Laura Williams

There were 24 housemates in total in the eighth series of Big Brother in the UK where they were observed by television viewers 24 hours a day and each week, one or more housemates were voted to be evicted by the general public until the winner, Brian Belo, was left.

All of the housemates that entered on the first day were female - a worldwide first for any Big Brother series; then on the third day, a male housemate - Ziggy - entered the house. On 7 June 2007 it was announced on Big Brother's Big Mouth that Day 10 would see the addition of two male housemates, in replacement of the cancelled eviction. These two housemates were Gerry and Seány. On 15 June, four new male housemates entered the house. They were Billi, Jonathan, Liam, and Brian. A new housemate called "Pauline" entered the house on 8 July, supposedly from Big Brother Australia, however, her true identity was actress Thaila Zucchi, and worked as a mole for Big Brother, before being removed on Day 42 after she completed her task. On Day 59, five new people entered the Half-Way House, becoming Half-Way Housemates. A sixth housemate was supposed to enter on the same day, yet after a pre-entrance pep talk with producers, he decided against it. Two housemates from the main house swapped with two housemates from the house next door, and needed to battle their way back to the main house.

Amanda Louise Marchant and Samantha Joanne Marchant (born 26 June 1988) are the first set of twins to appear on Big Brother in the UK. Both are social-care students from Knutton,Newcastle-under-Lyme and before entering the house were students at Manchester Metropolitan University. Nicknamed by the press as Samanda, the pair celebrated their birthday on Day 28.

When the two entered the house, they were classified as separate housemates. Following an offer by Big Brother, the twins chose to become a single housemate on Day 69, meaning that the twins nominate together, participate in tasks together and face the public vote together. Amanda shared a kiss with Brian in the early hours of day 70. Despite being the bookies' favourite to win, Amanda and Sam came second and left the house on Day 94 with an overall winning voting percentage of 39.7%.

Amanda and Sam were the first housemates - since Stuart from Big Brother 5 - to make it to the final and to never have received a single nomination from their fellow housemates.

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Wikipedia