Big Brother house floored by NI

There will be no evictions for the first two weeks

The second series of Big Brother is continuing its link with Northern Ireland.

Last year, the show featured Tom McDermott from County Tryone as one of the 10 contestants.

This time however, the link is more permanent with the carpets used throughout the Big Brother house coming from the province.

The Big Brother house in east London has undergone extensive rennovations, adopting a trendy new urban look for the new series.

Popular: Tom McDermott starred in the first series

And the carpets have been supplied by the Ulster Carpets factory in Portadown, County Armagh.

In the first series, Tom was voted out of the house by viewers after seven weeks.

Another 10 contestants, chosen from 50,000 applicants arrived in the house on Saturday to compete over the next nine weeks for the £70,000 prize.

Unlike the first series, the 10 will have two weeks to establish themselves in the house before the first evictions take place.

Each contestant will nominate two housemates for eviction each week with the final vote decided by viewers of the show, both on television and online.

Irish connection

The show's producers have chosen another Irish man for the series.

Brian, who originally comes from Kildare in the Republic of Ireland, is a 22-year-old cabin crew supervisor.

He has already told the female occupants of the house that he is gay, but that he is scared of the other men in the house finding out.

Each of the 10 contestants - Amma, Brian, Bubble, Dean, Elizabeth, Helen, Narinder, Penny, Paul and Stuart - has been briefed on what to expect from the experience while being kept at a secret location.

Amma, a 23-year-old table dancer, said she wants "to show Britain that not all strippers are the Jerry Springer stereotype".

Brian (centre) enters the house

By 1100 BST on Friday, when the contestants had only been in the house for an hour, popularity voting had begun on the Big Brother website.

Elizabeth emerged as the favourite - although an hour later Amma was in the lead with 23% of votes.

Dean has since emerged as the bookies' favourite to take the £70,00 prize, with odds of 5-1, with Paul and Helen in second place, with odds of 6-1.

The odds are from the show's official bookmaker, Paddy Power, which has Stuart, Bubble and Amma as the least likely to win, with odds of 10-1.

Another bookmaker William Hill, also picks out Dean as favourite, with odds of 11-4, while Bubble, Elizabeth and Stuart have the longest odds of 9-1.

Channel 4 is hoping to build on the success of the first series, which drew 10 million viewers for the finale, and is launching interactive services on digital TV and mobile phones.

Channel 4 says it plans to "push the boundaries further" and show bosses have installed an indoor Jacuzzi and a double bed.

The contestants, who had not met until Friday, will be under surveillance from 37 cameras and 40 microphones 24 hours a day.

Last summer Big Brother established itself as a TV phenomenon and stories from the house in east London where the 10 contestants live for nine weeks made headlines.