Scary Mary booted

Irish witch "scary Mary" has received the ignominious honour of being the first contestant to be ousted from the Big Brother house.

06:16 04 June 2005

Irish witch "scary Mary" has received the ignominious honour of being the first contestant to be ousted from the Big Brother house.

Last night, Mary "the white witch" kissed and hugged her former housemates after presenter Davina McCall announced hairdresser Craig had won a stay of execution in the public vote.

Mary was handed the occult moniker after she adorned a cape and broomstick at the start of last week's show.

She claims to be a psychic and to have been abducted by aliens seven times.

Unbeknownst to them, the 31-year-old Londoner and young whippersnapper Craig were nominated by Makosi on Wednesday.

20-year old Craig, a salon owner from Norfolk, had been initially tipped to go.

Last night, he celebrated his reprise by plunging fully clothed into the pool.

Ladbrokes made Mary favourite for the chop after her popularity with watchers "plummeted" after she refused to wear a microphone and kept slagging off the other housemates.

She branded the group "disgusting people" and Tory Derek "horrible, horrible, horrible".

On Thursday, Mary admitted she wanted out, claiming the BB house was bereft of intellectual conversation.

"I want to leave. Everybody disgusts me. I'm not a wannabe. There is no intellectual conversation in here and I need it," she said.

To date, BB favourites are Kemal at 3/1,Anthony at 7/1 and Makosi, Max, Saskia and Roberto at 8/1.

The winner of the Channel Four reality show is set to receive 100,000 in prize money.