[Sticks]

It most certainly was not a publicity stunt, it was yet another example of incompetence on the part of the production team.

someone left a box with some electronics or lighting stuff. I forget precisely what in the wrong place and did not tell anyone.

So other staff came across what had to be considered a suspicious package, and the whole area had to be evacuated. Davina and Dermot had to be removed by fast car.

The production gallery was evacuated and the crowd turned away. The housemates then had to be got out, and this was achived by a female producer who entered from a door to the camera runs in the bedroom, where the housemates were locked in. They were then removed to a safe area.

Meanwhile the RAF bomb disposal team made safe the device with a controlled explosion carried out by a robot. The bomb disposal guy subsequently appeared on BBLB to explain what they did, and they showed the box.

Gus was due to be evicted that night, I forget who else was up for eviction that night. The eviction was held over until the Saturday, but because of various reasons, there was no crowd whatsoever, so Gus had to come out to complete silence and thus never got an eviction crowd.