Posted by Simon at July 17, 2004 05:54 PM

The Saturday task is going to be a bit fishy, and there's going to be a sting in the tail too...

Housemates will be grouped in pairs of intellectual and physical, based on the selection of one housemate - the selector. That housemate will have to put their hand in a bowl of FISH GUTS and select the names out.

It sounds like one of the Big Brother USA challenges from last year where the housemates had fish guts land on them from above when their partner couldn't hold out on the physical aspect of the challenge any more, and is pretty SICK.

And it's certainly looking like it'll be evil, as Michelle is strongly vegetarian and when she walked in to the sofa area she was hit by the stench of the fish guts which were in the bowl on the table, but hadn't been spotted by the housemates until they'd sat down.

To make things worse she's saying she'd like to be the selector because that way she'll probably not have to take part in the actual challenge part, which they believe will involve the fish guts - it seems like it's just the selection process though which will involve it... Oops.

Michelle picked from the fish guts during the ads!
E4's "live feed" went to an ad just as they were about to say who the selector was, and by the time it got back from the ads it'd appear that all of the housemates had been selected out of the bowl.

Shell, Vic and Dan are on one side, with Jay, Nadia and Stu on the other, but again it's not clear who's doing what yet as the board with the details has not been shown on camera. Michelle doesn't seem to have "suffered" too much from the name picking though, and she's encouraging the other housemates to "try your best not to be sick, please please please!"

And on to the main part of the task...
After sitting on the bench in the garden for several minutes, pondering what Big Brother might have in store for them with the raise pit-like contraption, which bizarrely has steps that climb upwards as if they lead up over the wall and out of the garden - will contestants that manage to pass the challenge get to escape from the Big Brother house?!

Each "intellectual" member of the pair will be called to the diary room, and be asked to answer as many questions as possible in the time. The "physical" member will stand on the steps, facing outwards, and for every time a question is got wrong the steps will fold in and the housemate will fall straight in to the tank of fish guts - it'll continue like this until there is no time left. Pair 2 and 3 will do the same, and each time they risk loosing £5000.

Victor and Jason up first...
Jason has been called to the diary room to answer the questions, and Jay is making his way on to the steps. It looks bloody leathal - could this challenge see the first Big Brother death?!

Fortunately they held the action until after E4 got back from another ad break, before showing Victor climb steps twice, and then them collapsing when Jay got an answer wrong and Victor sliding down in to the pit of fish guts.

He just made it back on to the steps when the time finished, and he was again dumped in to the fish guts.

Shell and Stuart up next...
Stuart is answering the questions, and Shell is waiting on the bottom step, not at all looking happy with what she now knows is going to be coming up in the next couple of moments.

Just like Victor she managed to get up the steps a couple of times due to questions answered correctly, and ended up in the fish guts twice. However on both occasions Shell held the handrail as she started to fall - a breach of the rules, and also a risk of the health and safety as she stood a chance of injury from bending her arm back... and on her second fall her safety helmet came off - so a near death, maybe.

Nadia and Dan are the final pair...
Yet again E4's gone to ads, but returned in time to see the main action, with Dan standing up on the steps, meaning Nadia is being the intellectual one from the pair and trying to get Dan up to the £5000 step - something which neither of the previous pairs have managed so far!

Nadia seemed to do quite well, getting Dan up as far as Shell managed, but Dan too ended up in the fish guts, and in the end didn't have enough time to get any higher up than the starter step.

ARE THEY THICK?
They've been told to remain on the bench, yet Shell went to get a shower. And Jay was standing too. Big Brother made an announcement telling all housemates they must remain on the bench, yet Shell still didn't hurry back from the shower, and second later Stu said "i'm gonna go and get a shower" - ARE YOU THICK?! LISTEN TO THE BLOODY INSTRUCTIONS!

Pair 1 saved nothing.
Pair 2 saved nothing.
Pair 3 saved nothing.

They really failed that task in a big way. Housemates lost a huge £15,000 from the prize fund, although here comes the sting in the tail - Michelle, as the selector, is being called to the diary room.

In an attempt to save £5000 Stu was given some sort of milkshake style mix in a glass, which seems to have had fish guts in it. They decided not to bother though after realising how foul it was, and Shell chucked it in the fish guts tank. Remarkably though, housemates hadn't remained on the bench, with some going inside the bedroom/shower again, and Nadia even blatently ignoring Big Brother's instructions to sit on the bench, instead having a cigarette.

The prize fund now stands at £56,500 - although The Eye wouldn't be suprised if Big Brother takes further money off for the rule breaking.

See more of the Fish Guts Saturday Challenge in our Picture Special