Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack winner emerges to discover nobody's ever heard of him

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John Loughton, 20, from Edinburgh beat Emilia Arata, 18, to win the new Channel 4 reality show, but the programme ended in a whimper after it proved to be a big loser in the ratings stakes.

Just 640,000 viewers tuned into last night's show after it failed to attract a loyal following.

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Scottish politician John Loughton, leaving the Big Brother studio last night, will not be living the lavish celebrity lifestyle previous winners have enjoyed

Loughton fought hard to win what he thought would be his ticket to stardom, blissfully unaware interest in the show had plummeted to a new low.

While previous winners have enjoyed a string of lucrative media offers and VIP lifestyle after leaving the house, there's little chance Loughton will be afforded such luxuries.

And as this year's winner appears destined for oblivion, the show may be headed towards the same fate, with growing speculation it will be scrapped.

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Fame game: John Loughton took home the £50,000 prize, but stardom still eludes him

Last year's Celebrity Big Brother opened with 7.1million viewers on Channel 4 alone.

Celebrity Hijack, however, launched earlier this month with a combined total of 3.4 million viewers on Channel 4 and E4.

Apart from the simulcast on both channels for the launch, the show was then only broadcast on E4.

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The Scottish politician and runner-up Emilia moments before the winner was announced

Channel 4 bosses decided to change its format after last year's race row involving Jade Goody and Shilpa Shetty.

This year, the housemates were 12 young people chosen for their intelligence and talent while the celebrities took it in turns to take over the role of Big Brother.

Little Britain's Matt Lucas was the first star to take control of proceedings, while others included Jimmy Carr, Joan Rivers, Brian Sewell and Ian Wright.

There is also new speculation the original Big Brother is also facing the axe with bookmakers predicting the ninth series with be the last.

Last year's flagship show, which was won by Brian Belo, experienced a dramatic ratings slump, with viewers dropping by 20 per cent.

The number of hopefuls auditioning for the ninth series has also fallen to an all-time low.

Channel 4's deputy chairman Lord Puttnam revealed last year he is "not proud" of Big Brother but admitted it would be difficult to replace the money-spinner, which accounts for 15 per cent of the channel's total revenue.