The new series of the Channel 4 reality TV show begins on Saturday, and network executives are hoping Big Brother fever will spread across the country again.

Picked from 50,000 applicants, the chosen ones were given emotional send-offs by friends and family as they entered the revamped house in east London in small groups.

 

Contestant - Bubble: self confessed "geezer"

Each of the 10 contestants - Amma, Brian, Bubble, Dean, Elizabeth, Helen, Narinder, Penny, Paul and Stuart - has been briefed on what to expect from the experience while being kept at a secret location.

The contestants each arrived with identical black suitcases, which were checked by security staff before they were allowed to enter the house.

Security men were checking for banned communications equipment such as mobile phones or pagers.

All but two - Stuart and Penny - brought alcohol into the house while many others brought vitamin and health supplements.

Lingering hugs

Baggage searches revealed that Amma had taken six bikinis, 20 pairs of knickers and 16 bras, while Narinder had brought no cold weather gear at all.

Two male competitors were given lingering hugs by women friends before they set off across the bridge that separates the Big Brother house from the nearby TV studios.

Of the contestants, Amma, a 23-year-old table dancer, said she wants "to show Britain that not all strippers are the Jerry Springer stereotype".

Viewers eager to know exactly what she means will have wait till the first programme broadcasts on Channel 4 on Saturday.

 

Dean: Bookies' favourite on day one

Interest is already high. By 1100 GMT on Friday, when the contestants had only been in the house for an hour, popularity voting had begun on the Big Brother website.

Elizabeth emerged as the favourite - although an hour later Amma was in the lead with 23% of votes.

Dean has emerged as the bookies' favourite to take the £70,00 prize, with odds of 5-1, with Paul and Helen in second place, with odds of 6-1.

The odds are from the show's official bookmaker, Paddy Power, which has Stuart, Bubble and Amma as the least likely to win, with odds of 10-1.

Another bookmaker William Hill, also picks out Dean as favourite, with odds of 11-4, while Bubble, Elizabeth and Stuart have the longest odds of 9-1.

'Be creative'

Former Big Brother contestant Anna Nolan told BBC News Online that the 10 contestants had to remember that the programme was "just a gameshow".

She said: "I would say don't give away too much of yourself too early, but then that makes for boring television.

"The first series, all the interesting, outgoing characters were kicked out early on."

She said Craig, Darren and herself - the final three contestants on the show - were not "the most outgoing over-the-top people".

She advised the group to be creative "because as time goes by your mind and body slow down and you don't want to make an effort to do anything".

Channel 4 is hoping to build on the success of the first series which drew 10 million viewers for the finale, and is launching interactive services on digital TV and mobile phones.

The Big Brother house has been completely redesigned this year and Channel 4 says it plans to "push the boundaries further".

The contestants, who had not met until Friday, will be under surveillance from 37 cameras and 40 microphones 24 hours a day.

 

Helen and Amma are escorted to the house by security

Last summer Big Brother established itself as a TV phenomenon and stories from the house in east London where the 10 contestants live for nine weeks made headlines.

The antics of "Nasty" Nick Bateman, who was evicted from the house for cheating, Craig, Anna, Tom, Andrew, Nichola, Caroline, Darren, Mel, Claire and Sada made the front pages of the tabloids who battled to be the first to Big Brother exclusives.