The final task in the two day lab-rat-athon was by far the darkest. Inspired by a famous experiment carried out in the 1970s by psychologist, Stanley Milgram, 'The Cruelty Experiment' aimed to test how much pain scientists Lydia, Benedict and Luke A would be willing to inflict in the name of obedience.

It's a twisty-turny one so gather round... the scientists were told to ask Adam, Lauren and Adam general knowledge questions and to punish all wrong answers with shocks. The voltage was to increase with every question the lab rats got wrong. What the triumverate of boffins didn't realise was that in this task the tables had turned and they were the subjects of the experiment.

The lab rats had already been briefed on the real task by Big Brother. They were instructed to answer every question wrongly and to feign pain as the shocks increased. The goal of the task was to compel the scientists to choose humanity over blind obedience and stop the shocks before the max voltage of 1000 was applied.

Happily, due to some stellar fakery from the trio, the scientists called off the shocks by 800 volts. That still sounds pretty high if you ask us...

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Larron has itself a little pre-task revival

Adam, Lauren and Arron take in the electrifying details of the shock chart

Here's what they saw

The 'shocks' began

Arron (yes it's hard to tell) feigns pain

The scientists call the task off before the max voltage hits. This news feels a bit like this

High-five time

Phew! What a long two days it's been for the housemates. It's finally time to relax and unwind after a  physically and mentally demanding Lab Rat Task. The smell of success is sweet, the housemates grooming themselves for a post-task / Lydia's 26th party. We all know too well this looks too 'normal' - this is the calm before the storm...

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The birthday girl, Lydia. What do you think of her gothic make up - could we expect streams of mascara later? It's her birthday, she can cry if she wants to!

Scott sporting his new red 'do.

No prizes for guessing who Ashleigh is looking at adoringly.

Caroline sporting her classic bouffant up 'do

He likes milk and it shows...

Dun, dun, dun! There's been a huge shake-up in the Big Brother House. The housemates are no longer allowed to discuss nominations. We repeat. the housemates are no longer allowed to discuss nominations.

Whatever will they talk about now? Stay tuned to the website throughout the night for all the fallout from this game changing news.

Poor Lydia. She was finally allowed to change out of her lab coat and into her glad rags. With these new clothes came the creeping hope that maybe, just maybe, it was time to honour her 26th birthday. For the last few hours, she and the others have been primping and preening in order to be party ready. But when the eye-in-the-sky called the housemates to the sofas to announce a dramatic change to the nomination rules, her celebratory hopes were eclipsed.

"The whole day has gone and they haven't even said 'happy birthday'," she said, water leaking from her smokily made-up eyes.

Big Brother's news that housemates will now be penalised for discussing nominations has stolen her thunder big time.

"Time is fading away," she said, "This is the s**test birthday in the whole of the land."

We're not doctors but this looks like a classic case of the birthday blues.

However, what she doesn't know is Big Brother had a special birthday surprise planned for her all along. Stay tuned to find out what form of present is to come...

BB is like that annoying uncle that used to hold a toy out of reach until you sulked and he relented and handed it over. As Lydia lay in bed, sorrowful about her birthday being ignored all day by BB, she was finally called to the Diary Room.

"No, you can actually do one. Forget it," was her initial sassy response. But her gal pals talked her round and within minutes she was being zipped into a slinky black cocktail dress.

Once inside the Diary Room, she found a cake from Big Brother and that classic tune ‘Happy Birthday’ let her know that she had not been forgotten after all.

Back outside, the housemates had been given face masks of Lydia’s face. She emerged to see herself in surround. What a treat. They also had a selection of her favourite foods and drinks. Hurrah.

The emotional Lyds then gave a rousing speech about birthdays past. The unsuspecting housemates listened in, earnestly unaware that this is part of the latest task. If Big Brother is happy with Lydia's speech then she will be rewarded with a phone call from her world-famous fiancé, Andy Scott Lee.  

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She emerges from the Diary Room armed with a birthday cake!

1 of 1000 Lydias

LOL only joking guys!

It's all too much for Lydia

Lydia is comforted by the girls

Lydia was worried sick earlier when Big Brother failed to acknowledge today, the day of this special dancer's birth. Who, by the way, has danced with a certain Meryl Streep, and, and Pierce Brosnan air-kissed her and, like,  gave her a birthday cake on set. Oh lordy, we've lost track. So did a birthday bash in the Big Brother House match up to her other star-studded birthdays?

Nominations, evictions and feuds were forgotten about for at least a few hours while they got into the party vibe.

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The birthday girl.

Luke S shouts into his mic - is he trying to cheese off Big Brother?

Only kidding! Luke S, you cheeky chappy!

Becky clearly enjoying the festivities.

Shievonne - red hat suits you, girl.

Day 16 had it all: tasks, tears, a birthday and the biggest curveball to be delivered this series.

The Lab Rats task continued with the Impossible Maze, which saw sleep-programmed Caroline and non-sleep-programmed Becky attempting to find the cheese in an impossible maze. Only the words, "I camembert it" could free them. We give humble thanks to the God of Puns. The final task in this two-day blitz was a dark investigation into the battle between obedience and compassion that takes place in the human mind. The Cruelty Task saw, for the first time, the lab rats becoming the scientists.

The housemates found out whether they had passed the task (SPOILER here) but there was no time to dwell on their fortunes because Big Brother called them to the sofas to announce that nomination chat is no longer allowed. You heard it. The subject that launched a thousand scheming sessions is no longer open to the housemates. Violation will lead to serious penalties. Benedict and Lauren found the timing of this annoucement insenstive but you guys must be pleased. Our poll revealed that 88 percent of you are against housemates discussing nominations. Democracy wins!

Birthday girl Lydia, who'd been hoping all day for some celebratory action, exploded in grief as the day wore on without a freakin' party. But Big Brother hadn't forgotten her. There was an ace up a sleeve that may or may not have been one Andy Scott Lee.

In this spirited atmosphere of Lydia's party, Adam saw fit to propose to Shievonne. The normally collected matriach was thrown into a tailspin and claimed to feel: "shock, confusion, awkwardness, like...cringe, sadness, vulnerability and sensitivity." Well done, Ads.

And that was pretty much that for Day 16, apart from the party hi jinx, of course. If there's one thing we love about housemates, it's their dedication to party hi jinx.

Whilst you were all deep in the land of nod, it seems some of the boys decided to partake in a late-night bitching session. Luke A, Benedict and Arron all sat around the proverbial cauldron and stuck their claws in to club promoter, Luke S. Over a 40-minute period, the trio lambasted him for his relationship with Ashleigh calling it ‘fake’, accused him of wanting to be the alpha male and mocked him for his vanity. Geez - and they say girls are catty!

Is anyone else slightly confused by the relationships in the House? Aren't Luke S and Arron supposed to be friends? Apparently not, as Arron has now convinced himself that Luke S is jealous of his friendship with Conor. It all sounds very much like playground stuff to us... And just to add insult to injury, Arron also threw in that Luke S was the only person that had mentioned the prize money to him. Meow indeed.

Now hold on, didn't Arron call Benedict boring the other day - and now the pair are in cahoots? We seriously can't keep up with these lot.

What a glorious way to start the day.

Woken up and immediately ordered to the sofa for an announcement, Big Brother let the housemates know that hot water wasn't an option for anyone needing a shower today (or until further notice).

The reason? Loose lips sank the ship, with Caroline and Conor's conversation from just before midnight on Day 16 the focus. Having been told that nominations discussion was now off-menu, a slightly tipsy Caroline spoke to the man from Derry about Wildcard Becky, and it wasn't entirely favourable.

"She's going to win the show. She's going to win," said Conor.

"No she's not. She's annoying. Everyone's going to nominate her."

Obviously Big Brother read their treacherous dialogue out word-for-word for maximum impact, causing Caroline to cringe the way that only she knows how. Benedict was the first to speak up, calling the girl from Surrey "vile" (among other things). Becky, meanwhile, slunk off to the bathroom, swiftly followed by a slightly dumbfounded Conor.

"Not nice," the Wildcard from Blackburn said, slightly in shock.

"Two-faced," she went on. And then she had a (probably justified) rant about trust issues and devious game-playing. Conor clearly found it difficult to know what to say, having played a part in the forbidden chit-chat. But then – you would, wouldn't you? Awkward isn't the word.

Benedict was on fire this morning. First he had a pop at Caroline for her late night nominations talk before turning his attention to Ashleigh. He definitely hit her where it hurts with the killer line "It's a shame they [Big Brother] chose you to represent Essex".

Oh.no.he.didn't.

He then went on to say how his mother was from Essex, as though this added clout to his argument. So far, 1-0 to Benedict.

After a string of expletives, which certainly didn't help her win the 'classy' case, Ashleigh retorted with "Essex is very classy, it's very glamorous. He's not even [expletive removed] half-Essex". Does this give her a point? We're not convinced.

However, she did make a good point, referring to past events: "What's he doing ... in the shower?"

Yes, fair play, doing your man things and then announcing it to the House isn't exactly the classiest of moves. Ashleigh pulled one back there. So, with the scores tied, who managed to have the last word?  We're going to give it to Benedict, although his retort wasn’t the most fierce of arguments. Still, he made us chuckle with "Sorry Essex, you've got another TOWIE copy. So not reem".

Benedict using the word 'reem'. Just a bit wrong, really.

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 "Shuuuut uuuup"

The fury in his eyes. Be afraid, be very afraid.