Reality TV
Big Brother 3; it was meant to be the biggest and best reality TV experience ever seen on British screens.
You would've been hard pressed to find many who agreed with the latter, however, at the end of a turbulent nine weeks both inside and outside the house which, on occasions, displayed the worst of what Big Brother has to offer.
Perhaps it was an inevitable outcome of the changes made to the successful model used for the first two series as the producers sought to keep Big Brother 3 one step ahead of both its housemates and its audience, but while relocating the house to Elstree and increasing the number of housemates may have been necessary, some of the alterations certainly didn't work in the house environment as well as the production team had hoped.
Consider that the supposed tougher Big Brother only handed out four strikes during the whole series; the removal of weekly tasks took a number of bored housemates to the brink of walking out - with one actually doing so - while one of the replacement quickfire shoot-outs caused the biggest furore ever received by a task; and the divide, which didn't attract the most positive of responses to begin with, remained in place for far longer than the effects of the split house did.
Like both of its previous incarnations, Big Brother 3 polarised a great deal of opinion over the summer months, but much of it descended into spite and ill-feeling, especially where Jade was concerned. A strong initial anti-reaction and a tabloid smear campaign saw much said against the Bermondsey dental nurse - particularly concerning her supposed pig-like appearance - until the press decided that Jade wasn't so bad after all, despite her constant backstabbing within the house. Other housemates attracted their fair share of venom too, and got to know about it from angry eviction crowds and comments shouted into the house from the adjacent supermarket car park.
Additionally, the legitimacy of the Big Brother process was called into question for the first time with allegations of bias and excessive interference stemming from Alison's eviction and the revealing of each housemate's percentage before the lines had closed; the editing of the nightly C4 highlights shows - which was widely seen as being pro-Jade - also aroused suspicion with many people electing to watch the live E4 coverage instead in order to get a more accurate view of the house action.
It wasn't all bad, however, as Big Brother 3 provided the odd memorable moment too, such as Kate's alcohol induced fall, Alex's 'That's The Way I Like It' performance and Sandy's escape over the garden wall, as well as 'Veruccagate', Tim's 'comprende' outburst and the poor housemates' blanket-concealed invasion of the rich side.
So, whether your memories of Big Brother 3 are as clear as day or have faded away, let DS:BB take you back with an abridged version of the events which filled our screens during May, June and July 2002...
Many of the events described in the week-by-week accounts are hyperlinked; click on the links to be taken to the relevant DS:BB news stories from Big Brother 3 itself.
The Housemates
Week 1 • Week 2 • Week 3 • Week 4 • Week 5
Week 6 • Week 7 • Week 8 • Week 9
THE HOUSEMATES
WEEK 1 - Getting To Know You
The familiar air of nervous excitement and anticipation was evident as the Big Brother house opened its doors to the new housemates, although the only case of opening night nerves was shown by the show itself. Nevertheless, the group quickly found ways to wile away the time once inside the house, as the likes of Jonny, Kate, PJ, Alison and Jade entertained themselves with their staircase dancing sessions, faux-energetic workouts and Miss Big Brother competitions, as well as making Lee's birthday go off with a bang; the more sedate members of the house took a back seat instead and wondered whether the younger members were far too excitable for their own good. No-one felt a greater sense of isolation than Sunita, however, whose straight-laced persona - and a minor bust-up with Jade - made her unable to connect with the more frivolous side of the house; things didn't improve, so Sunita took the only way out and left the house on day 7, thus becoming the first UK BB housemate ever to leave of their own accord.
Sunita's problems may have developed naturally, but Lynne's were entirely of her own making. Her withdrawn nature had seen her fail to curry much favour in the house anyway, but her downfall fully came when she walked in on PJ in the toilet, which angered the Brummie no end. Her failure to hold her drink made matters worse, with Spencer and most of the others bearing the brunt of her drunken tirades; they got their own back in the end, though, with every single housemate choosing Lynne over Jade in the special reverse eviction held at the end of the week, resulting in a bitter reaction from the out-of-favour Scot.
WEEK 2 - Cracks In The Edifice
The divides and alliances within the house grew further during the second week, despite the housemates' collective attention focusing on the rather unimaginative general knowledge quiz which served as their first task. Lee attempted to cement his relationship with Adele - which backfired somewhat - while Kate made a play for Spencer's affections and Jade did rather more to PJ; it was Alex who caused the main ructions, however, by slagging off Jade behind her back, rollicking Kate for some general mucking about, and most notably, calling the infamous 'peeing in the shower' house meeting, which antagonised Jonny to the nth degree as he tried to understand what the fuss was about; his later attempt to clear the air with the ultra-hygenic housemate fell on deaf ears.
Jade did her bit to add to the back-biting atmosphere - in the week of her 21st birthday - but her attempts at building and burning her bridges in equal measure didn't go unnoticed by Sandy, who certainly had his fair share to say about the rest of the housemates as well. New housemate Sophie didn't get the warmest welcome either, but she soon attracted the attentions of Lee as he sought to stave off the immense boredom he felt inside the house. Sophie was also exempt from the housemates' first set of nominations, which stacked up against Alex, Sandy and Alison; ultimately, the closest ever BB eviction vote saw the boisterous Brummie leave the house much to Sandy and Alex's satisfaction, although the revealing of each housemate's percentage mere minutes before the lines closed left the conspiracy theorists wondering whether Alison was the victim of a BB put-up job.
WEEK 3 - Divided Loyalties
Following endless speculation since the start of the show, the most radical idea perhaps ever seen on Big Brother came into effect on day 16 when the house was divided by bars into 'rich' and 'poor' sections, with the housemate line-up in each initially determined by shots at a basketball hoop; confusion reigned over the throwing order, but Sandy, Kate, Lee, Sophie and the supposedly cheating Jonny got their baskets first to take them to the life of (relative) luxury, leaving Adele, Jade, Alex, Spencer and PJ to cope with uncomfortable sleeping quarters, an outside stove and shower, and a diet consisting mainly of chickpeas and rice. Being on the rich side only made matters worse for Sandy, though, with the prospect of being isolated from the only housemates he clicked with further damaging his boredom-affected morale to such an extent that on day 20, BB3 had its second quitter. Sandy didn't go quietly, however, and proceeded to escape via the house roof after leaving a nasty surprise in waiting by urinating in the kitchen dustbin.
Aside from separating the housemates, the divide also brought the temptation to pass items between the two houses, but while beer, shampoo and cake were all confiscated in the first few days, BB took a curiously lenient stance when various foodstuffs and wine were passed to the poor side in the wake of Sandy's leaving announcement. Spencer and Kate crossed the divide once too many, however, and received the first strikes issued for rule-breaking, while Jade was banned from nominating the following week after repeatedly letting her choices slip to the other housemates. Sophie was certainly among them as Jade grew tired of her endless flirting with Lee, while Adele wondered exactly what game Jade was playing. Nominations had put Lee and Jonny up for the public vote, and the Leicester muscleman was spared from having to quit the house regardless after being evicted with a resounding 84%.
WEEK 4 - Mistrust
If the divide achieved nothing else, it did make for a few decent jeopardy tasks, with the first pitting the housemates against each other in a darts competition; Alex scored the highest and won a place on the rich side, but he also had to take three others with him. His choice of Adele, Jade and Sophie didn't go down too well with PJ and Spencer - neither did the reasoning behind his picks - and as the pair continued to fume, even fellow rich housemate Jade wondered whether Alex's choice of Sophie meant that there was more between the two than met the eye. Jade was more concerned with watching her own back by keeping schtumm about her nominations ban, but her friendship with Adele - who had already cottoned on to Jade's back-stabbing ways - took a severe dent following their 'Veruccagate' catfight. Being 'grassed up' by Alex and hearing some abuse from over the garden fence - which would become a bigger problem as the weeks went on - didn't exactly strengthen Jade's fragile morale either...
Elsewhere, Jonny received BB's third strike after conspiring with Kate and Spencer to steal some chocolate from the rich house under blankets which didn't conceal their identities as planned, and Sandy's departure meant the arrival of a second replacement housemate, although posh boy Tim didn't seem to appreciate the 'welcome' song the housemates performed for him. PJ and Spencer did appreciate Tim's efforts to let them know the World Cup quarter-finalists, however, and Alex was certainly glad to have a new ally in the house, although whether he would've needed him was another matter after Alex was put up with Spencer for the eviction vote. It was a close run thing, but Spencer's fears about losing the vote turned out to be well founded and 'Spanky' became the fourth BB3 evictee.
WEEK 5 - Flattering To Deceive
Still recovering from the shock of the previous night's eviction result, the housemates faced their second jeopardy task, with a musical chairs game deciding who lined up in each house; Alex beat Tim to win, but the strain of having to choose who accompanied him into the rich side for the second week running took its toll on the male model. Unlike the previous week, however, PJ had no cause for complaint after being chosen to go into the rich house with Adele and Jade, who restored their bitching to full effect despite the apposite comments and chants coming from over the garden fence.
Despite receiving a strike for discussing nominations yet again - and an admission that she bitched too much - Jade continued to make her presence felt amongst the housemates, by firstly airing her jealousy over PJ's relationship with Kate and most notably, repeatedly complaining to all and sundry about Sophie's 'false' nature. Jade followed up with an apology of sorts later in the week, but she wasn't the only one who took a dislike to the Buckinghamshire recruitment consultant, and Sophie was evicted on the back of an 85% vote after taking on a rather morose Jonny.
WEEK 6 - Exposed
The week began with the possibility of a reunited house in the Saturday night task, which required each housemate to answer a house-related question correctly to take them to the rich side; unfortunately, they fell somewhat short of the 100% success rate needed to take the divide down, and whilst the killer question gave the housemates a second bite at the cherry, Kate's inability to name all fourteen housemates in alphabetical order meant that the divide stood, with everyone bar Tim stuck in the poor house. Disappointment transferred into revolutionary fervour, however, when PJ, Jonny and Tim proposed the removal of microphones and a mass exodus to the rich side, but Adele and Alex's refusal to participate led to the collapse of the plan.
The dissenting pair also played an active role in the recriminations which followed - to the point where Alex wondered if he had nominated the right people - but while they agreed that Jade was trying her hardest to play everyone off against each other, Adele seemed to be doing much the same thing by bemoaning Jonny's contstant performing to Jade while telling Kate quite the opposite. A puppet show mini-task and the infamous (and intimate) 'Follow The Van' game provided some brief respite to the back-stabbing, but the damage had already been done and Adele was given her marching orders - much to Alex's disappointment - as voters gambled on getting Jade out the following week; the Southport DJ duly left to the sounds of the most hostile barracking ever given to an evictee from the baying eviction crowd.
WEEK 7 - Don't Believe The Hype
Never before had a task been anticipated so eagerly as the so-called 'sacrifice' challenge kept secret until day 44, but while the smart money suggested that a housemate would leave in exchange for the removal of the divide - with the return of an evicted housemate and a Keith Chegwin quiz mooted as outside possibilities - the less-than-dramatic reality entailed two housemates putting themselves up for eviction in exchange for a family video message. Unfortunately, the chance of any potential squabbling was removed when the two housemates - Kate and PJ - were decided by the simple drawing of lots, and while the outcome produced moving scenes, the tepid nature of the 'sacrifice' and the removal of the week's nomination process was slammed by many fans of the show.
Having lost one of his biggest allies in the house, Alex focused his attentions on Kate as the pair attempted to establish the motives for Jade's two-faced behaviour; it was Alex's motives that attracted the curiosity of the other housemates, however, after he shared a bath with the Beckenham beauty. A midweek drinking session gave both the chance to let their hair down, but Jade overshadowed all others by shedding all after repeatedly giving wrong answers in the housemates' strip name game - much to Kate's chagrin - while PJ quashed earlier house rumours by denying that he had any feelings for Jade. He soon had his eviction to worry about, though, after scoring 81% of the vote, but his reception from the 'crowd of doom' was much more welcoming than he had evisaged.
WEEK 8 - Home Truths Hit Hard
Having played little more than a bit part during his previous time in the house, Tim took centre stage as BB3 entered its penultimate week. After informing Alex of his temptation to walk out, Tim perhaps unwisely channeled his frustrations in the direction of the public at large by labelling them 'jealous and pathetic' after hearing anti-Tim chants during PJ's eviction, and although a call to his mother provided by the weekly task lightened his mood a little, the final straw came with the group's roller-blading mini-task, where Tim's unwillingness to participate led to a tirade at Big Brother which became known by one word; 'comprende?'.
Nevertheless, the housemates were rewarded for their roller-blading exertions with a chance to strut their funky stuff at a 70s disco party, during which Alex providing the most memorable moment of the series by getting on down to 'That's The Way I Like It'. Memorable in its own way was his argument with Jade later that evening, in which the Bermondsey back-stabber was confronted with accusations of her two-faced ways while levelling some of her own at 'liars' Jonny and Kate, who gave as good as they got. Alex's role in the bust-up put him in a positive light with the voting public when it came to facing Tim in the eviction vote, and the Worcester business graduate was overwhelmingly kicked out to receive a hot reception from the waiting crowd.
WEEK 9 - All Over Bar The Shouting
Jade, Jonny, Kate and Alex made up the final four as the grand finale and its £70,000 prize beckoned, but a more immediate concern was that of the final weekly task, which involved the housemates taking eggs over an obstacle course for money to wager on the outcome of an egg-and-spoon race between four evictees; fortunately, the £50 bet on Sophie to win was a wise one as she carried the day over Spencer, Lee and PJ to top up the shopping budget to £400. Further mini-tasks required the final four to perform a number of old-time variety entertainment acts and learn the art of etiquette in preparation for a black-tie dinner; it didn't take long, however, for the dignified occasion to degenerate into a night of drunken debauchery which left its mark on Jade the following morning.
Following a summing-up of the previous nine weeks - which inevitably led to more Jade-bitching - and one last clear up, the four remaining housemates joined nearly ten million C4 viewers in waiting for the final results. Jade received the fewest of the 8,572,373 votes and left the house first - although her fourth place finish perhaps came as a comfort to those who accused Endemol of biasing the nightly C4 shows in her favour - while Alex was eliminated in third place with 27% of the vote, leaving Jonny and Kate. It wasn't long before Davina McCall called up the house for the final time to declare Kate the winner, and at 11.15pm on Day 64, fireworks lit up the sky above Elstree as the 22-year-old IT administrator left the house to meet her wildly cheering fans, embrace her family and pick up the £70,000 prize which came with the accolade of being the UK's first female Big Brother winner.
You would've been hard pressed to find many who agreed with the latter, however, at the end of a turbulent nine weeks both inside and outside the house which, on occasions, displayed the worst of what Big Brother has to offer.
Perhaps it was an inevitable outcome of the changes made to the successful model used for the first two series as the producers sought to keep Big Brother 3 one step ahead of both its housemates and its audience, but while relocating the house to Elstree and increasing the number of housemates may have been necessary, some of the alterations certainly didn't work in the house environment as well as the production team had hoped.
Consider that the supposed tougher Big Brother only handed out four strikes during the whole series; the removal of weekly tasks took a number of bored housemates to the brink of walking out - with one actually doing so - while one of the replacement quickfire shoot-outs caused the biggest furore ever received by a task; and the divide, which didn't attract the most positive of responses to begin with, remained in place for far longer than the effects of the split house did.
Like both of its previous incarnations, Big Brother 3 polarised a great deal of opinion over the summer months, but much of it descended into spite and ill-feeling, especially where Jade was concerned. A strong initial anti-reaction and a tabloid smear campaign saw much said against the Bermondsey dental nurse - particularly concerning her supposed pig-like appearance - until the press decided that Jade wasn't so bad after all, despite her constant backstabbing within the house. Other housemates attracted their fair share of venom too, and got to know about it from angry eviction crowds and comments shouted into the house from the adjacent supermarket car park.
Additionally, the legitimacy of the Big Brother process was called into question for the first time with allegations of bias and excessive interference stemming from Alison's eviction and the revealing of each housemate's percentage before the lines had closed; the editing of the nightly C4 highlights shows - which was widely seen as being pro-Jade - also aroused suspicion with many people electing to watch the live E4 coverage instead in order to get a more accurate view of the house action.
It wasn't all bad, however, as Big Brother 3 provided the odd memorable moment too, such as Kate's alcohol induced fall, Alex's 'That's The Way I Like It' performance and Sandy's escape over the garden wall, as well as 'Veruccagate', Tim's 'comprende' outburst and the poor housemates' blanket-concealed invasion of the rich side.
So, whether your memories of Big Brother 3 are as clear as day or have faded away, let DS:BB take you back with an abridged version of the events which filled our screens during May, June and July 2002...
Many of the events described in the week-by-week accounts are hyperlinked; click on the links to be taken to the relevant DS:BB news stories from Big Brother 3 itself.
The Housemates
Week 1 • Week 2 • Week 3 • Week 4 • Week 5
Week 6 • Week 7 • Week 8 • Week 9
THE HOUSEMATES
 |  |  |  |
| KATE | JONNY | ALEX | JADE |
| Winner | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
 |  |  |  |
| TIM | PJ | ADELE | SOPHIE |
| Entered Week 4 | Evicted Week 7 | Evicted Week 6 | Entered Week 2 |
| Evicted Week 8 | Evicted Week 5 |
 |  |  |  |
| SPENCER | LEE | SANDY | ALISON |
| Evicted Week 4 | Evicted Week 3 | Walked Week 3 | Evicted Week 2 |
 |  | |
| LYNNE | SUNITA | |
| Evicted Week 1 | Walked Week 1 |
WEEK 1 - Getting To Know You
The familiar air of nervous excitement and anticipation was evident as the Big Brother house opened its doors to the new housemates, although the only case of opening night nerves was shown by the show itself. Nevertheless, the group quickly found ways to wile away the time once inside the house, as the likes of Jonny, Kate, PJ, Alison and Jade entertained themselves with their staircase dancing sessions, faux-energetic workouts and Miss Big Brother competitions, as well as making Lee's birthday go off with a bang; the more sedate members of the house took a back seat instead and wondered whether the younger members were far too excitable for their own good. No-one felt a greater sense of isolation than Sunita, however, whose straight-laced persona - and a minor bust-up with Jade - made her unable to connect with the more frivolous side of the house; things didn't improve, so Sunita took the only way out and left the house on day 7, thus becoming the first UK BB housemate ever to leave of their own accord.
Sunita's problems may have developed naturally, but Lynne's were entirely of her own making. Her withdrawn nature had seen her fail to curry much favour in the house anyway, but her downfall fully came when she walked in on PJ in the toilet, which angered the Brummie no end. Her failure to hold her drink made matters worse, with Spencer and most of the others bearing the brunt of her drunken tirades; they got their own back in the end, though, with every single housemate choosing Lynne over Jade in the special reverse eviction held at the end of the week, resulting in a bitter reaction from the out-of-favour Scot.
WEEK 2 - Cracks In The Edifice
The divides and alliances within the house grew further during the second week, despite the housemates' collective attention focusing on the rather unimaginative general knowledge quiz which served as their first task. Lee attempted to cement his relationship with Adele - which backfired somewhat - while Kate made a play for Spencer's affections and Jade did rather more to PJ; it was Alex who caused the main ructions, however, by slagging off Jade behind her back, rollicking Kate for some general mucking about, and most notably, calling the infamous 'peeing in the shower' house meeting, which antagonised Jonny to the nth degree as he tried to understand what the fuss was about; his later attempt to clear the air with the ultra-hygenic housemate fell on deaf ears.
Jade did her bit to add to the back-biting atmosphere - in the week of her 21st birthday - but her attempts at building and burning her bridges in equal measure didn't go unnoticed by Sandy, who certainly had his fair share to say about the rest of the housemates as well. New housemate Sophie didn't get the warmest welcome either, but she soon attracted the attentions of Lee as he sought to stave off the immense boredom he felt inside the house. Sophie was also exempt from the housemates' first set of nominations, which stacked up against Alex, Sandy and Alison; ultimately, the closest ever BB eviction vote saw the boisterous Brummie leave the house much to Sandy and Alex's satisfaction, although the revealing of each housemate's percentage mere minutes before the lines closed left the conspiracy theorists wondering whether Alison was the victim of a BB put-up job.
WEEK 3 - Divided Loyalties
Following endless speculation since the start of the show, the most radical idea perhaps ever seen on Big Brother came into effect on day 16 when the house was divided by bars into 'rich' and 'poor' sections, with the housemate line-up in each initially determined by shots at a basketball hoop; confusion reigned over the throwing order, but Sandy, Kate, Lee, Sophie and the supposedly cheating Jonny got their baskets first to take them to the life of (relative) luxury, leaving Adele, Jade, Alex, Spencer and PJ to cope with uncomfortable sleeping quarters, an outside stove and shower, and a diet consisting mainly of chickpeas and rice. Being on the rich side only made matters worse for Sandy, though, with the prospect of being isolated from the only housemates he clicked with further damaging his boredom-affected morale to such an extent that on day 20, BB3 had its second quitter. Sandy didn't go quietly, however, and proceeded to escape via the house roof after leaving a nasty surprise in waiting by urinating in the kitchen dustbin.
Aside from separating the housemates, the divide also brought the temptation to pass items between the two houses, but while beer, shampoo and cake were all confiscated in the first few days, BB took a curiously lenient stance when various foodstuffs and wine were passed to the poor side in the wake of Sandy's leaving announcement. Spencer and Kate crossed the divide once too many, however, and received the first strikes issued for rule-breaking, while Jade was banned from nominating the following week after repeatedly letting her choices slip to the other housemates. Sophie was certainly among them as Jade grew tired of her endless flirting with Lee, while Adele wondered exactly what game Jade was playing. Nominations had put Lee and Jonny up for the public vote, and the Leicester muscleman was spared from having to quit the house regardless after being evicted with a resounding 84%.
WEEK 4 - Mistrust
If the divide achieved nothing else, it did make for a few decent jeopardy tasks, with the first pitting the housemates against each other in a darts competition; Alex scored the highest and won a place on the rich side, but he also had to take three others with him. His choice of Adele, Jade and Sophie didn't go down too well with PJ and Spencer - neither did the reasoning behind his picks - and as the pair continued to fume, even fellow rich housemate Jade wondered whether Alex's choice of Sophie meant that there was more between the two than met the eye. Jade was more concerned with watching her own back by keeping schtumm about her nominations ban, but her friendship with Adele - who had already cottoned on to Jade's back-stabbing ways - took a severe dent following their 'Veruccagate' catfight. Being 'grassed up' by Alex and hearing some abuse from over the garden fence - which would become a bigger problem as the weeks went on - didn't exactly strengthen Jade's fragile morale either...
Elsewhere, Jonny received BB's third strike after conspiring with Kate and Spencer to steal some chocolate from the rich house under blankets which didn't conceal their identities as planned, and Sandy's departure meant the arrival of a second replacement housemate, although posh boy Tim didn't seem to appreciate the 'welcome' song the housemates performed for him. PJ and Spencer did appreciate Tim's efforts to let them know the World Cup quarter-finalists, however, and Alex was certainly glad to have a new ally in the house, although whether he would've needed him was another matter after Alex was put up with Spencer for the eviction vote. It was a close run thing, but Spencer's fears about losing the vote turned out to be well founded and 'Spanky' became the fourth BB3 evictee.
WEEK 5 - Flattering To Deceive
Still recovering from the shock of the previous night's eviction result, the housemates faced their second jeopardy task, with a musical chairs game deciding who lined up in each house; Alex beat Tim to win, but the strain of having to choose who accompanied him into the rich side for the second week running took its toll on the male model. Unlike the previous week, however, PJ had no cause for complaint after being chosen to go into the rich house with Adele and Jade, who restored their bitching to full effect despite the apposite comments and chants coming from over the garden fence.
Despite receiving a strike for discussing nominations yet again - and an admission that she bitched too much - Jade continued to make her presence felt amongst the housemates, by firstly airing her jealousy over PJ's relationship with Kate and most notably, repeatedly complaining to all and sundry about Sophie's 'false' nature. Jade followed up with an apology of sorts later in the week, but she wasn't the only one who took a dislike to the Buckinghamshire recruitment consultant, and Sophie was evicted on the back of an 85% vote after taking on a rather morose Jonny.
WEEK 6 - Exposed
The week began with the possibility of a reunited house in the Saturday night task, which required each housemate to answer a house-related question correctly to take them to the rich side; unfortunately, they fell somewhat short of the 100% success rate needed to take the divide down, and whilst the killer question gave the housemates a second bite at the cherry, Kate's inability to name all fourteen housemates in alphabetical order meant that the divide stood, with everyone bar Tim stuck in the poor house. Disappointment transferred into revolutionary fervour, however, when PJ, Jonny and Tim proposed the removal of microphones and a mass exodus to the rich side, but Adele and Alex's refusal to participate led to the collapse of the plan.
The dissenting pair also played an active role in the recriminations which followed - to the point where Alex wondered if he had nominated the right people - but while they agreed that Jade was trying her hardest to play everyone off against each other, Adele seemed to be doing much the same thing by bemoaning Jonny's contstant performing to Jade while telling Kate quite the opposite. A puppet show mini-task and the infamous (and intimate) 'Follow The Van' game provided some brief respite to the back-stabbing, but the damage had already been done and Adele was given her marching orders - much to Alex's disappointment - as voters gambled on getting Jade out the following week; the Southport DJ duly left to the sounds of the most hostile barracking ever given to an evictee from the baying eviction crowd.
WEEK 7 - Don't Believe The Hype
Never before had a task been anticipated so eagerly as the so-called 'sacrifice' challenge kept secret until day 44, but while the smart money suggested that a housemate would leave in exchange for the removal of the divide - with the return of an evicted housemate and a Keith Chegwin quiz mooted as outside possibilities - the less-than-dramatic reality entailed two housemates putting themselves up for eviction in exchange for a family video message. Unfortunately, the chance of any potential squabbling was removed when the two housemates - Kate and PJ - were decided by the simple drawing of lots, and while the outcome produced moving scenes, the tepid nature of the 'sacrifice' and the removal of the week's nomination process was slammed by many fans of the show.
Having lost one of his biggest allies in the house, Alex focused his attentions on Kate as the pair attempted to establish the motives for Jade's two-faced behaviour; it was Alex's motives that attracted the curiosity of the other housemates, however, after he shared a bath with the Beckenham beauty. A midweek drinking session gave both the chance to let their hair down, but Jade overshadowed all others by shedding all after repeatedly giving wrong answers in the housemates' strip name game - much to Kate's chagrin - while PJ quashed earlier house rumours by denying that he had any feelings for Jade. He soon had his eviction to worry about, though, after scoring 81% of the vote, but his reception from the 'crowd of doom' was much more welcoming than he had evisaged.
WEEK 8 - Home Truths Hit Hard
Having played little more than a bit part during his previous time in the house, Tim took centre stage as BB3 entered its penultimate week. After informing Alex of his temptation to walk out, Tim perhaps unwisely channeled his frustrations in the direction of the public at large by labelling them 'jealous and pathetic' after hearing anti-Tim chants during PJ's eviction, and although a call to his mother provided by the weekly task lightened his mood a little, the final straw came with the group's roller-blading mini-task, where Tim's unwillingness to participate led to a tirade at Big Brother which became known by one word; 'comprende?'.
Nevertheless, the housemates were rewarded for their roller-blading exertions with a chance to strut their funky stuff at a 70s disco party, during which Alex providing the most memorable moment of the series by getting on down to 'That's The Way I Like It'. Memorable in its own way was his argument with Jade later that evening, in which the Bermondsey back-stabber was confronted with accusations of her two-faced ways while levelling some of her own at 'liars' Jonny and Kate, who gave as good as they got. Alex's role in the bust-up put him in a positive light with the voting public when it came to facing Tim in the eviction vote, and the Worcester business graduate was overwhelmingly kicked out to receive a hot reception from the waiting crowd.
WEEK 9 - All Over Bar The Shouting
Jade, Jonny, Kate and Alex made up the final four as the grand finale and its £70,000 prize beckoned, but a more immediate concern was that of the final weekly task, which involved the housemates taking eggs over an obstacle course for money to wager on the outcome of an egg-and-spoon race between four evictees; fortunately, the £50 bet on Sophie to win was a wise one as she carried the day over Spencer, Lee and PJ to top up the shopping budget to £400. Further mini-tasks required the final four to perform a number of old-time variety entertainment acts and learn the art of etiquette in preparation for a black-tie dinner; it didn't take long, however, for the dignified occasion to degenerate into a night of drunken debauchery which left its mark on Jade the following morning.
Following a summing-up of the previous nine weeks - which inevitably led to more Jade-bitching - and one last clear up, the four remaining housemates joined nearly ten million C4 viewers in waiting for the final results. Jade received the fewest of the 8,572,373 votes and left the house first - although her fourth place finish perhaps came as a comfort to those who accused Endemol of biasing the nightly C4 shows in her favour - while Alex was eliminated in third place with 27% of the vote, leaving Jonny and Kate. It wasn't long before Davina McCall called up the house for the final time to declare Kate the winner, and at 11.15pm on Day 64, fireworks lit up the sky above Elstree as the 22-year-old IT administrator left the house to meet her wildly cheering fans, embrace her family and pick up the £70,000 prize which came with the accolade of being the UK's first female Big Brother winner.
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'Homeland' finale: Have your sayHomeland's incredible finale is reviewed by Digital Spy. Share your verdict.
