Big Brother has stunned viewers by announcing that nine housemates are up for eviction from the Channel 4 show on Friday.

Usually two contestants face the public vote, but after telling housemates that Dale Howard and Luke Marsden received the most nominations, Big Brother revealed seven others would also face eviction because they had broken the show’s ban on discussing nominations.

Big Brother accused Darnell Swallow, Rex Newmark, Mohamed Mohamed, Rachel Rice, Maysoon Shaladi, Kathreya Kasisopa and Stuart Pilkington of discussing nominations in code.

Mikey Hughes, Lisa Appleton and Sara Folino are the only housemates who are assured a place in the house for another week after the remainder of the contestants used football code to discuss votes. Housemates used Arsenal as code for Darnell, while Wigan was a reference to Luke.

The punishment comes on a week when the four heavenly housemates were stunned to be told they were allowed to discuss nominations inside a purpose-built pod. But the four – Mikey, Rex, Mohamed and Stuart – were warned that the usual ban applied outside the walls of the pod.

As further punishment for the rule break, Big Brother stripped Stuart of his role as head of house.

The nomination twist is likely to save Luke and Dale from eviction. Bookmakers say Mohamed is the most disliked housemate, sitting at the bottom of the most likely to win tables.

The toy demonstrator has irritated housemates and the public with his ravenous eating habits. But when confronted about his greed on last night’s show, he was shocked and denied he had a large appetite.

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