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They say it’s the quiet ones you have to watch, and Big Brother is certainly proving the adage true.

While Charley Uchea stalks about the house, trussed up in hotpants, voice shrilling, a beacon for attention, and 19-year-old twins Sam and Amanda Marchant perform endless, vacuous dance routines, it is the softly spoken, blue-eyed, boy next door Liam McGough who it’s really worth keeping an eye on.

Within days of entering the Big Brother house, the 22-year-old tree surgeon had proved himself popular enough to land £100,000 in cash.

In an inventive attempt at mind games, Big Brother gave the three housemates up for eviction – Carole Vincent, Seany O’Kane and Tracey Barnard – one minute to decide which of their fellow housemates should be the recipient of a £100,000 cash prize.

The stunned threesome looked at each other, tossed names around, disagreed, reassessed, vetoed and then the word ‘Liam’ was mentioned. Much vigorous nodding ensued, then, peering into the diary room camera, they announced their decision. Liam, they said. Non-threatening, Every Man Liam.

McGough, from Lanchester, County Durham, had only been in the house five days, arriving as part of the late male contingent, and wept silent, curiously manly tears on hearing of his windfall.

But if £100,000 was a nice welcome present, he could well receive just as pleasant a farewell gift.

While housemates were lead to believe the £100,000 handed over to McGough was the Big Brother prize fund, in fact the winner will also walk away £100,000.

And who is the favourite to win? One Liam McGough.

Following his tearful acceptance of the £100,000 prize, bookmaker Ladbrokes slashed the odds on McGough winning the Channel 4 show to 3-1. His nearest rival, the charmingly-accented, gay academic Gerry Stergiopoulos, lags behind with 9-1 odds.

Of course, £200,000 could be merely the beginning of McGough’s Big Brother pay day. The real money rolls in when the show finishes.

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