Lin wrote:
No. They should have no contact with the outside world at all
I agree - same with John's points. It's one of the principal factors in the interaction between housemates. In addition, not having the reaction of a crowd to (rightly or wrongly) gauge the viewing public's opinion makes it more intriguing.
The night this year when they heard the crowd's response did change things and made it very interesting - personally, I think that Maxwell had the potential to win and the resulting behaviour from that incident detracted from his chances.