Well Big Brother 9 was truly an exciting one. With two housemates ejected from the show for bad behaviour and at least three love triangles (Darnell/Bex/Luke, Stu/Jen/Dale, Stu/Sarah/Darnell – does that make a love nonagon?), there haven’t been many harmonious weeks. But now, the lines are closed and the final votes are in. If you didn’t manage to catch the final week, here’s my round-up of the main events.

On Monday and Tuesday, housemates had to complete a task which involved dressing up as each of the housemates in turn, and then acting out their character traits. Most housemates threw themselves into the task with gusto, although Rex was rather put out by the unflattering red pointy wig that was supposed to represent his “strawberry blonde” hairdo, as well as the housemates perfectly apt impressions of him (even sweet little Rachel was swaggering around the house in Rex-mode, bragging about how much her clothes cost and how many restaurants she owned!). The housemates successfully completed their task and most housemates remained in their Mo outfits while they had a party. All the housemates were happily dancing around on Tuesday evening, when all of a sudden the music stopped.

Immediately, the ominous statement came. “Big Brother house, this is Davina” and Davina wasted no time in stating that the next housemate to be evicted was Mo! Everyone was in shock, and immediately the majority of the house burst into tears. It was the cruellest surprise eviction yet, as normally housemates have at least some preparation time, while crowd noise is played into the house to disguise the chants and boos of the real crowd outside. Mo didn’t even have a chance to collect his thoughts before he was sent up the stairs and out of the house to his eviction interview. And then a couple of hours later, while the remaining housemates were adjusting to the shock, the voice came again, this time evicting Kat, who was still wearing her Mo costume, a white dressing gown and huge Afro wig. Kat spent most of her eviction crying her eyes out, but still managed to rally the crowd into a party version of “If you’re happy and you know it”. Bless!

The rest of the week was pretty subdued, until final night, which saw Darnell and Rex evicted first, quickly followed by Sarah. With just Mikey and Rachel left in the house, the tension mounted leading up to the winner’s announcement. Then, to the surprise of everyone, including the crowd outside, Rachel Rice was crowned the rightful winner of Big Brother 9! I’ve championed Rachel throughout the series, and she was my prediction for second place. I was incredibly happy with the result, as I feel Rachel has been one of the most deserving housemates and she’s been thoroughly pleasant throughout, under conditions that would have tested a saint’s patience. The crowd on the night didn’t seem to agree though and both the runner-up and winner received emphatic pantomime boos from the crowd standing outside!

What a year! I’ve loved nearly every minute of it, and when I wasn’t loving it, I was standing up shouting at the telly, which proves that Big Bro has still got what it takes. Every year, there is talk of whether this year will be the final year for BB, but I think Channel 4 should definitely give the show it’s last hurrah next year, to celebrate a decade of fame-hungry crazies having their every word and bodily function scrutinised by the nation for three months on end. I’ll see you then!