THE contestants entered the Big Brother house last night for a 13-week run of the series.

Last year the audience was down 400,000 at 4.5 million and, this year, faced with the challenge of keeping viewers who are interested in the World Cup and may also be lured by ITV’s ratings campaign, Channel 4 is responding with saturation coverage, the run starting ten days earlier than previously.

There will be psychological analyses, a competition to find an extra contestant and an attempt to revive voting to “evict” participants by donating to charity a fifth of the price of the calls. Voting fell last year as viewers became wary of the cost.

Big Brother generates more than £40 million in advertising and £10 million-plus in sponsorship, making it one of the most valuable properties in television. More money will be made this year because of the increased airtime for Big Brother-related programmes. Highlights will be on air every night on Channel 4 for an hour, with chat shows on E4, and live internet coverage.

Andy Duncan, the chief executive of Channel 4, emphasises that it is a “public service broadcaster” in competition with the BBC for quality. Yet it is just as often in a battle with ITV for advertisers’ cash. ITV is preparing a schedule of specials, including Soccer Aid, a pro-celebrity match with Robbie Williams’s England against Gordon Ramsay’s Rest of the World. The World Cup is shared between the BBC and ITV.

Big Brother’s 14 contestants, who are vying for £100,000, include Pete, who has Tourette syndrome; George, an Old Harrovian; and Lea, who claims to have the “largest breast implants in the UK”.

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