Big Brother's Spencer voted an early favourite
Big Brother contestant Spencer has been voted an early favourite to do well in the reality show by last year’s housemates.
The group held a special get-together last night to watch the 12 hopefuls enter the house and picked out Spencer, a 22-year-old ski shop assistant, as a ‘‘cool’’ character.
Former Big Brother contestant Josh Rafter, speaking on Radio 5 Live Weekend Breakfast this morning, said: ‘‘We had a reunion of everyone from Big Brother 2 all back at my house, watching them all go in, it was very, very strange - we all had shudders.
‘‘The initial reaction was obviously there was a lot more interaction there, more beds, a swimming pool, lots more alcohol.’’
He added: ‘‘Initial impressions? I think Alison’s up for winning (she’s) big and bubbly and Spencer we all think is rather cool.’’
As the 12 contestants entered the house last night it emerged that one of them will be voted out as early as next week.
The show’s host, Davina McCall, urged the TV audience to boot out their least favourite.
Normally it is two weeks before viewers get the chance to have their say on who stays and who goes, after nominations by the housemates themselves.
But for one week only, viewers can choose who least takes their fancy from the whole group.
The contestants will have to make the final decision when they are told for the first time about the public vote next Friday.
Among the six men and six women are a male model, a fireman, two trainee lawyers and a female bodybuilder.
Increasing the number of housemates from 10 to 12 is one of a number of changes to the latest series of the hit reality TV show.
The old house in Bow, east London, has been demolished and the housemates are now living in the Elstree television studios in Hertfordshire, home of EastEnders.
The 12 housemates are Sandy, 43, a personal shopper and stylist living in London but originally from Scotland; Alex, 23, a half-German male model from Essex; Jonny, 29, a fireman from County Durham; Lee, 21, a gym manager and personal trainer from Leicester; PJ, 22, a trainee solicitor from Birmingham; and Spencer, 22, a ski shop assistant and part-time punt operator from Cambridge.
The six girls are Adele, 23, a DJ/PA and bodybuilder from Southport; Alison, 27, a cinema team leader from Birmingham; Jade, 20, a dental nurse from London; Kate, 22, an IT desk administrator from Kent; Lynne, 36, a mature student from Aberdeen; and Sunita 25, a legal clerk and trainee barrister from London.
After being cooped up in isolation since Wednesday, the boys were frisked by security guards before going into the house, where they spent time trying to remember each other’s names.
Alex was the first to descend the stairs into the house and spent a few seconds looking around at his new environment before being joined by the rest of the men.
Kilt-wearing Sandy went in with earplugs for the rest of the residents because of his snoring.
The boys seemed pleased to meet each other but expressed disappointment that they could be missing the whole of the World Cup.
They greeted the arrival of the girls, and after deciding which group would have each room, they began the night by sitting on the Big Brother sofa smoking cigarettes and drinking beer, unaware that the nation was already deciding on their fate.
After just one show Ladbrokes, the official online bookmaker for Big Brother, put male model Alex as the 3/1 favourite to win the £70,000 (€111,000) prize.
Odds for the other contestants stood at Sandy 4/1, Kate 5/1, Lynne 8/1, Jonny 10/1, and Spencer and Jade 10/1.
With an outside chance were Sunita 12/1, Adele 16/1, Alison 20/1, Lee 25/1 and PJ 33/1.
Odds of the winner being male were put at 1/2, and female 6/4.
With the eyes of the nation on them, the odds of two contestants having sexual relations live on television were at 6/1.
