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Loyal Apprentice watchers couldn’t keep the show’s ratings from sliding as a new series of Big Brother launched last night.

The eighth season of Big Brother drew over eight million viewers while The Apprentice peaked at 5.3 million.

Big Brother then settled down to an average of 6.2 million viewers, giving it a 26 per cent share of all available viewers, while The Apprentice fell to 4.8 million and a 19.4 per cent share.

Big Brother barely waited to kick off before introducing its first twist: only women were ushered into the new-look house.

The group consisted of 18-year-old twins obsessed with the colour pink, a 60-year-old acquaintance of the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, an unemployed, self-proclaimed It girl and a rave-loving cleaner.

Other contestants on the Channel 4 show included a student obsessed with Victoria Beckham, a receptionist who described herself as “an enigma,” a right wing 19-year-old who gave herself 10 out of 10 for intelligence and a nanny who wants to be an embalmer.

They were joined by a 53-year-old socialist activist and a 27-year-old adopted from Mumbai as a baby,who said others were often confused about her identity but she knew who she was – a make-up loving, smoking, drinking Catholic.

A nightmare group in real-life, perhaps, but on TV they proved more appealing than the remaining Apprentice contestants.

Loyal viewers tuned in to see Naomi Lay fired, leaving five contestants still standing, but couldn’t stop the show taking a ratings hit for the second week running.

Last week the BBC One show was up against the Champion’s League Final and pulled in an average of 4.7 million viewers, down from 5.8 million the previous week.

While Sir Alan Sugar’s show has the advantage of already having built a loyal following, its climax may not be enough to head off the pull of Big Brother.

Channel 4 has promised new twists and turns and is already building interest with its strange house – the fridge is in the garden, the bath in the lounge and the stove in the bedroom – all female contestants and the news it will introduce one male into the house on Friday.

Today the broadcaster said it was delighted with Big Brother’s launch night performance. Channel 4 Commissioning Editor for Big Brother and Head of E4, Angela Jain said: "This heralds a fantastic start to Big Brother. We remain as committed as ever to making this year's series the most entertaining yet."

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