BB FANS

MediaGuardian
Ben Dowell
Friday May 19, 2006

Big Brother: Kit Kat 'golden tickets' went on sale last night

The first so-called "golden ticket" offering people the opportunity to enter the Big Brother house appears to have been found - by someone who has put the ticket up for sale on eBay.
The finder of the golden ticket claimed to have found his ticket "10 minutes ago" and has put it up for sale on the internet auction site.

The eBay seller writes: "I don't want to go in the Big Brother house so I am offering this priceless opportunity to other people."

Under the rules anyone finding the ticket may not sell their ticket once they have registered. However, people are allowed to sell them beforehand and so far the organisers of the competition have confirmed that nobody has formally registered a golden ticket via the telephone hotline.

The Kit Kat bars containing 100 golden tickets went on sale in stores at 10.30pm yesterday. One person, having passed security checks, will be selected at random from those who find the tickets in a special live TV broadcast after the competition closes on Friday June 2.

Despite these odds, by midday the bidding for the ticket on eBay had already gone past the £100,000 mark, reflecting the desperate desire of many to enter the house.

In the past two weeks, tabloid newspapers including the Sun and the Daily Star asked their readers to let them buy a golden ticket, thereby giving the papers the opportunity of planting someone in the house.

Earlier this year, open auditions for Big Brother attracted a record 25,000 contestants but producers of the Channel 4 show hope that the golden ticket initiative will attract the interest of an even wider range of people.

3.15pm update
Friday May 19, 2006
MediaGuardian

The internet auction site eBay has withdrawn the sale of the Big Brother "golden ticket", insisting the seller has breached the terms of its user agreement.
The alleged finder of a golden ticket inside a Kit Kat chocolate bar claimed to have "no interest" in appearing on the show and put his ticket up for sale on eBay, attracting a number of offers, some of which exceeded £5m.

The website said the seller's own terms of trade - and not what a spokeswoman called the "spoof bidding" - meant that it had to withdraw the offer.

eBay said in a statement: "We'd urge anyone bidding on items on eBay to read our tips on safe trading at ebay.co.uk/safetycentre - these include contacting the seller before paying, asking to see a photo of the item and arranging a safe transfer of money."

A spokeswoman said it may be able to give the seller the chance to sell the ticket on a pre-approved auction, which makes bidders legally bound to pay their offers. The company added that anyone else finding a golden ticket could apply to sell their ticket in this way.

The first Big Brother Golden Ticket was successfully claimed at 4pm today. The ticket was discovered in a four-finger Kit Kat bar in a central London branch of the supermarket chain Sainsbury's. The discovery leaves a further 99 tickets to to be claimed prior to the 10.20pm, June 2 deadline.

On discovering a golden ticket, each of which are printed with a unique security coding, purchasers will have to ring a special 24-hour telephone hotline number for their chance to land a place in Big Brother 2006.

Under Big Brother's rules, anyone finding a golden ticket may not sell it once they have registered. However, people are allowed to sell them beforehand and so far the organisers of the competition have confirmed that nobody has formally registered a golden ticket via the telephone hotline.

The Kit Kat bars containing 100 golden tickets went on sale in stores at 10.30pm last night. One person, having passed security checks, will be selected at random from those who find the tickets in a special live TV broadcast after the competition closes on Friday June 2.

In the past two weeks, tabloid newspapers including the Sun and the Daily Star have offered to buy a golden ticket from any readers who find them.

Earlier this year, open auditions for Big Brother attracted a record 25,000 contestants but producers of the Channel 4 show believe the golden ticket initiative will attract the interest of an even greater number of people.

Hmmmmmmmm. I hope so rather than them 'randomly' finding yet another model who happened to randomly find a ticket on the floor of the BB office they were randomly visiting just moments before.

where was this ticket found? which area of the UK?

As it says in the article, Central London at a Sainsbury's

by Alex Donohue Brand Republic
19 May 2006

LONDON - The first of Kitkat's 'Big Brother' golden tickets have appeared on internet auction site eBay, less than 24 hours after the seventh series opened last night.

There are already at least six tickets up for grabs on eBay, but bidders are showing little interest. The highest bid so far for one ticket is £24 while others have attracted bids of just 99p.

Earlier in the month, Kitkat unveiled its plans to have a Willy Wonka-style golden ticket promotion, which would give 100 recipients the chance to win a place in the 'Big Brother' house.

Of the 100 people who receive a golden ticket, one will be picked at random to enter the 'Big Brother' house in two weeks time.

The special bars went on sale today, with Channel 4 bosses hoping the promotion will generate an additional bit of excitement about the new series, which will run for 13 weeks.

Last night's programme attracted a peak audience of 8.1m viewers -- the highest ever opening night audience for the show -- pulling in a 36.6% share of viewing.

Some TV pundits have expressed concern that the golden ticket promotion could pave the way for an unsuitable candidate, by bypassing Channel 4's standard selection process, which this time attracted over 25,000 applicants.

The show will face strong competition from ITV's 'Celebrity X Factor' and 'Celebrity Love Island', which are set to launch in the coming weeks.

Golden ticket winner offered £5m

20 May 2006

DON’T panic if you found a golden ticket in your mid-morning snack – it doesn’t mean you have to appear on Big Brother.
If the life of a Z-list celebrity is not your thing, then you can throw away the ticket. Go on, chuck it. There’s the bin. Although before you do, know that one ticket has, apparently, attracted bids in excess of £5m.

The ticket was up on the eBay Internet auction site. But before you smash open the piggybank, or raid a bank, know that it has now gone. The auctioneers claim the sale breached their terms and have ordered it to be withdrawn.

But all is not lost. A spokeswoman for eBay says the seller may be able to flog their ticket on a pre-approved auction, which makes bidders legally bound to pay their offers.

And the organisers don’t mind if you sell it - so long as you haven’t registered your win on the telephone hotline (number on winning tickets), you can sell the thing.

And there are plenty of winning tickets still out there. The first Big Brother Golden Ticket was claimed at 4pm yesterday in London. This means there are 99 tickets still at large.

So if you find one, why not put it up for sale? Or give it to the needy. Wonder what Dannii Minogue’s agent would pay for one?

http://www.anorak.co.uk//news.cfm?id=169665