House calls

LEESA Waddington knows exactly what she will be doing at 9pm tonight. Along with millions of others nation-wide, she will be glued to the box as the opening credits roll for the start of the third series of Channel 4's reality gameshow Big Brother.

Leesa's only regret, as the identity of the 12 new 'housemates' is revealed, will be that she is not one of them. In February this year Leesa ran through the streets of York clad only in a bikini, asking bemused shoppers the way to the beach. Her exploits were caught by a friend on video camera.

It was all part of a stunt to try to grab the attention of Big Brother producers. She was one of 10,000 people who sent off video audition tapes hoping they would stand out from the crowd and be offered the chance of spending up to ten weeks in a human goldfish bowl.

Sadly, it wasn't to be.

"Nothing happened," she says sadly. "Nothing at all."

Having watched the Big Brother auditions on TV, she thinks she knows where she went wrong.

"A lot of the people at the auditions were doing mad things," she says. "But I think the ones that have got on this time were just normal. So maybe what I did was a bit too radical."

When she did her bikini stunt, she told an Evening Press reporter she 'just wanted to be famous'. She also dreams of being a TV presenter. But admits both of those things may have counted against her. "When I was watching (the auditions), if anybody said they wanted to be on Big Brother because they wanted to be a TV presenter or wanted to be famous, they were out straight away."

Undeterred, the 20-year-old former media studies and drama student, from York Road, Haxby, will be trying again next year - though next time, for her audition tape, she'll do something a bit less outrageous, she says.

She insists she's got what it takes to be a BB star. "I'm not bothered what people think about me. I'm outgoing, always up for a laugh, bubbly - and I can get on with anyone and talk to anyone." For now, like the rest of us, she will be settling back to enjoy the antics of the 12 people who did make it onto this year's show. So what makes her like the programme so much?

"I've got really addicted to it," she says. "It's the fact that they're all in one house, all being filmed 24 hours. I think it just shows the real side of people. You tend to see them when they are in their worst state - like in the morning without make-up."

Most people would probably agree with Leesa that part of the programme's attraction is the chance to eavesdrop on ordinary people with their guard down.

According to former Big Brother contestant Stuart Hosking, however, who was second to be voted off last year, TV editing means the 'real' side of contestants is the last thing viewers get to see.

Stuart, a 37-year-old businessman, says he was 'very surprised' after leaving the house to find out how he had been portrayed.

He emerged on to the walk of shame to boos and headlines such as 'Stuart is the biggest winker in the house.'

"What I hadn't anticipated was that a less than rounded character had been portrayed to the public and therefore people were only seeing this two-dimensional version of Stuart," he says.

It wasn't only the editing, either. The presence of cameras everywhere, 24 hours a day, affects the way housemates behave, says Stuart.

"I became self-conscious of my every move and conversation. I am quite a tactile person, but because I am married I purposely avoided any physical contact for fear of what may be seen on the outside," he says.

"I was acutely aware of details in conversations and I avoided certain topics related to drugs, politics and religion (even though I had views on them all) for fear that as a responsible parent something could become misconstrued or misrepresented. So I just laughed a great deal and never really entered into heavy debate."

So much for the 'reality' part of TV's most famous reality gameshow. Nevertheless, it's clearly got something going for it. Big Brother producers reckon they are on to another ratings-winner with series three - and pledge that this time, the show will be bigger and better than ever. "We're learning all the time," says the Big Brother website's project manager Paul Thornton-Jones.

"Not only have we learnt from two UK broadcasts but there's also the two or three series from more than 20 countries. That is a wealth of experience as to what works and what doesn't. This is set to be the strongest series yet."

So what's new this year?

There's a new house, for a start - purpose-built in Elstree Studios with a heated swimming pool, deluxe kitchen, open-plan living area with oddly-shaped furniture, a 'wet room' and, in the garden, a chicken run.

The rules have been changed, too - with Big Brother enforcing a "three strikes and you're out" policy which will see housemates evicted if they break the rules three times. "Big Brother is getting tougher," says Julian Bellamy, commissioning editor of Channel 4. "We've got a new system of sanctions. If, for instance, a housemate doesn't give a full and frank reason in the Diary Room for nominating someone they run a serious risk of getting a warning. The housemates will get a verbal warning and a written warning and then eviction.

"Also they're not allowed to take any books in this year. They are allowed one magazine and they might be able to earn the right to have a book. The same goes for musical instruments. Obviously they could spend hours plucking away on a guitar. It's all about making the environment tougher."

What it's really all about, of course, is the housemates themselves. Until 9pm tonight we won't know anything about them - except that this year there are 12 rather than ten competing for the £70,000 prize money.

"It gives us more to play with," says Paul Thornton-Jones. "There's more dynamics, more potential for relationships to develop and there's more evictions so we can throw in extra evictions to make the show more exciting."

Hopefully, he adds, the audition process will have thrown up an interesting mix of characters.

"It's like casting a dinner party really," he says. "We want everybody in the house to basically get on as a group but obviously we don't want everybody to have the same background or the same views or opinions."

So that's what it's all about. Most of us will be spending the next ten weeks eavesdropping on an extended dinner party. Can't wait.

York's own Leesa Waddington won't be at the party this year. But there's always next year.

Updated: 11:12 Friday, May 24, 2002