Florist Claire beds in at the Big Brother house

A 25-year-old florist has been replanted into the Big Brother household to replace "Nasty Nick" Bateman, who was uprooted last week for cheating.

A 25-year-old florist has been replanted into the Big Brother household to replace "Nasty Nick" Bateman, who was uprooted last week for cheating.

Claire - her surname is being kept secret - hails from Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire. She joined the remaining five contestants inside the house at 7.30pm last night.

Channel 4 said they were not been told who was to join them, or when.

Three people from the original shortlist of contestants were interviewed in the quest to find a replacement for Nick, who was ordered out after flouting rules which forbade tactical voting.

The choice of Claire as his replacement balances out the ratio of sexes remaining in the show.

Claire was rushed into the household without seeing her baby brother, who was born yesterday afternoon.

But despite this she said: "I'm really looking forward to being part of Big Brother - I know it will be a great laugh and an experience I will never forget.

"I'm a bit sad that I still haven't met my little baby brother who was born this afternoon but this is a great opportunity and I will see him when I get out."

Big Brother spokesman James Herring said: "The new contestant will have a tricky task ahead of them.

"We believe that they will be at a significant disadvantage. Firstly, they are entering an extremely tight group who have built up very strong bonds over 36 days.

"Secondly, the public will see this person joining the project halfway through and won't see them as so deserving to win."

The show received 20,000 completed applications from would-be contestants. From these, 30 were selected, 10 of whom made up the original household. Claire came from the remaining 20 on the shortlist.

To give her a chance of survival, she will have a week's amnesty in which she cannot be evicted or able to vote out anyone else.

She will have to sign a confidentiality agreement that she does not talk about the outside world or answer questions from housemates.