DURHAM University graduate Tim Culley became the eighth person to be evicted from the Big Brother house last night.

The battle of Ginger and the Whinger ended when the 23-year-old was told that an overwhelming 1.4 million people had voted him out.

Tim, who lived in Yarm while studying at the Queen's Campus in Stockton, was up for eviction against male model Alex Sibley - who has moaned his way through the series.

A total of 1,781,989 telephone votes were cast, with 1,452,005 (81.5 per cent) voting to ditch Tim. Only 18.5 per cent of the votes cast, 329,984, were in favour of evicting Alex.

On hearing the news, former public schoolboy Tim muttered "good" and was given an hour to pack up his black hair dye and other belongings before having to leave. Tim told Alex, also 23: "Best of luck for this week. I'm not going to lie to you, I don't envy you."

Viewers can now vote for who they want to win from the final week's four survivors: Alex, Jade, Kate or firefighter Jonny Regan from Trimdon, County Durham.

Jonny, 29, is still many people's favourite to scoop the £70,000 first prize.

The winner and runners-up will be announced next Friday.

Earlier in the day, authors of a website dedicated to the celebration of all things ginger hit out at posh Tim for dyeing his red hair black.

Tim, who studied for a business finance degree, attracted an army of detractors after disclosing his attempts to hide his natural hair colour and that he shaves his chest hair.

Authors of www.redandproud.com urged Tim, from Worcestershire, to "embrace his own redheadedness".