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Big Brother claims another scalp as cast-offs count their winnings
Maurice Chittenden
A TELEVISION hopeful called Charlotte Redhead was ousted last night from Big Brother, the irritatingly compelling Channel 4 show, without setting foot in the "house". The programme, in which 10 contestants live in a house under the 24-hour surveillance of television cameras, is attracting a regular audience of up to 6m for its nightly episodes. Redhead, 23, a former model, had given up her job after being chosen to replace Nick Bateman, the conniving former public school boy ejected last week after being caught trying to manipulate the voting process that determines which contestant is eliminated on a weekly basis. But yesterday the show's producers told her she would no longer be entering the Big Brother house in east London because her name had been leaked to a tabloid newspaper. They broke the news as a senior Church of England bishop warned that the show had denigrated into a "human zoo". Channel 4 said it had a strict clause that if the name of a new contestant came out beforehand, they would not go into the house. Redhead was one of 10 immediate reserves from an original shortlist of 20 names chosen for the programme out of 45,000 applicants. Another young female contestant would be entering the house "within the next 72 hours", said Channel 4 yesterday. She could be seen for the first time tonight. Unlike those who have appeared on screen, Redhead is now unlikely to benefit from the show's success. Bateman, 33, has sold his story to The Sun for £70,000, the same amount as the prize money that awaits the last person to be left in the house. Max Clifford, the publicity agent, claims he could make up to £1m if he exploits his notoriety. The other four eliminated contestants have attracted offers for advertising, interviews and media appearances. Nichola Holt, 29, the shaven-headed textile artist from Bolton ousted on Friday night, sold her story yesterday to a Sunday newspaper. Sada Walkington, 27, a writer from London, the first to be evicted, has cashed in with a £10,000 deal for a series of radio commercials for Yahoo!, the internet service. She has also been lent a Mitsubishi Shogun four-wheel drive for a year in another promotional deal worth £5,000 and accepted a £1,000 free holiday. The programme's producers had selected Redhead, who is actually a brunette from London, under the game-show rules that say anyone who leaves voluntarily or is ejected without the audience vote should be replaced. James Hurling, the publicist for the show, said: "Charlotte is going to be very upset if she has given up her day job." Yesterday James Jones, the Bishop of Liverpool, expressed concern about the effect the programme was having on both audiences and contestants. "What they are doing in the end is colluding with the creation of a human zoo where human beings are trapped in a confined space and under continual observation and are occasionally fed treats by Big Brother," he said. "Nick said that the programme had actually turned him into Nasty Nick and Nichola said the whole experience of being in the house was traumatising. Although they keep singing 'it's only a gameshow' they were clearly very badly affected by it and who knows what the long-term consequences are going to be." Bateman has already been admitted into Channel 4's version of a witness protection programme after the crowd outside the Big Brother studios were heard chanting: "Kill Nick!" He has received therapy from a psychologist and media training from an experienced broadcaster. Matt Baker, Channel 4's spokesman, said: "We have spent millions on this programme. We are not in this for the short term. We will be supplying Nick with a lot of support for some time to come." But fellow supporters of Fulham football club said Bateman, who styles himself "vice-president" of the club, was manipulative long before he appeared on the programme. Other vice-presidents said it was merely a title afforded to more than 50 fans who had paid nearly £1,000 each for the most expensive season tickets at the club's Craven Cottage ground. They said Bateman had upset fellow supporters by trying to organise a vote to ban people wearing jeans and trainers from their seats in the former director's box. Additional reporting: Guy Dennis
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