Most hated man in Britain is found guilty - of breaking the rules of a television gameshow

Nick Bateman's ignominious expulsion from the Big Brother house yesterday has confirmed his rise to media fame as the most hated man in Britain.

Nick Bateman's ignominious expulsion from the Big Brother house yesterday has confirmed his rise to media fame as the most hated man in Britain.

Such was the revulsion he provoked, that one commentator compared him to Patrick Bateman, the murderous anti-hero of Bret Easton Ellis's novel, American Psycho.

To the uninitiated his status may seem out of proportion to his crime. He has been found guilty of breaking the rules of a television programme.

The Channel 4 show has broken new ground in television voyeurism by making a series out of throwing a group of 10 people together in an east London house, equipped with cameras to provide 24-hour internet coverage. The highlights are broadcast on television and pictured extensively in the tabloids.

In a modern-day variation on a "balloon debate" in which speakers argue why they should not be thrown out, contestants vote each week on who they want to expel from the house until there is just one left. The difference is that rather than expelling people based on the quality of their rhetoric, Big Brother contestants vote against their colleagues on the basis of how unbearable they are to live with. Once they nominate two to leave television viewers make the final decision.

First to go was Sada, a 28-year-old writer and former model, actress and apprentice gardener. Keen on yoga and meditation, she saw herself as the peacemaker of the house, but the others disagreed and after 15 days she was out. Next was Andrew, the 24-year-old marketing manager who worked in Hounslow.

Third was Caroline, a 27-year-old unemployed Brummie whose previous career included spells as a telephonist, a police special constable and a marital aids saleswoman.

And yesterday it was Nick, the 32-year-old Gordonstoun-educated City broker who said he admired Nelson Mandela and went on the show as a "test of character".

Television and internet viewers had seen the evidence against him mount up through coverage of him writing notes to fellow contestants to influence their voting intentions, flattering their egos and comforting the ejected players after conspiring against them.

Producers searched his belongings believing he was using a mobile phone to talk to friends about his public perception.

The individual contestants had no idea until two, Craig and Darren, realised his duplicity as they chatted in the early hours of the morning. A search of Nick's suitcase provided the proof with papers detailing his masterplan and they confronted him.

According to the Big Brother official website, Nick had already decided to leave today and take the place of Craig or Nichola who had been properly nominated.

They told him frankly he should go instead but in the event Channel 4 decided for him.

Nick said in his mitigation, "I just want to firstly apologise to you all for my actions. I'm not going to justify them but will give my reasons. I come from a big family and we tend to compete. I spent 10 years at boarding school where people are constantly trying to put one over on you and I worked in an environment where people would stitch you up without batting an eyelid."

Officially he is in disgrace with Channel 4. But many viewers will be thinking he has done no more than apply techniques common in offices throughout the world.