the series. By the 11th week, she'd become way too bossy and also rather unstable.

In Week 12, Jonty, Kara-Louise and Tracey faced eviction and the latter pair got evicted at a double eviction on Day 87.

That left Brian, Carole, Jonty, Liam, Samanda and Ziggy in the game for the last week, and all six finalists spent a relatively quiet week in the House leading-up to tonight's Finale. Jonty getting Big Bro's job for the afternoon was probably the highlight of the week.

So, it's been a log old slog to get to the end of this series. Vinnie Jones might say, "It's been emotional"; BBO, on the other hand, might say, "It's been a bit of a drag". At least we're honest!

Roll on (a hopefully shorter and faster-paced) Big Brother 9...

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