She’s gone and, unlike last week’s evictee, she managed to leave all the living room furniture where it belonged.

Following the past few weeks’ evictions, housemates’ reactions have been fairly tame and largely short-lived but Lydia’s absence is going to be felt.

When the call from Brian came, housemates listened to the crowd’s reactions outside. Becky said: “She’s strong, she’s full of success. She can do it.”

Lauren appeared to be fighting back tears but Shievonne showed herself to be firmly in camp Deana saying, “Big up to all my homies, they would have voted for Deana. My people were on that phone. They know we would be friends on the outside.”

Deana had domestic matters on her mind, “Oh my god,” she said, “I actually have to wash my clothes. I thought I would be out tonight. I am going to use this opportunity to learn how to cook.”

Both Conor and Arron were looking forward to tonight’s party and were more concerned by the locked store cupboard. Arron revealed he was going to give Deana a second chance saying: “Me and this girl are going to start afresh.”

Lydia may have thought she took one thing with her from the House – the secret identity of her famous fiancé - but that wasn’t the case.

Conor revealed his name minutes after her departure – and Luke S explained who he was.

The cat is well and truly out of the bag.

 Yeah! Party time! Wooo!

Hang on... what's that?

Gather on the sofa? This is Big Brother? Housemates have been discussing nominations?

AGAIN?

That's right! Big Brother's hand has been forced once again and punishments have been doled out following yet more illicit nominations-chat. This time, Deana and Scott find themselves in the thick of it, with some noms-talk that wasn't even incriminating. Just a little bit careless and silly. Thankfully, probably due to the weak nature of the naughty conflab, the punishment isn't so severe. No music for the night (party ruined) and the table football has been withdrawn from use. But at least they've still got each other.

The most notable thing when the announcement was made was Scott's rather extravagant reaction. After housemates left the sofas to go and relax in the garden, Scott thought they were still fuming about his naughtiness and continued to build his defence with Deana and Caroline in the kitchen. But amusingly enough, housemates had moved on long ago and weren't actually bothered after five minutes had passed. But still, Scott raged on.

'Do you think I'm going to say sorry about that?' he asked Becky.

'I would', she replied.

'Becks – stop being all... thingy' came the lad from Macclesfield's response.

She was being a bit thingy though.

They're a woman down but this doesn't mean the Outsiders are ready to give up on themselves. Uh-uh, wrong, no way, jose. *ahem*

Tactical chats in the movies tend to take place in underground car parks or while sitting on a park benches wearing sunglasses. However, Lauren and Adam are locked in a North London bedsit and have to make do with what's going.

The kitchen sink was the spot Adam chose to brief Lauren on the House dramas of the day. She was only too keen to listen. "Fill me in because I'm deaf to some stuff," she said while scrubbing the residue of lasagne off a plate.

Adam leaned in and lowered his voice and it got painfully hard to listen, particularly with Conor and Arron whoopin' and hollerin' in the background.

"MumblemumblemumbleBeckySarayelling mumble," we picked up.
"WhoophollerAshleighslappedLukebuttheymadeuphollerwhoop."

With Lauren sufficiently impressed, the former drill sergeant sensed a true student and launched some tips on how to become an intelligence sponge.

"When you're in the area and they begin to rant about something, listen. Next time there's free info around, you suck it up without being noticed because they're not going to talk to you openly."

Wise words, Adam. We hope Mi5 are taking note.

Luke A then sauntered over in time to agree that the Insiders will self-destruct and all the Outsiders need to do is "keep it real".  The three then enjoyed an optimistic group hug.

Is their optimism is realistic?

There’s plenty of room for two Lukes in the Big Brother House but their paths have rarely crossed in the past few weeks.

Day 25 saw the two spending a good half an hour chatting in the kitchen, bonding over past employment in the hospitality industry and preparing dinner together.

While Luke S has established himself as something of an alpha male in the house – sprinkling testosterone like a priest with holy water as he locks lips with Ashleigh, bench-presses Lauren and defends his protein supply, Luke A sometimes struggles to find his place.

We'd never seen Luke A as smiley as when he thought he'd scored the team 20 points in the 100 task, earning whoops of recognition from his peers. So we collectively viewed the moment BB revealed he'd actually lost the housemates points through the cracks of our fingers.

Uncharacteristically, Luke S jumped to his defence in the Diary Room, showing us he actually cares.

With Lydia gone, The Outsiders are a woman down. Can they exist as a threesome, or will Luke A need to form new alliances?

It's been a slow afternoon in the Big Brother House which has given our housemates some valuable time to reflect.Earlier today Becky and Sara sat down to try to clear the air after last night's events.

It seems like Becky's blunt reading of Arron's attraction to Sara as a "showmance" is fine by the Scots lass. She's still saying she doesn't fancy Arron one smidge. Amusingly and touchingly, this is causing the male model to overcompensate with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. He's planning to roll up to the post-Big-Brother wrap party with a pretty girl who loves him on his arm. Who loves him - let no one accuse Arron of being 100 percent shallow.

The argument that may have longer lasting consequences is the one that went down between Shievonne and Becky. It's hard to tell exactly where the root of the beef but as far as we can make out, Shievonne had a rant about "actors" in the House which offended performing arts student Becky. This stimulated further ranting from Shiev on the theme of 'we're all performers here'.

A shaken Becky later let off steam referring to Shiev as an "angry person." This description made Shievonne angry. Touche, Becky.

The two have hugged it out but only time will tell whether they've really moved on.

During the early days of Big Brother (we're on Day 26, we can look back nostalgically), some of the quieter members of the household were either overshadowed by louder characters or hastily typecast. Poor Scott with his tendency to stand near Caroline smirking knowingly was labelled a "sheep". Not a sexy animal by anyone's measure.

This rep only solidified when he conformed to group behaviour during the 'Lab Rats' hypnotism task. In the eyes of many this proved Scott as baaaaad to the bone.

Lydia was also quick to label Scott a sheep during the '100' task when she chose to gunge those she suspected of nominating her. The  war-cry of "We have leaders and then the sheep. I'm going for the sheep" was swiftly accompanied by the selection of Scott, Becky and Sara as gungees.

But don't close the book on him yet, folks. As glaringly atrocious as his new raspberry 'do may be, it unquestionably sets him apart from the flock. Scott has copied no one to obtain the closest a hairstyle can come to blindness-inducing. It's not the tame wool of a sheep that we see balanced offensively on top of his head.

Then there was last night's unrepentant response to a group penalty he induced through a nomination talk with Deana. Scott's usual purr was replaced by the bay, the bay of a man who does not care that the table football has been removed. "You might as well kick a pillow," he yelled after Big Brother announced the news.

You don't catch sheep shouting about the futility of miniature football. But if he's not a sheep, what does this make him?

Resident queen of spuds, Lauren, should enjoy this task.  

Having come from a potato-farming background, she has been selected as the potat-authority for this task (sorry, we couldn't resist).

She must select the two best chefs in the Big Brother House. The chefs will cook up a potato-based dish for her this afternoon in a head to head cook-off.

Using the ingredients supplied by Big Brother, they will cook whatever they can dream up, but potato must be the main ingredient in both dishes.

The chefs will choose a sous chef each to assist them throughout the task. They have approximately one hour to create their dishes. At the end of the hour Lauren will taste both dishes then announce the winner.

Lauren and the best chef will win an alfresco dinner later today.

The prize will be served in the garden.

Mmm... a much coveted prize of a jacket potato, chips and a side of dauphinoise,  and a bottle of vino for two.