Big Brother 2006, also known as Big Brother 7, is the seventh series of the British reality television series Big Brother. The show followed a total of twenty-two contestants, known as housemates, who were isolated from the outside world for an extended period of time in a custom built house. Each week, one or more of the housemates were eliminated from the competition and left the House. The last remaining housemate, Pete Bennett, was declared the winner, winning a cash prize of £100,000.
The series launched on Channel 4 on 18 May 2006 and ended on 18 August 2006, lasting 93 days - the joint-second longest British edition of Big Brother to date (together with the ninth and tenth series, and one day shorter than the eighth series). Davina McCall returned as presenter for her seventh consecutive year. Fourteen housemates entered on launch night, with an additional eight being introduced in later weeks. The series was watched by an average of 4.7 million viewers, the third highest viewed series of the show to date. It was also the first series since the show's inception to be broadcast in 16:9 aspect ratio, as opposed to 4:3.
Big Brother 7 was the subject of viewer complaints and press attention regarding a variety of controversial issues, including the wellbeing of certain participants and the decision to re-instate evicted housemates with a chance to win. In 2010, the series was voted the British public's favourite series of Big Brother.
Housemates Fourteen housemates entered the House on launch night, and eight other housemates entered the House later during the series, making a total of twenty-two housemates competing in Big Brother 7. Two of these eight housemates were replacement housemates Sam and Aisleyne, arriving on Day 12, who were introduced to the housemates as part of the Meal or No Meal task after the departure of Shahbaz and Dawn. George decided to leave the House of his own will, a rule all housemates are allowed to take advantage of at any time, on Day 13. On Day 23, Susie entered the House as Big Brother's lucky Golden Ticket winner. Five more housemates entered on Day 44 (Jonathan, Spiral, Jennie, Michael and Jayne) to the House Next Door.
Name Age on entry Hometown Day entered Day exited Result Peter "Pete" Bennett 24Brighton 1 93 Glyn Wise 18Blaenau Ffestiniog 1 93 nowrap Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace 27London 12 93 Richard Newman 33London (originally from Canada) 1 93 Nicola "Nikki" Grahame 24 Hertfordshire 1 58 rowspan=2 83 93 Jennie Corner 18Liverpool 44 93 Imogen Thomas 23Llanelli 1 86 Susan "Susie" Verrico 43Kent 23 79 Mikey Dalton 23 Liverpool 1 79 rowspan=2 83 86 Glen "Spiral" Coroner 22Dublin 44 72 Michael Cheshire 23Manchester 44 72 Jayne Kitt 36Slough 44 65 Lea Walker 35 Nottingham 1 51 rowspan=2 83 86 Jonathan Leonard 24Cumbria 44 49 Lisa Huo 27Manchester (originally from China) 1 37 Grace Adams-Short 20 London 1 30 rowspan=2 83 86 Sam Brodie 19Ayrshire (originally from Indonesia) 12 23 Sezer Yurtseven 26London 1 16 George Askew 19London 1 13 Bonnie Holt 20Loughborough 1 9 Dawn Blake 38Birmingham 1 8 Shahbaz Chauhdry 37Glasgow 1 6
Nominations table Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Week 5Week 6Week 7Week 8Week 9Week 10Week 11Week 12Week 13FinalNominations receivedPeteNonominations Imogen,Sezer Lisa,Nikki Noteligible Imogen,Lisa Susie,Aisleyne Banned Nonominations Spiral,Michael Michael Imogen,Aisleyne Imogen,Glyn Winner(Day 93) 3GlynNonominations Grace,Richard Sam,Nikki Noteligible Nikki Richard,Aisleyne Pete,Lea Nonominations Susie,Jayne Susie Susie,Richard Richard,Pete Runner-up(Day 93) 6AisleyneNot inHouse Exempt Nikki,Sam Noteligible Lisa,Mikey Lea,Nikki Jonathan Nonominations Jayne,Richard Spiral Mikey,Glyn Richard,Glyn Third place(Day 93) 12RichardNonominations Imogen,Sezer Lisa,Grace Noteligible Imogen,Glyn Imogen,Aisleyne Imogen,Glyn Nonominations Aisleyne,Spiral Michael Mikey,Imogen Aisleyne,Imogen Fourth place(Day 93) 25NikkiNonominations Lea,Grace Richard,Sam Noteligible Lisa Aisleyne,Susie Richard,Lea Nonominations Evicted(Day 58) NextDoor Fifth place(Day 93) 10JennieNot inHouse NextDoor Nonominations Michael,Jayne Spiral Susie,Imogen Aisleyne,Imogen Sixth place(Day 93) 5ImogenNonominations Banned Banned Noteligible Lea Richard,Susie Richard,Lea Nonominations Richard,Jayne Michael Richard,Jennie Richard,Pete Evicted(Day 86) 15SusieNot inHouse Nikki,Grace Lisa,Mikey Nikki,Imogen Lea,Glyn Nonominations Michael,Spiral Michael Mikey,Jennie Evicted(Day 79) 13MikeyNonominations Richard,Lisa Sam,Aisleyne Noteligible Lea,Susie Richard,Susie Richard,Nikki Nonominations Richard,Susie Susie Susie,Jennie NextDoor Re-evicted(Day 86) 5SpiralNot inHouse NextDoor Nonominations Jennie,Richard Richard Evicted(Day 72) 4MichaelNot inHouse NextDoor Nonominations Jennie,Richard Richard Evicted(Day 72) 7JayneNot inHouse Exempt Nonominations Aisleyne,Imogen Evicted(Day 65) 5LeaNonominations Sezer,Lisa Nikki,Richard Noteligible Imogen Aisleyne,Susie Susie,Richard Evicted(Day 51) NextDoor Re-evicted(Day 86) 11JonathanNot inHouse NextDoor Evicted(Day 49) 1LisaNonominations Lea,Richard Banned Noteligible Nikki Evicted(Day 37) 8GraceNonominations Lea,Richard Aisleyne,Sam Noteligible Evicted(Day 30) NextDoor Re-evicted(Day 86) 4SamNot inHouse Exempt Lea,Richard Evicted(Day 23) 5SezerNonominations Banned Evicted(Day 16) 3GeorgeNonominations Noteligible Walked(Day 13) N/ABonnieNonominations Evicted(Day 9) N/ADawnNonominations Ejected(Day 8) N/AShahbazNonominations Walked(Day 6) N/ANominationnote 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 none 9 10 11, 12 13 Againstpublic vote Bonnie,Dawn,Glyn Lea,Richard,Sezer Nikki,Sam Grace,Nikki Imogen,Lisa,Mikey,Nikki Aisleyne,Susie Lea,Richard Aisleyne,Glyn,Imogen,Jennie,Michael,Mikey,Nikki,Pete,Richard,Spiral,Susie Jayne,Richard Imogen & Susie,Michael & Spiral,Pete & Richard Imogen,Jennie,Mikey,Susie Imogen,Richard Aisleyne,Glyn,Jennie,Nikki,Pete,RichardWalkedShahbaz George noneEjectedDawn none EvictedBonnie78%Sezer91.6%Sam53.7%Grace87.9%Lisa60.3%Aisleyne67.3%JonathanAisleyne's choiceNikki37.2%Jayne67.1%Michael & Spiral9.7%Mikey48.5% (out of 4)Imogen62%Jennie0.9%to winAisleyne22.0%to winNikki6.5%(out of 5)Glyn38.8%(out of 2)Lea53.8%Susie59.4% (out of 3)NikkiHouse's choiceto re-enterRichard9.2%(out of 4)Pete61.2%to win Notes
: There were no nominations in Week 1. Instead, all housemates except Bonnie, Dawn and Glyn formed the Big Brotherhood and were immune from eviction, while the housemates excluded from the Brotherhood did not receive their suitcases and faced the public vote. Because Dawn was ejected from the house, it was only Bonnie and Glyn that faced the public vote. : As punishment for discussing nominations, Sezer and Imogen were banned from nominating. As new housemates, Aisleyne and Sam could not nominate and could not be nominated by their fellow housemates. George had walked before nominations were made. : Imogen was banned from nominating on Day 15 because the night before, she had disclosed to her fellow housemates the fact that she was unable to nominate the previous week. Lisa was also banned on Day 18 after telling Imogen who she nominated in the previous week. : As the Golden Housemate, only Susie was eligible to nominate this week. Lisa could not be nominated, having won a task set by Big Brother. The two housemates Susie nominated were Grace and Nikki. : During the previous week, Glyn, Imogen, Lea, Lisa and Nikki discussed nominations. As punishment, the five of them had to each nominate one of their fellow rule-breakers in front of their fellow housemates. The one or more housemate(s) with the most nominations would face eviction; Nikki was chosen. The remaining housemates nominated as normal, selecting from everyone except Nikki. : This week's public vote was not to evict a housemate, but to vote them into the House Next Door. The housemates nominated as usual, but were unaware of the fake eviction or of the House Next Door. Aisleyne was not evicted, but instead moved next door. : Aisleyne was told that she had to evict four of the five new housemates who were living in the House Next Door. However, she was not told that the first three housemates she chose would join the others in the main house. Her fourth nomination, for Jonathan, was for real, and he was evicted. Aisleyne, Jennie, Jonathan, Michael and Spiral were in the House Next Door during the nominations, and therefore did not take part. As a new housemate, Jayne could not nominate and could not be nominated by her fellow housemates. As punishment for telling Aisleyne he had nominated her the previous week, Pete was banned from nominating. : As punishment for Jayne discussing the outside world, nominations were cancelled and everyone except Jayne automatically faced the public vote. : The housemates were put into pairs of "Best Friends": these were Aisleyne & Jennie; Glyn & Mikey; Imogen & Susie; Pete & Richard and Michael & Spiral. Each pair nominated one housemate. The housemates with the most nominations faced eviction with their "Best Friend". Unlike previous weeks, this week was a vote to save. : As part of an ongoing task, housemates had to nominate using an 'Automated Big Brother' phone system. Whilst announcing nominations, 'Automated Big Brother' "broke down", having only announced Imogen's name. Unbeknownst to the housemates, this week was a double eviction. : After Susie's eviction on Day 79, the public voted for which 4 ex-housemates they would like to move into the House Next Door. George, Shahbaz, Dawn and Jonathan were not eligible to re-enter as they had not left the House via a Public vote. Bonnie and Sezer were also not eligible for legal reasons. On Day 83, Grace, Lea, Mikey and Nikki moved into the House Next Door. : Jennie won a task set by Big Brother and was given a guaranteed place in the final. On Day 86, the housemates in the main house (excluding Glyn, who was punished for attempting to enter the House Next Door after hearing former housemates were in there) chose Nikki to re-enter the house, where she became eligible to win. Grace, Lea and Mikey were therefore re-evicted. There were no nominations in the final week. The public were voting for the housemate they wanted to win, rather than evict.
Weekly summary Week 1 Entrances On Day 1, Bonnie, Pete, George, Shahbaz, Lea, Imogen, Mikey, Dawn, Glyn, Richard, Grace, Lisa, Sezer and Nikki entered the house. Twists This week no nominations took place. Instead, housemates were put into a group, known as "The Big Brotherhood". They were elected by group leaders Lisa and Shahbaz. Throughout the week, Lisa and Shahbaz picked housemates to join "The Big Brotherhood". These housemates received their suitcases and immunity from eviction. Nominations Bonnie, Dawn and Glyn were not selected to join "The Big Brotherhood" and were nominated for eviction. After Dawn was ejected from the house on Day 8, the nominations remained the same with Bonnie and Glyn still facing the public vote. Exits On Day 6, Shahbaz walked from the house. On Day 8, Dawn was ejected from the house after she revealed that she was using a code to receive information from the outside world. On Day 9, Bonnie was evicted from the house, receiving 78% of the public vote to evict. Week 2 Entrances On Day 12, Aisleyne and Sam entered the house. Tasks The housemates were given a task in which they had to answer various questions in order to win sections of a luxury food budget they had ordered, in a game show-style "Meal or No Meal". On Day 13, Pete was given a task in which he was asked the questions that were answered incorrectly from the "Meal or No Meal" task. Answering questions right would result in prizes. Getting three out of four right, Pete won the house toilet rolls, miscellaneous shopping list items, and new housemates Aisleyne and Sam. Punishments Due to discussing nominations, Imogen and Sezer were banned from nominating this week. Nominations