There are 14 basic rules regarding life inside the Big Brother House. They are set out in their simplest terms below. In agreeing to take part in Big Brother, the housemates are agreeing to abide by the rules.

• There is no contact with the outside world.
• Housemates are filmed 24 hours a day and must wear personal microphones at all times.
• The Diary Room is the only place in the House where Big Brother will acknowledge housemates individually.
• Visits to the Diary Room are compulsory.
• Nominations are compulsory.
• Housemates must give frank and honest reasons for nominations.
• It is not permitted to discuss nominations, or try to influence anyone else's nominations.
• It is not permitted to discuss details of how they'd spend the prize money (if they were to win).
• Eviction is decided by public vote.
• All tasks and challenges are compulsory.
• Housemates must not act violently towards any other housemate.
• Housemates are free to leave the House at any time.
• If any housemate breaks the rules they may be asked to leave the House.
• THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE OF ALL: Big Brother reserves the right to change the rules at any time.

Personal Belongings

The housemates are restricted as to what personal belongings they can bring into the House.

Housemates will be allowed to take one suitcase and one small bag into the house. The suitcases will be the same size for all participants and no additional bags or baggage will be allowed.

The Big Brother team will check the contents of the suitcases before the housemates enter the House and inventories will be compiled.

As in past years, housemates will be allowed to take up to six bottles or cans of beer, or two bottles of wine into the house.

Housemates are allowed to bring in a reasonable quantity of toiletries, but they will need to prioritise which items they want to bring in.

Any additional items needed during the duration of the stay must be purchased out of the joint weekly food budget.

Items banned from the house include; musical instruments, books, games, writing materials, mobile phones, radios, walkmans, CDs or CD players, computers, PDAs (Psion, Palm Pilot, etc), calendars, clocks and watches, drugs and narcotics, personal medication (except in consultation with Big Brother), weapons, any electronic equipment or items requiring batteries and clothes with prominent logos.

Other House Rules

Participants must wear their radio-microphones at all times during waking hours.

Microphones can only be taken off in bed, in the shower and in the pool.

Housemates are responsible for changing the batteries in their mics at regular intervals.

If housemates attempt to communicate without the cameras or microphones recording the communication (e.g. tampering with microphones, writing secret messages, mouthing words off-camera) or if they try to tamper with, or cover recording equipment, then Big Brother reserves the right to expel them from the House.

Prior to entering the Big Brother House, the housemates are not allowed to talk to the media. Neither are they permitted to know the identities of their fellow housemates.

Food, Housekeeping, Weekly Tasks and Challenges

Food and alcohol in the House is supplied only by Big Brother.

The housemates will participate in compulsory weekly tasks to determine their weekly shopping budget. If the housemates fail the weekly task, they will each lose an amount per head to spend on shopping that week. If they pass, they have the luxury of spending more money per head that week.

The housemates will be set weekly tasks and will have a few days to resolve them. As soon as the nature of the task is announced by Big Brother, the housemates will have to work together as a team to complete it and they will find outif they have successfully completed the task, later that week.

Leaving The House/The Eviction Process

Housemates can leave the House in three ways:

They may be evicted, they can leave of their own free will (and may do so at any time) or in exceptional circumstances they may be asked to leave by Big Brother.

At the end of the series viewers will then vote for the winner.

Voluntary/Involuntary Departure

If a housemate wants to leave they must first report to the Diary Room and give their reasons for leaving.

Big Brother may ask a housemate to leave the House if they behave inappropriately, for example, if they engage in violent or abusive behaviour, or damage the House or its contents.

Housemates leaving voluntarily or being asked to leave may be replaced at Big Brother's discretion.

The Eviction Process

Housemates are required to participate in the much anticipated, and often equally dreaded, nominations process at a time chosen by Big Brother. Any housemate refusing to make a nomination or failing to provide Big Brother with a satisfactory reason for their nomination will be reprimanded by Big Brother. Housemates are not allowed to discuss their nominations with each other or to try to influence anyone else's nominations.

The Diary Room nominations will be announced to housemates at a time chosen by Big Brother and will be included in the Channel 4 highlights show the following evening. Viewers will be able to watch Big Brother announce the results of each week's nominations live on Big Brother's Little Brother. The housemates who receive the most nominations are then subject to the public vote.

Viewers and housemates will later learn who is to be evicted during Channel 4's live evening eviction shows, presented by Davina McCall, and the evicted housemate will leave during the second live show.

Big Brother reserves the right to change the frequency, times and details of nominations and evictions at any time.

REMEMBER: Big Brother reserves the right to change the frequency, times and details of nominations at any time.