Swing for your beers

Big Brother will ban alcohol from the Big Brother House until the contestants get dirty or flirty, it has emerged.

10:35 26 May 2004

Big Brother will ban alcohol from the Big Brother House until the contestants get dirty or flirty, it has emerged.

In the past housemates have been able to put alcohol on their weekly shopping list - but producers now think they have found a better way.

"We don't want the shopping arriving with the alcohol, then the house-mates having a blow-out and being bored for the rest of the week," a BB insider told The Sun today.

Under the new scheme the booze will be kept in a locked fridge instead.

"If things are getting fruity and some of the housemates are getting flirty, Big Brother will call someone into the Diary Room and give them the key to the fridge," the source said.

In the past Big Brother has given "mini tasks" to bored contestants and rewarded them with drinks, or given alcohol to contestants on birthdays.

But the new scheme has the potential for many more alcohol-fuelled activities.

"It means we could be watching drunken antics every night," the show insider said.