Day 3 - In Detail. Vanessa flips-out, 'Memory' task, 2nd Nomination results announced

On day 3, Big Brother decided to wake the housemates quite early by switching the bedroom lights on. The girls began telling Vanessa what had happened the night before, namely Jack's escape bid.

45 minutes later, they all gathered around the sofa area to hear the results of the previous day's nominations. Everyone wore dark glasses, presumably to hide their reactions should it all get emotional again. When it was announced that Jack and Vanessa faced eviction, Anthea looked relieved. Jack made-out that he wanted to go by saying, "Don't let me down Britain." However Vanessa was adamant that it would her leaving the house the following day.

Shortly after, Jack began recounting the story of his escape attempt. He said he was trying to tunnel out with the rake and then just tried the handle on the gate. Straight-faced, he claimed that he'd walked under a bridge and come across 'a bloke and his girlfriend.' In truth, he didn't actually get out of the Big Brother compound!

Later that morning, the task for the day was set and the group bet 50% of their remaining shopping on completing it. They had to memorise a number of facts about each other and would be tested that evening. Big Brother set the questions but the contestants gave the answers and these were written down using the blackboards and chalk provided.

Using the chalk for any other purpose is forbidden and would normally get someone thrown out of the house a la Nick Bateman. However, all of a sudden and with the others still sat at the table, Vanessa picked up her piece of chalk and began writing on the black-topped dining table. She frantically scribbled words such as INCARCERATED, LAMPOONED, DISTRAUGHT, ISOLATE, DISPARATE, RESTRICTED, DISSIDENT and DEVASTATED, expressing her feelings after being nominated. She covered the table with in-excess of 30 words and when Big Brother promptly requested her to go to the diary room she told it once to 'F*** OFF' and a second time she just snapped, "No!" The others thought it was a joke initially and tried to laugh it off, but Vanessa was deadly serious and was evidently very upset. This unsettled everyone and Claire went to see Big Brother, feeling guilty that she'd nominated Vanessa the previous night. She was worried by the sudden outburst of erratic behaviour and had herself become upset by the whole situation.

At around 1pm Keith tried to reason with Vanessa, suggesting that it wouldn't necessarily be her evicted the following day. She didn't accept it though, stating that the public would not vote Jack out of the house in favour of keeping her. She was considering just leaving the house of her own accord and the other girls discussed this in the bedroom; they agreed that for her own good, she "mustn't walk out."

A little while later, Vanessa went to see Big Brother. She talked about not being able to endure the mass humiliation of being hated so much by the public that they wanted her out. Vanessa, who had obviously shed some tears, was told by Big Brother to have a talk with the other housemates and re-consider quitting the house. While this went on, Anthea cleaned the tabletop of the chalked graffiti. It appeared as though Vanessa spent quite some time sulking in the diary room.

Late afternoon and Keith showed Anthea and Claire some exercises. Jack was called to the diary room to find out how he felt about being nominated. He stated that he wanted to be nominated, so there was no real surprise. When asked how he thought the nominations had gone down in general, Jack didn't beat around the bush regarding Vanessa. He said he thought everyone was pleased that she had been nominated and felt quite good about it himself. He also said, "I think Vanessa's pretty hard work" and suggested that they'd all have an easier time in the house if she wasn't there. A little harsh, but probably accurate.

At 5.20pm, Vanessa entered the diary room looking very stroppy indeed. While she spun around in the chair, staring at the ceiling and playing with her hair, the others discussed her earlier behaviour. They all agreed that it had been 'out of order.' Keith suggested that Vanessa really wanted to punch one of them in anger. Jack described her behaviour as phoney and scary. Claire re-iterated that it was upsetting and Anthea said about the incident, "This did freak me out."

Later, Claire, Anthea and Keith took a nap on the sofas while Jack gently played guitar in the boys' bedroom. Vanessa, still sobbing, wandered into the room seeking a chat with Jack. He tried his best to sympathise with her but his heart wasn't really in it. When asked by Jack how she was feeling, Vanessa became tearful and admitted that the way she was feeling had more to do with her home life than the Big Brother experience. She was referring to previous personal rejection and admitted that she had learnt something but didn't know what to do about it. Jack told the increasingly more rational Vanessa that earlier in the day he'd just wanted her to 'get real.' It was agreed, that they had found one another mutually difficult to get along with and Jack acknowledged himself as 'an oppressive presence' making Vanessa laugh. It seemed that she had 'snapped out of it' by that point, so her chat with the initially reluctant/awkward Jack did do some good.

At 7.20pm with the housemates gathered around the sofa area, it was time for the group's task. They would each be asked 3 questions and could only afford to make one mistake. The contestants were called individually to the diary room, with the proceedings broadcast to the rest of group via the plasma screen in the lounge. Anthea went first and passed with flying colours, as did Claire, Jack and Keith; although Keith did pretend that he was struggling at first just for a laugh. Rather cruelly given the days events, Vanessa was called into the diary room last and the pressure was on to get it right. Much more willing to 'join-in' by that time, she answered her questions correctly and with confidence. They had passed the task.

A couple of hours later Vanessa asked Big Brother for a typewriter, so that she could complete her column for a National newspaper. An extract from the article read, "Nothing in my life before, prepared me for the intense and emotionally-charged experience that is Big Brother." The article was finished by around 11pm and upon amusing the group by reading it aloud, Vanessa had probably re-gained a little respect after her earlier outbursts.

Into the small hours, everyone relaxed in the Jacuzzi except Jack, who was messing around with the front door handle (probably initially in another bid to escape.) However when it wouldn't open, Jack kept-on trying the handle and realised that it made the guard dogs bark. Then, like a mischievous schoolboy, he played a didgeridoo at the gap below the door just to wind the dogs up; it was successful. Another funny prank that would surely help to keep Jack in the house a while longer?

Return to this day in brief....