Big Brother 2007, also known as Big Brother 8, was the eighth series of the British reality television series Big Brother. The show followed twenty-three contestants, known as housemates, who were isolated from the outside world for an extended period of time in a custom built House. Each week, one or more of the housemates were eliminated from the competition and left the House. The last remaining housemate, Brian Belo, was declared the winner, winning a cash prize of £100,000 (the second housemate to do so after Liam McGough was awarded the same amount in the third week). The series launched on Channel 4 on 30 May 2007 and ended on 31 August 2007, lasting 94 days - the longest British edition of Big Brother to date. Davina McCall returned as presenter for her eighth consecutive year. Eleven housemates entered on launch night, with an additional seven men being introduced by the time of the fourth week. The series was watched by an average of 3.9 million viewers, the lowest viewed series of the show at the time. The first series of Big Brother to air since the highly controversial fifth celebrity series, Big Brother 8 was the subject of viewer complaints and press attention, mainly regarding the ejection of a housemate for the use of a racial slur. Production Auditions The first round of auditions started on 6 January 2007 at the SECC in Glasgow, where there was a queue of three hundred people. Sponsorship On 8 March 2007, it was announced that The Carphone Warehouse would not return to sponsor Big Brother 8 after cancelling its sponsorship of Celebrity Big Brother 5, and on 21 March, that Virgin Media would sponsor the show, for a reported £3 million. Virgin Media's idents for the show use footage from Big Brother programmes from all around the world, including Germany, Brazil, Philippines and the Netherlands. Eye logo The iconic Big Brother eye has been redesigned to what has been described as a "centrifugal inter-locking RGB rainbow test card" by its designer Daniel Eatock. Broadcasts On Channel 4, Davina McCall remained as main host of the live shows such as live launch, evictions, finale and other special shows where there may be a twist taking place. Marcus Bentley returned as narrator of the nightly highlight shows. For the first time since Big Brother 5 in 2004, there was also no highlight show