With its 2nd February finale date fast approaching, the Celebrity Big Brother house just lost two contestants.

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But the double eviction, aired on Friday 19th January, was particularly unpopular with some viewers because both evictees were female – in a series that is supposed to be celebrating women.

Rachel Johnson was the first out of the house, telling host Emma Willis: "It’s more fun than you can imagine, but it’s tough in there."

But it was the eviction of Maggie Oliver which really got Twitter talking, after the former police officer was put up for nomination by controversial politician Ann Widdecombe for "laughing when others were in pain".

In her exit interview, Maggie took the opportunity to make her thoughts on Ann clear, expressing her disappointment that the ex-politician didn't question her about the Rochdale abuse case despite being an MP at the time. Maggie worked as a Detective Constable, helping to expose the Rochdale grooming gangs, an investigation that came back into the limelight last year with the BBC's dramatisation, Three Girls, which saw Leslie Sharp play the former policeman.

"I have been very outspoken, I’m only on there because I spoke up about what was going on in Rochdale. And I spoke out about that because I felt that generations of girls were subjected to a lot more pain than that over a period of years. For me, Ann was in a position of influence in the Houses of Parliament when Ann Cryer was banging on the door and trying to get MPs to deal with that abuse. So for Ann to make that nomination, based on the fact that she said I couldn’t watch pain, is completely hypocritical, it upset me."

Maggie may have lost the public vote – but there were plenty on Twitter disappointed by her eviction.

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And the fact that the first three evictions have all been women – with transgender broadcaster India Willoughby the first to leave the house – has not been lost on viewers...

Authors

Susanna LazarusAssociate Editor, RadioTimes.com
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