Date:29/01/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/01/29/stories/2007012907270100.htm

Front Page

Shilpa looking forward to returning home

Hasan Suroor

LONDON: Shilpa Shetty barely slept during her last night in the Celebrity Big Brother house, and said she was looking forward to going home, finally.

"I had the worst sleep in 25 days," she told fellow housemate Ian Watkins before erupting into what Channel 4 described as "jumping and squealing with pre-teen zeal."

And, then, she and Danielle Lloyd — one of her tormentors during the race row with Jade Goody — sought to bury the hatchet.

Great excitement

The excitement inside the BB house as participants waited to get out after three weeks of captivity ("Last day! I thought it would never come!" exclaimed one) was matched by even greater excitement among Britain's Indian community after word spread that Ms. Shetty was the odds-on favourite to win.

Millions of viewers were expected to watch the "live" finale on Channel 4, scheduled for late Sunday night. People have been voting for their favourite housemate for the past two days and the poll would go on until the final hour.

Ms. Shetty's prospects of winning the contest got a boost after she survived the second round of eviction on Friday night.

The only other serious contender was Jermaine Jackson, brother of Michael Jackson, but Ms. Shetty was widely seen as the front-runner with Asian viewers expected to vote for her en bloc.