Prize money plummets

The dwindling prize fund for Big Brother housemates plummeted further tonight as the group squandered £6,000 in a weekly task.

Contestants are now aiming for a total prize of £85,000 - after they elected student Stuart as the most intellectual in their number and he fluffed a series of general knowledge questions.

The cash total had already dropped from an initial £100,000 following rebel housemate Kitten's refusal to leave the compound following her eviction on Friday and sunk further in just half an hour.

Stuart, 20, answered questions in the house diary room as his competitors gathered in the garden to be spun on a roundabout as part of a bizarre trivia challenge.

While the Leeds University student offered four wrong answers, former asylum seeker Ahmed also failed to get to grips with the task, failing to complete his turns on the vomit-inducing playground ride.

It meant that the money on offer for the winner of the Channel 4 show fell from £91,000 to £85,000 in a matter of minutes.

The group had first been instructed to rate themselves in order of intelligence, with Stuart ranking himself first.

As he attempted to answer the posers, his housemates were subjected to dizzying revolutions of the roundabout, prompting Marco and Stuart to vomit.

"The winner's gonna leave with absolutely zero," Vanessa snorted after the completion of the task.

Earlier, the group tore into Ahmed, as Michelle dubbed him homophobic while Marco said he had been brought into the house to "p s people off".

Producers primed the housemates for the challenge with an afternoon party, during which they gorged on cakes, sweets and chocolate.