THE PHENOMENON of Big Brother has finally got the borough in its grasp!

Betting at local bookies has gone through the roof with recent events on the show having viewers on the edge of their seats.

The show started off with ten contestants who were placed in the Big Brother house near to London with 24 cameras filming their every move.

There are no hiding places on the set and the contestants have to complete weekly tasks together on which they bet a percentage of their food budget.

Every Monday the contestants have to nominate two of their fellow housemates for eviction with the two most popular choices being put forward to a national vote.

The results of the weekly public voting are announced every Friday with the losing contestant walking the plank out of the house and back to the Channel 4 studio.

However, events in recent weeks have had local viewers gripped following 'Nasty' Nick being thrown out of the house for cheating.

Nick's fellow housemates discovered he had been setting all of them up by writing his nominations on bits of paper and showing them to other contestants in a bid to sway their voting.

This broke several rules including ones banning contestants from discussing nominations, and having pen and paper.

The revelations came to a head recently when viewers saw the showdown and Nick was tried in a kangaroo court by his housemates before being asked to leave by Channel 4.

Nick's replacement in the house also had the audience on the edge of their seats as new-girl Claire began getting friendly with scouser Craig, spurring rumours of an on-screen love affair but that will come to an abrupt end this Friday as one of them has to walk.

Patrick Chesters, co-director with Oakfields in Crewe, said he has seen the craze grip the town over the last few weeks.

"It started off fairly slowly but after the recent events with Nick people have started to get more and more interested," he said.

"t certainly has captured the imagination, We are taking bets on who will win it and also on the nominations each week.

"Those who normally would never set foot in a betting shop are coming in and having a flutter, possibly for the first time, it has really captured their imagination."

Big Brother is not quite out-doing the football and racing but Mr Chesters says it has brought in some new faces.

The people's favourite definitely seems to be Anna when it comes to Crewe, which follows the national betting trend but Craig's antics with Claire seems to have increased his popularity.

But it is not just the punters who are taking an interest in Big Brother, it seems to be the talk of the town.

"I am hooked, I cannot help myself and I do not honestly know why," said Gail Lowndes, from Supasnaps in Crewe.

"It is what everybody is talking about and even people who come in here have been talking about it," she added.

Jacquline Jones, 38, from Coppenhall said: "I watch it every Friday, it is just different and it is the first time anything like this has been on."

Carol Fisher, Manager of Gardens Wine Bar, Prince Albert Street, Crewe, said: "We have had people in talking about it since Nick was evicted."

This week has been another controversial one for the remaining participants as two sets of nominations had to be made following a technical problem in which Darren's picks were overheard.

Originally Claire, Craig, Darren and Mel were up for eviction but with confidentiality paramount they were forced to make their nominations again. and with Darren then making the decision to switch his vote, only Craig and Claire face the boot.

The odds for eviction this week have the most recent arrival Claire as the favourite at 6/4 with the increasingly popular Craig on evens.

Whatever your motivation there are only 25-odd days left of the Big Brother phenomenon.

We here at the Guardian want to know what you think, can't you get enough of Big Brother or do you detest the vote changing Darren and most importantly of all, what do you think of Nick and Claire and Craig's antics?

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