Nikki nominated for a third time in 'Big Brother' standoff

by Mark Banham, Brand Republic 19-Jun-06, 15:10

LONDON - Nikki has been nominated for eviction in the 'Big Brother' house for a third time after five housemates were punished for discussing nominations and forced to nominate each other.

Those who were singled out for punishment were Glyn, Imogen, Lea, Lisa and Nikki, who have all been discussing nominations, one of the show's biggest taboos.

As punishment, 'Big Brother' made them each publicly nominate one of the other five, which led to Glyn nominating two-time former nominee Nikki for eviction, Imogen voting for Lea, Lea singling out Imogen, Lisa voting for Nikki and Nikki choosing Lisa.

This means, as she has the most votes, Nikki will face eviction by public vote this Friday. She will be joined by someone else once the remaining housemates have been chosen.

The rest of the housemates, including Aisleyne, Mikey, Pete, Richard and Susie, will be called into the 'Big Brother' diary room later today to nominate in the usual manner, choosing the two people they want to face the public vote.

The new tactics should boost the audience for the reality programme, which has faced tough competition from the World Cup tournament.

'Big Brother' managed to pull itself back to popularity with the eviction of 20-year-old gossip-monger Grace on Friday, even though her eviction was competing against a World Cup match between Mexico v Angola.

An audience of 4.6m watched the Friday night one-hour instalment starting at 8.30pm, with a 22.2% of the total audience tuning in on average, and 6m, or a 28.3% share at peak gloating over the unpopular Grace's eviction.

The evening's match at 8pm, in which Mexico were held to a nil-nil draw by Angola, was watched by 3.8m people, or a 19.3% share, between 7.30pm and 10pm on ITV1. The audience peaked at 4.9m.

Other programming on Friday night met a muted response from audiences. BBC One's 'New Tricks' oldies drama shown at 9pm attracted a 4.2m audience, a 22.6% share, and 'Gardeners' World Live' on BBC Two an hour earlier was watched by 2.2m, an 11.3% share.

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