Big Brother: top 10 housemates

Craig Philips (Big Brother 1): Simple choice, but he was the first winner, and as everyone knows he donated his prize money to a sick friend. He emerged as the front-runner when he confronted the notorious 'Nasty' Nick Bateman about his vote-manipulating tactics, and couldn't help but let his moral outrage show, proclaiming him to be disgusting and out of order Photograph: PA

Anna Nolan (Big Brother 1): The singing lesbian ex-nun from Ireland could easily have made a tabloid fortune had she wanted to on leaving the house. Instead, she kept away from the celebrity limelight and carved out a quiet media career. In the house she was funny and matter-of-fact, never rising to the bait about her lesbianism; in a game of shag-or-die, when presented with the options of several of the male housemates, she concluded, 'I'm afraid I would have to die' Photograph: PA

Brian Dowling (Big Brother 2): Out and proud and the star of the show. With his fag-hag Narinder, he pranced around the house like a child performing on stage, awaiting his housemates' plaudits. Their dance routine to their acapella version of Janet Jackson's Nasty will be seared into the memory of all who saw it Photograph: Channel 4

Helen Adams (Big Brother 2): Never the sharpest tool in the box, I like to think she played up to her dizzy blonde image, and when she asked, 'Is there chicken in chickpeas?' and declared, 'I love blinking, I do,' she was actually cynically and cleverly going for the airtime rather than exposing her ignorance Photograph: Channel 4

Tim Culley (Big Brother 3): He gets a mention solely for the classic shot of him shaving his ginger chest hair under a duvet cover, somehow thinking that would disguise his actions, when he was being followed by dozens of cameras every day Photograph: Channel 4

Nadia Almada (Big Brother 5): Scores of people have gone into the diary room and cried about their anxieties that viewers won't like them. Nadia's were probably the only tears that weren't crocodile. She was terrified that the British public and her housemates would hate her if they found out that she was a transsexual. Of course, she won series five, and happiness overwhelmed her when she left the compound to a rapturous public reception Photograph: Channel 4

Michelle Bass (Big Brother 5): Regardless of what you think of her career choices as a glamour model and soft-porn star, she did announce from day one in the house that was her ambition. After all, on the evidence of the Pie Jesu she warbled at Stuart and Shell's mock nuptials, she was never going to make it as a singer Photograph: Channel 4

Emma Greenwood (Big Brother 5): After Big Brother 5's actually-quite-frightening Fight Night, when she took on an entire posse of muscular chaps with short tempers, Emma was removed from the house. It's still unclear whether this was a punishment for her, or to ensure the safety of herself and others Photograph: Channel 4

Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace (Big Brother 7): A late entrant to the house back in 2006, she promptly assessed Nikki Grahame and Grace Adams-Short as awful, irritating, whining harpies, and wasn't afraid of letting them know. Her instruction to Grahame, 'You better know yourself, little girl,' was hilarious and timely Photograph: Channel 4

Rex Newmark (Big Brother 9): Yes, he was a dreadfully conceited, narcissistic, sadistic control freak, and he proved that when he returned to the house as a guest star this year and showed scary glee in giving the housemates electric shocks. However, it's always nice to have someone to despise, and much to Rex's horror his nastiness built up public support for one of his punching bags, the ever-so-nice Rachel Rice, who triumphed Photograph: Channel 4