BIG Brother presenter Dermot O'Leary has admitted the TV show has flopped since stroppy Nikki's eviction two weeks ago.
The Big Brother's Big Brain host said the house had suffered through the absence of the 24-year-old model, famous for her shrieking tantrums.
Asked if the reality show had floundered, Dermot, 33, said: "Yeah, definitely. Even the housemates felt it.
"When she got evicted, they were all going, 'You must be going to Australia' and coming up with these bizarre theories.
"You can understand it because we were thinking, 'There's no way she can go, something must be wrong.' So, yeah, I think the show definitely suffered."
Nikki's eviction interview was watched on Channel Four by 5.9million viewers, compared to the four million who watch every night.
Dermot confessed he was gobsmacked when the public chucked her out when all the house-mates were up for eviction except Jayne. He said:
"There's something unbelievably endearing about the girl. I don't know why Nikki was evicted.
"I still haven't met anyone who voted for her.
"It showed there's no way that the show could be fixed.
"If they could fix it, I'm sure the programme makers would have moved heaven and earth to keep her in there."
But she has already landed her own E4 show, Princess Nikki, in which she tries to hold down an everyday job - a reference to her stroppy turn as a PA in a Big Brother task.
Dermot also told New! magazine that he wished pregnant presenter Davina McCall would go into labour - so he could host the final in three weeks' time.
He said: "Davina is a criminal genius and will have planned her pregnancy almost to the hour that the show finishes.
"But I'd love to be able to step in and do it, in a weird way."
..............and is that Adee from The Salon she's with?
Is this true? Or are you joking with us JR?!
