Day 10

I told you! I told you to vote that wanker out. A flurry of last-minute bets left Mario as the favourite to leave, but as usual it was a lovely young underrated female who left the house – following in the footsteps of Shabnam, Bonnie, Mary and Anouska, is Stephanie.

If Mario gets any more big-headed, he won’t fit through the exit door, and that scenario is even more unbearable than Mario without a top on. “I know so many people throughout the world,” he said smugly as Stephanie left the house. “We’re talking fan clubs and everything.” In your dreams, babe!

I wish Mario would stop patronising Mikey. I wouldn’t mind so much if he was trying to help and just getting it totally wrong because of his own incompetence. That would be quite sweet. But Mario really seems to be using Mikey in order to make himself look good. In an earlier episode, he asked if Mikey could use the bathroom ahead of his housemates. If there was a real need, I’m sure they’d have been happy to let him go first. But if Mario anticipates a blind housemate’s needs, and the other housemates don’t, Mario looks (in theory) kinder and sensitive than they do – and because of this, at least some of them are going to feel very uncomfortable about refusing in case it looks like discrimination. I hope Mikey tells Mario to piss off soon.

Stephanie has always been at a severe disadvantage. Young, beautiful females never do well, and Stephanie’s disastrous but completely understandable reaction to the (impossible) task had her as an early favourite to leave. Unfortunately, it seems as though Mario’s grotesqueness came to the public’s notice just too late.

So why didn’t you vote him out?

It seems some of you tried.

Just after 9.15 yesterday evening, Mario haters across the country dialled the number, hoping the next forty-five minutes would be his last. Some were disconnected; some were told the number was barred. Even more were given the message the line was closed. On TV, Davina McCall continually urged viewers to vote, and those that had previously attempted to vote for Mario decided to see if a vote for Lisa or Luke would be accepted. It was. They then tried Mario’s number again – and the line was still closed. Although it is said you cannot be charged for a call to a closed line, some voters were charged.

This isn’t the first time Big Brother has been suspected of fraud. BB8’s incoherent twins, Sam and Amanda, were such clear favourites, some bookies paid out well before the announcement was made that not the twins but Brian had won. While some of Brian’s fans had also had trouble placing their votes, the majority seemed to be fans of the twins. True, Brian’s fans had a lot less reason to complain about their inability to vote. But now it’s happening all over again – and a number of gameshow-related phone-ins have recently been revealed to be fraudulent. So why not Big Brother too? It’s worth checking out at least.

If the problem was no more than a fault on Mario’s line, it should still be investigated. Stephanie could have been unfairly and wrongly evicted. It’s happened in Australia.

Even if Stephanie really was so far ahead that Mario could never have caught up with her, Mario’s line should not have been closed.

But he could go next time. The only housemate who really seems to like him is Lisa - who allegedly shagged him in the early hours of Thursday morning, and again following their eviction survival. EWWWWWWWWWWW! I know I’ve said this before, but VOTE MARIO OUT before it happens again.

So, due to his limited popularity within the house, Mario could easily be facing eviction next week. I know some people will be voting Mario out even if he’s up against Alexandra – the same Alexandra who would apparently beat Sezer’s record if she was up against Sezer. (I’m so glad my favourite BB7 housemate is so memorable, even if it is for all the wrong reasons.) The only problem is, if the vote is fixed so Mario survives again, no-one will be surprised if he’d up against Alexandra.

We’re going to miss Stephanie for several reasons. First of all, she is very beautiful. Mario might complain that she didn’t spend enough of her time in the house putting on make-up (what is wrong with you, Mario), but I think she’s gorgeous, and I’d rather look at her first thing in the morning with her hair all over the place than look at Mario at all – although the sight of his bum as he leaves the house is something I’m looking forward to.

But Stephanie is not just a pretty face. Her kindness and sensitivity were shown not only in her support of Dennis after they failed a task. she can even understand Alexandra’s feelings. She has the courage to stand up to Alexandra and also Mario, but also the intelligence and tact to speak to Alexandra calmly and rationally. She might have struggled with the task of pretending she loved Mario, but she was committed to the electric shock task in both her determination not to quit, and her support of the others. Stephanie is feisty and she can be funny, and there’s not really anyone else like that. Rachel can defend others and Rebecca is really amusing– but they’re not Stephanie.

Kathreya appears to be the current favourite to win. She is lovely, and it’s about time a girl won again (although perhaps we would have had two female winners last year if everyone had been able to register their votes). But she doesn’t seem to have said anything particularly intelligent or illuminating yet. I think my favourite is still Mikey, Rachel or Rebecca, although I haven’t heard much from the latter for a while. But who knows what will happen in the next (hopefully not too many) weeks? The £100,000 could end up going to Dale or Darnell. Well, if they never speak, they can’t be evicted for bitchiness, can they?

Rex shocked housemates by appearing angry following Stephanie’s eviction. Alexandra and Sylvia think he has a game plan to get her group out (Alexandra has a group? Of friends?) and Stephanie was on his side. Mohamed then raised eyebrows by announcing his attention to look after Rex, “because he needs me.” “I thought Dennis was the gay one: flipping heck!” said Luke, in a rare moment of, well, speech. (As he’s popular, no-one seems to have accused him of discrimination against homosexuals.)

And Jennifer, darling, I know I told you to do something, but your claim to be the only ‘real’ person in the house wasn’t quite what I had in mind.