[Amy]

Michelle Bass may shed a tear this weekend over her eviction from the Big Brother house but the reality game show's makers are laughing all the way to the bank.

Production firm Endemol UK saw revenues jump from £66 million to £89m last year, according to accounts just filed at Companies House.

Profits were down from £2.5m to just under £1m - but only after Endemol's managers awarded themselves a bumper payday, with the company's wage bill jumping from £6m to £15m.

Their exuberance is not matched by Big Brother's gently declining audience figures, however. Despite regular nudity, mass brawls and the first 'BB bonk', this year's series - the fifth - has failed to match the peaks achieved in Big Brother's third season, when more than 9m viewers tuned in to watch Jade Goody and Kate Lawler.

But Endemol, chaired by Peter Bazalgette, has a £10m-a-year contract to produce another season of the programme for Channel 4. It also makes a range of leisure and reality shows, including Changing Rooms and Ready Steady Cook.

The company is now Britain's second-largest independent programme maker.

Article from MediaGuardian