Nasty Nicked! C4 evicts cheat from Big Brother

"Nasty Nick" Bateman, the Big Brother pantomime villain, will today publicly face the music after being caught cheating and kicked off the Channel 4's programme.

"Nasty Nick" Bateman, the Big Brother pantomime villain, will today publicly face the music after being caught cheating and kicked off the Channel 4's programme.

He exited stage left last night after contestants finally caught up with the rest of the nation and discovered just how scheming their housemate really was.

The 32-year-old former stockbroker, dubbed the most-hated man on TV, will be quizzed in a live interview in tonight's eviction show about why he tried to manipulate the voting process.

Nick went to ground after being disqualified when he was discovered to have written notes to fellow contestants hoping to influence their eviction nominations five weeks into the knock-out contest.

He is to be replaced and flatmates Craig or Nichola will be evicted from tonight's show and lose the chance of winning the £70,000 prize.

The first Big Brother evictee Sada Walkington said: "Perhaps there were other motivations but he was very very conniving. I think it will make coming out of the house very sad for Nick."

Rumours of a punch-up between Craig and the viewers' least favourite contestant were denied by the programme's makers yesterday, but a spokeswoman did concede they had stopped broadcasting for two hours after a producer "panicked" when the confrontation looked as if it would descend into a brawl.

Craig, together with Nichola, will find out on Friday if they will become the fourth person to leave the programme, so he was particularly angry to discover Nick's tactics. The Liverpudlian told him: "I just thought you were genuine. I was misled and you made me look a fool."

Craig wasn't alone. At a hastily arranged meeting yesterday morning, Darren told the embarrassed Nick: "No one is going to trust you - you might as well take your stuff and go." Melanie agreed. "I think you should walk," she said. Other contestants labelled Nick as "sick", as he whimpered: "I've done something wrong."

The full extent of Nick's treachery finally dawned on the other six contestants after Irishman Thomas let slip to Craig that Nick had voted against him.

A search of Nick's suitcase quickly followed while he sat unaware in another room. They found his papers outlining his voting intentions and Nick's fate as the most unpopular man in the house was sealed.

He was smuggled out of the house yesterday afternoon. A waiting car took him to a Channel 4 safe house where, like other rejected contestants, he was offered counselling.