Even though the first vote was for a special one-off mock eviction in which the pair were sent into a bedsit to spy on the rest of the house, just 387,668 people voted -- a massive slump compared with last year's first eviction, in which 594,393 voted.
However, despite this early public apathy to the voting procedure, viewing figures are remaining steady, with the average for the series so far identical to last year's average of 4.4m at the same stage.
Figures for the weekend show that Friday's mock eviction programme at 10pm achieved a 5.9m average, Saturday's show attracted 2.5m viewers and on Sunday an average of 3.9m tuned in.
Meanwhile, Michelle and Emma are finding it hard going in the 'Big Brother' bedsit. While they are gaining some comfort in playing tricks on the other housemates, such as baking a cake with chilli powder and forcing Victor to have cold showers, Michelle is becoming increasingly paranoid about Stuart's affections for other housemates and Emma has been branded a racist by Victor.
Both will be reintroduced into the house this week, but while Michelle's relationship with Stuart looks to have cooled, Scottish body builder Jason, who last week was joint favourite to win the series, has enjoyed an amorous moment with Vanessa.
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