Big Brother contestant Danny is struck down with a temperature as the housemates plot a stunning blindside

An intense episode saw one housemate struck down with illness and an eviction twist which sent one of the strongest players packing.

In one of the most thrilling episodes yet, tonight’s instalment of Big Brother took viewers on a wild ride through blindsides, broken alliances and shock illness.

But perhaps the biggest twist of all was Sonia Kruger throwing us this bondage-inspired eviction outfit:

Whaddya call this love?

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We begin with the greatest game Big Brother has ever tasked a contestant with in the history of the show: asking Ari to liken each housemate to a different clothing brand.

He wastes no time is dishing out the shade, with his most stinging burns in no particular order including: labelling Tilly as Supre (“Bubbly, bright and on a budget”), Mel as “Target with a capital T”, Sid as Lowes, Danny as Ralph Lauren (“Wants everyone to think he’s wealthy but he’s not that wealthy”) and SJ Tree of Life.

Ari is by far the most entertaining person on this show. He should do kid’s birthday parties when it’s over.

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Trinny and Susannah's 'What not to Wear' but it’s just Ari telling everyone they look terrible.

Elsewhere in the house, the big red button is still in play, throwing a series of lame punishments at the players.

Tilly and Jess are placed on cleaning duty, Danny has to play childhood classic “the floor is lava” or the rest of the house will be penalised (he fails and they’re forced to jump in the pool), Marley gets KFC and they all have to watch him eat it.

It’s been two episodes and already the big red button is getting old. How they’re going to squeeze a week’s worth of episodes out of this gimmick I do not know, but here we are.

Suddenly, the big red button is pushed and a plane soars by bearing the message “your loved ones are near”. A box of letters arrives at the door and there’s a flood of tears from each housemate as they read their notes aloud.

SJ’s husband tells her he’s been cleaning the house while she’s gone and he hopes he’s done an OK job. It doesn’t surprise me that SJ runs a tight ship at home and I nod in respect.

Danny gets a letter from his kids, bursting into tears before telling the others that his son calls him Chucky “because he vomits a lot”. It’s pretty touching stuff.

My family nickname is ‘Mistake’.

Meanwhile, Nick and Danny are lamenting the last eviction that saw loveable character Mitch booted from the game. They vow to do whatever it takes to stay in the house, deciding to strike a deal with Jess and Katie promising to protect each other in the next eviction.

Never has a more foolish move been played by Nick and Danny. Well, since last week when Nick blocked his own alliance member from the chance of trying to save himself from eviction.

Jess and Katie accept the offer, secretly deciding to break the promise should they win the next challenge, because it’s a competition and on the other side of this house they’re literally never going to see these people again.

Shocking.

However, disaster strikes overnight.

Danny is sent to the diary room complaining of dizziness, with a medic called in to assess him.

He’s put in isolation with a high temperature and temporarily removed from the game. Given he’s not able to compete in the next challenge, he won’t be eligible for nomination, tossing a spanner in the works of Jess and Katie’s plan to overthrow their competing alliance.

He’s cast away to the attic and SJ looks on with a pang of jealousy — her time in the attic is still her most cherished memory in the competition.

Big Brother sets another boring physical challenge that lasts approximately four and a half hours. Katie wins, and promptly puts Mel, Nick and Ari up for elimination.

Nick is livid and spends the afternoon twirling his moustache like a cartoon villain.

He can’t believe he’s been betrayed by some random he met three weeks ago on a competitive reality show.

It’s eviction time and Sonia’s pared back BDSM look elicits an echo of “ooh” from the contestants when she pops up in the laser skirmish arena.

Screams in whip sound effect.

She begins to quiz the nominated housemates, with Nick launching a fiery tirade about a stunning betrayal of trust over the breaking of a sacred handshake.

“A handshake means very little in here, and people’s word means very little,” he spits, shaking his head in disgust while the others stare blankly ahead.

“A handshake does actually mean stuff all,” he repeats. The housemates shrug. No one seems to share his faith in the handshake.

Mel has an entirely different take, applauding the sneaky move by Katie and Jess.

“They wanted to get rid of us while they had the chance … they took the shot, good on ‘em,” she says, before breaking down in tears and delivering an impassioned speech about being “a normal person plucked off a farm giving a red hot go at it”. It’s a clever angle.

The votes are tallied and it becomes clear Mel — who only received one vote — voted for Nick. He’s been turned on by his own alliance and he’s beyond salty about it.

In a parting sledge to his former teammate, he roughly hands a jacket over to Mel and grunts “give that to Danny would ya … Can I trust you to give it to him?”

It’s not quite an Ari-level burn, but we’ll take it.