Ticket winner to enter house

A professional tennis player, a 50-year-old Abba-impersonating grandmother and a national newspaper journalist are two of the 35 Golden Ticket holders who have a chance of entering the Big Brother house tonight

The Big Brother housemates will be asked to gather in the garden and randomly pick a lottery ball which will determine who will join them.

All the ticket holders will be on the Big Brother stage before one of them, with a number that corresponds to the ball, walks up the Big Brother steps at 10pm and into the house on the live show.

The ticket holders include Tim Slessor, 28, an audio visual editor from London who found the very first golden ticket and was persuaded into registering by his colleagues.

Also on the list is professional gambler and journalist Ed Murray, 28, whose association with the show goes back to BB5 when he won £26,000 on Nadia winning which cleared his student debts.

Su Lindsey, 50, who describes herself as an older, "better looking" version of Lea, would be Big Brother's oldest ever contestant if she is chosen.

Her ticket was bought on eBay by her exasperated husband, who was fed up with the number of Kit Kats she was buying.

Also in possession of a ticket is former Internet stripper Matt Oakes, 22, from Coventry, a barman who says he is a virgin.

Mohammed 'Nad' Butt, a 25-year-old London-based self-confessed playboy works for a celebrity and glamour model photo agency and says he would sign Lea to the agency if he got picked.

Another potential housemate, Sue Carter, 34, found her Golden Ticket after buying 13,000 Kit Kats in a radio promotion.

Philip Colaco, 21, from Dundee, Deby Dakers, 25, from Norwich, and unemployed Martyn Hilliard, 23, from Market Harborough, are amongst several of the hopefuls who bought their tickets on eBay.

Journalist Rachel Richardson, 27, at the News of the World also has a ticket in a bid to get an inside take on the show.

Sales of the chocolate bars doubled following the launch of the promotion on May 18, and the Midlands became the most successful region for finding Golden Tickets, with 13 winners.

In total, 58 Golden Tickets were claimed, but two people have not entered the competition - a student who has to complete his A-Levels, and an eight-year-old boy who found a golden ticket in his Kit Kat, and whose parents have framed it on his bedroom wall.

A further two, another national newspaper journalist and a civil engineer, had to drop out at the last minute.

Some 42 tickets were either lost or have not been found within the time frame, and other ticket holders did not pass the background checks, while people also called the claims line to say their washing machines had destroyed their tickets or their pets had eaten them.

A Big Brother spokesman said: "We are delighted that 35 Golden Ticket holders will have a chance of entering the Big Brother house tonight. The response to the competition has been incredible and we have been amazed that so many people are able to drop everything to become a housemate."

The housemates failed the Temping Agency task after Big Brother sacked four employees for not doing their jobs properly.

It means the group will have to survive on a measly shopping budget of just £70 next week.

PA Nikki was fired for unsatisfactory work, including when she "left a desk unattended to go and get lip balm".

Lifeguard Mikey was sacked as he was branded an "embarrassment" and a "disgrace" for breaking the 'no petting' rule with Grace in the pool area.

While security guards Sam and Lea received their marching orders for being seven minutes late for one of their late night patrols.