Big Brother has told housemates that they must travel through time for this week's shopping task.

After collecting the instructions from the diary room this afternoon, Kara-Louise announced that the group must go "where no housemate has gone before".

"Woah, this is quite exciting!" said an approving Brian.

The student revealed that the diary room had been converted into a "fully working, space-time continuum travelling time machine" and that she had been taken to the year 3049.

Big Brother had then told her that the group has failed this week's task but has the chance to change the future by passing a series of challenges.

If housemates fail five or more of their mini-tasks, they will be forced to survive the week on basic rations.

"Big Brother will call housemates to travel in the time machine in due course," finished Kara-Louise, before dissolving into a fit of giggles.

The 22-year-old then offered the others a tantalising glimpse of what awaited them in the diary room, saying: "All I know is, it's like nothing we've ever seen before and we're definitely travelling through time and we have to buckle up!"

She added that Big Brother has "funky music and a funky voice", demonstrating her point by intoning: "This is Big Brother" in the voice of a dalek.

"I travelled to space and there were the planets hanging, and then I came back," she told them.

Clearly underwhelmed by her description of the diary room, Gerry wanted to know if she had been forbidden from revealing what it looked like.

"No," replied a surprised Kara-Louise, adding helpfully: "[It] looks like, you know.. a time machine!"

Tracey, Carole, Gerry and Ziggy later became the first housemates to head into the final frontier.