The theme of the show is simply ten people, locked up in a purpose-built house bristling with concealed cameras and microphones so that no detail of daily life goes unobserved. The five-million-plus TV audience sees life in the lounge, the bedrooms, the showers. (An early sign of how the participants would handle this publicity was a graphically-filmed episode where several used their naked bodies to paint the walls. If you happened to miss the painting, you could still watch a man and a woman showering together afterwards.) Each week the participants vote by secret ballot for two of their number to be evicted. The viewers then choose one of the two., As I write, three contestants remain. A final vote will determine who wins the £70,000 prize. So popular is the show that those evicted so far as busy selling their stories, usually for more than the prize money.