'It's imperative that I spot any nudity'

A staffer at a Kent news agency has the job from hell. He has to watch every minute of Big Brother, including Jade's on-screen strip. Clare Rudebeck joins him in his non-stop observation of the housemates

Day 11. It's 5am in the Big Brother house and the housemates are asleep. The camera is trained on Adele as she turns over. On the other side of London, Rob Kelly is wide awake. He's been up all night watching the Big Brother housemates sleeping. But he's no insomniac: he's the source of the tabloids' Big Brother stories, and this is the moment he's been waiting for. As Adele moves, her blanket slips, revealing her naked breasts. Bingo! The Sun and Daily Sport are going to love this.

"When I started, the news team told me that if I saw a female nipple, it would make a story or possibly a front page in the Daily Sport," says Kelly. "It's imperative that I spot any nudity." A photo of Adele's torso is duly reproduced in the red tops the next day. "Adele of a treat," reads the Daily Star.

Rob Kelly, 21, works for a press agency, Kent News and Pictures. For the last eight weeks, he's watched Big Brother for 12 hours a day. His eyes must not leave the screen. If he needs the loo, someone stands in. Every three to four minutes, he fills in a log of the housemates' activity. When his shift finishes at 9am, another "monitor" immediately takes over for the next 12 hours until Kelly resumes his watch at 9pm.

"Sometimes I have to watch a head-shot of someone sleeping for eight hours," says Kelly, who has just finished a degree in journalism at Staffordshire University. But, unlike housemates Sandy and Sunita, he's never contemplated walking out. "It's a great job. I get paid to watch telly," he says.

In a corner of the office,the agency has installed two televisions, a video and a video-grabber which they use to get images of the housemates. Kelly watches both televisions as, at some points of the day, there are two digital television feeds from the house. There is a kettle, fridge and cups for coffee, and a bin full of take-away pizza boxes in the corner. On the ground are the 372 video tapes used so far to record the footage.

By his side between 7am and midnight is a reporter who selects the highlights from his log. The most important reporting shift is in the morning, as the journalist must quickly write up the night's activities and put them on the news wires by 8.30am. The nationals then select which stories they are interested in for the following day's papers.

Barry Rabbetts, the agency's news editor, normally does the 8pm-to-midnight reporting slot. Unlike the Big Brother house, the long hours spent in close proximity have not led to blossoming relationships. "Probably quite the opposite," he says. Rabbetts's lowest point came when he watched Jade strip naked whilst playing a drinking game. "It was so embarrassing. It felt as if I was there. I just thought, 'What is she doing? What on earth am I doing watching her?'"

But he believes the dental nurse from Bermondsey has the makings of a "superstar". Kent News and Pictures is already supplying photos of her to newspapers around the world. "Even countries that have their own Big Brother programmes are interested in Jade," says Rabbetts. "She has a multi-national following."

Rabbetts puts her growing column inches down to a lack of other news. "She's an easy target. If a newspaper said to me, 'Can you come up with 50 amusing quotes from Jade today?' I'd have to edit it down from 150," he says. Rob Kelly has been primed to look out for her gaffes. "The Mirror is 'the official anti-Big Brother paper', so I note down any stupid quotes for them," he says.

But Kelly and Rabbetts say that it is not the press coverage, but Channel 4's editing that has manipulated the public's perception of the contestants. "If you watch a lot of coverage, you have vastly different opinions of the housemates than if you watch the half-hour programme," says Rabbetts. Kelly says Alex has a sharper mind and drier wit than many imagine. Rabbetts says PJ "was one of the funniest housemates", but Channel 4 editors only picked up his comments about sex and women.

Lowering the tone has certainly led to rising profits. This year's series is the most lucrative yet, making £10m. Rabbetts puts the success down to the number of romantic encounters in the house. Kelly thinks Channel 4 could still make more of these liaisons. "In other countries, they show the sex acts that happen on their Big Brother shows," he says. "Here, when Jade was stripping naked, they suddenly cut to a picture of the chickens. It's ridiculous."