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reported in the Sunday Mirror on line

SOPHIE THE SUBSTITUTE
THIS is the beautiful brunette being drafted into Big Brother as a love rival to Kate Lawler.

Sophie, 24, will join the nine contestants in the house at 1.30pm today.

The recruitment consultant is set to be a knockout with the house's men - because like 22-year-old Kate she is a big kick-boxing fan.

Five foot 10 inches Sophie was chosen from a group of 12 hopefuls on standby to join the programme after Sunita Sharma, 25, sensationally walked out of the house on Thursday.

A Big Brother insider said: "Sophie is absolutely stunning.

"She will cause a massive stir in the house because of the way she looks and her personality.

"She is really bubbly and full of self-confidence, although you never know if that will be a good or bad thing for her.

"All the others know each other and have bonded.

"A new girl like Sophie is bound to ruffle a few feathers.

"She should be pretty popular with the boys, but I'm not sure how well the girls will take to her.

"They may find her a bit threatening."

Sophie will enter the specially-built house at Elstree, Hertfordshire bearing a gift for the current housemates.

Although contestants have guessed Sunita will be replaced, they will not be warned about the new arrival.

The latest surprise move by TV bosses comes just two days after they stunned housemates with the first eviction.

Lynne Moncrieff, 36, became the first to leave Big Brother after a vote-off with Jade Goody, 20.

Sophie, who has said she will miss her mum's cooking and "give her mother back what she has given me" if she wins the £70,000 prize, will be aware of the fate of last year's surprise entrant to the house.

Gay Josh Rafter, 33, joined series two in a shock move after the first eviction.

He failed to bond with fellow contestants...and was voted out four weeks later.

But Josh was left with the last laugh after making £70,000 from deals linked to his short-lived spell in the spotlight.

Sophie will be exempt from next Friday's eviction and will not be able to nominate or be nominated in the first week. The Big Brother contestants narrowly escaped a week of bread and water last night, by passing this week's showbiz quiz.

-BITTER reject Lynne Moncrieff yesterday attacked the housemates who voted her out.

Lynne, 36, accused them of stabbing her in the back, and admitted: "I am a bit hurt but that feeling will go - I am quite thick-skinned."

The mature student branded Spencer Smith, 22, "smelly", accused model Alex Sibley, 23, of acting like an "old woman" and called 20-year-old Jade Goody a "baby".

"Spencer is arrogant and lazy and smells of bad feet and roll-up fags," she said. "And Alex is an old woman and needs to lighten up."

But the outspoken Scot, from the village of Buckie, admitted a string of alcohol-fuelled rows in the house had not helped her cause. "I needed to loosen up and I did, but maybe too much."

More than 300,000 viewers voted for Lynne to leave. Half-a-million wanted to evict Jade, but the nine other housemates saved her by all voting against Lynne.

mike.hamilton@sundaymirror.co.uk

Mark you will need to make a new thread line up for Sophie