Has Big Brother finally had its day? You would have been forgiven for thinking so if you were one of the few that had turned up for the Newcastle auditions yesterday.

Usually having to battle with queues of thousands of people, BB producers were said to be stunned yesterday when only around a hundred people turned up to audition for the Channel 4 TV show.

Numbers at auditions in other major cities including Belfast, Brimingham and Cardiff are said to also be at an all-time low.

Matthew Robson, one of the auditionees told The Daily Mail: “I got down to the ground early because I wanted to get an early audition but there was hardly anyone there – I was suprised.

“I’ve seen pictures from the last few years when there have been loads of people here, and it was really disappointing because there wasn’t much of an atmosphere.

“This was for Big Brother 9 and I suppose sooner or later people will get sick of the show but I was still expecting to see more people there.

“It looks like the the programme is a sinking ship.”