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Big Brother 2 Banks on Sexual Chemistry

By Jonathan MacKenzie

LONDON (Reuters) - Big Brother appears to be banking on an old-fashioned formula of sex and nudity as it battles Survivor in the latest round of reality television.

The show only began last week and already a born-again Christian has ``accidentally'' dropped her towel to reveal all to the nation.

That was after 33-year-old Londoner Penny Lewis gave fellow housemate Paul a lingering kiss and a deep massage for afters.

Fellow contestant Bubble admitted he is desperate to have sex on TV, while table top dancer Amma worries what her family will say when they discover her secret.

This time round everything in the Big Brother house appears geared toward encouraging intimate encounters.

``It's hard to believe that Big Brother 2 is in the same place that I spent nine weeks,'' Craig Phillips, winner of the original Big Brother show, told the Mirror.

``A nookie hut? A solarium? A whirlpool? We had it much harder....Even if I met someone in there who I fancied, the atmosphere wasn't romantic.''

RATINGS

Big Brother 2 garnered 3.3 million viewers, or 16.5 percent of the available audience for a one-hour special on Saturday, against 3.6 million and an audience share of 17 percent for the debut episode in 2000.

Monday's episode attracted 3.4 million viewers, or a 17.5 percent audience share.

Channel 4, with an average audience share of 9 percent, says it is happy with the numbers and denies manipulating affairs to boost ratings.

``We can't control anything that happens in the Big Brother house,'' said a C4 spokeswoman. ``It's real and it's happening now. We can't stage manage any of it.''

But Channel 4 knows it has a fight on its hands with rival reality shows such as ITV's Survivor, pitting two tribes against each other on a desert island.

Survivor drew 5.3 million viewers on Tuesday night, up 200,000 from Friday's show.

BUGS OR HUGS?

While the Survivors dine on rats and bugs, the Big Brother inmates are concentrating on pleasures of the flesh.

Naked images of Penny Ellis, self described ``eccentric'' and teacher were broadcast on E4, Channel 4's cable channel, and splashed in tabloid papers.

The incident earned a stiff rebuke from Ellis's head mistress Cauther Tooley, who said she is prepared to sack Penny if her on-screen antics bring girls-only Sarah Bonnell School into disrepute.

``I gave her all the advice I could beforehand but obviously now that she is inside the house I can't do that anymore. If she had sex with a housemate that would be totally unacceptable,'' said Tooley. ``It all depends on her and whether she wants to remain on Big Brother at all costs.''

And therein lies the rub, because what all Big Brother contestants crave, apart from the near-$100,000 prize, is celebrity status long after they leave the house.

Just look at what happened first time around.

``Nasty Nick'' Bateman hosted a game show -- which was canned after two episodes.

Craig and Nichola were each offered recording contracts -- both failed to produce a successful single.

And Irishman Tom and fellow contestant Claire took a more traditional route, announcing a pregnancy and plans to marry now they are far away from the hot house.

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