EIGHT housemates down, eight housemates to go...

9:55: Michael, aged 33, is blind. Looks like the rumours were right then. He seems very confident, is wearing a great poncho, and apparently sometimes dresses like a woman. He has stockings in draws everywhere, speaks Danish, and seems a real character. This series Pete perhaps? An assistant helps him into the house, which seems like it could be a real challenge for him. If nothing he must be very brave. Everybody gives him a hug and welcomes him in, apparently he prefers to be called Mikey and is also a Scot, and he gets straight into a good old Glasgow verus Edinburgh divide argument with Dennis.

10:00: Pregnant at 15, daughter at 16, Alexandra has a good job and two cars and seems to have made a success of a difficult situation. She is a Muslim and works in accounting. The crowd are chanting 'Who are ya?' at her and booing vociferously, sounds like they took an instant disliking to her although I'm not sure quite why. Maybe they resented the BMW she told us she owns. Who knows.

10:04: Rex, aged 24, thinks people will be jealous of him. He's an executive chef, whether that means he outranks Gordon Ramsay or is more of a Jim Davidson we can only guess. He likes his bling and talks the talk, but aside from that seems quite normal. I'm going to go out on a limb here and declare him the winner. You heard it here first.

10:06: What a tremendous afro. Somalian Mohamed isn't a practising Muslim, he got bullied at school, and he is wearing a sensational suit. John Travolta eat your heart out. Wooooooo! He looks excited.

10:10: Rebecca, 21, nursery nurse. I would write more but I haven't understood a word she has said yet. Vicki Pollard, I caught that. She sounds a bit Midlands (so my exiled Coventry ear has detected). And what an outfit, if you can call it that. Don't bend over love.

10:20: Darnell. US citizen, albino. Seems a cool guy, and he will need to be, as by the looks of things he will have to say his name 167 times tonight if everybody keeps calling him Daniel. Another potential winner?

10:23: Cheryl Tweedy! I thought this wasn't the celeb show? She has had a kid, she's Catholic, and seems pretty and nice. Apparently her real name is Jennifer, and she seems to have a bit about her. Good stuff.

10:26: Kathreya. What a name. Competing with Darnell for the name that has given me the most stress spelling, she is a bag of fun from Bangkok. A Thai massage specialist, she likes dancing like she is on drugs and is, intially at least, hilarious. Maybe I'll pick her as the winner instead - hedge my bets. She's like the Thai Bjork. Quite, quite mad.

Well there you go. 16 new characters that will surely earn our love and hate, and hopefully not too much indifference. Let us know what you think...