Housemates quit sleep challenge

The contestants were promised a luxury food budget if they could fight off slumber from Sunday until 10pm today. Between them they were allowed just four hours of sleep, with a "sleep clock" ticking down as soon as one or more of them nodded off.

Pictures: Sheep herding task

But a night of wakefulness caused friction among the housemates, and last night they voted to quit the punishing task. Welsh nanny Laura was keen to stay awake for as long as possible, hoping that Big Brother might give the contestants a special reward.

"They might give us a full-on party if we don't quit this task," she told a meeting of the housemates.

Gerry backed her up, saying: "I'm not quitting. I really think we can make it if we take the breaks at a certain time."

But Charley was unconvinced, telling her fellow housemates: "I'd rather not argue with anyone and just go to bed, because otherwise I'll be downright rude."

Liam, who has already won £100,000 in the show, tried to be diplomatic. "Everybody's here on their individual journey and my journey's not quitting," he said.

But the resulting show of hands made it clear that the other housemates were quite happy to be quitters if that meant getting some shut-eye. The contestants then started hiding their food in the bedroom, remembering that Big Brother had reserved the right to take last week's food away from them.

Nicky said: "I tell you what, everyone's gonna be starving next week on that basic budget."

Carole chipped in: "The blokes are gonna be the starving ones because they eat more than the women."

Earlier the housemates kept themselves awake yesterday afternoon by dressing up as sheep in the hope of earning an extra hour of sleep for their Sleep Bank.

Liam and Laura dressed as Bo Peep and were tasked with counting the number of times the rest of the housemates jumped over fences in the garden. Liam is favourite to win the contest, according to Ladbrokes.

He is now 3/1, from 7/2, to win the reality TV show and add another £100,000 to his already bulging bank account.

Ladbrokes spokesman Nick Weinberg said: "Liam continues to go from strength to strength. His easy-going manner has been a real hit with punters and fans alike.

"The money keeps coming and there's a real danger he could turn into this series' cult hero, just like Pete did last year."