Big Brother producers are apparently planning to insert twins into the house to fill the gaps left by the group’s two early departures.

After Shahbaz walked and Dawn was removed just days into the show's run, the remaining housemates have been expecting to be joined by replacements. These substitutes will be twin brothers Marcus and Andrew, with producers hoping that they will stir things up in a house where the group have been pairing off, according to The Mirror.

"It's been getting too cosy," a source told the newspaper. "Sezer is with Imogen, Mikey is with Grace and it's looking like Pete could get together with Lisa, and Nikki with George. The twins could twist the girls' affections."

Although unprecedented in the UK show, the American and Australian versions have each featured twins in the hope of fooling the other housemates that they were the same person by switching them every few days. The Australians caught onto the ploy after a week, though one of them went on to win the series. The US twins managed to keep up the pretence for a number of weeks.

It has not yet been decided whether Marcus and Andrew are going to be used for a similar trick or whether Big Brother will play it straight.