NORTH-East firefighter Jonny Regan was pipped at the post in the Big Brother finale last night.

He made it down to the last two - but was beaten to the £70,000 prize by Kate, the first woman to win the fly-on-the-wall contest.

Jonny, 29, from Trimdon, was greeted by his mother, Margaret, as he left the house.

Loud-mouthed Jade Goody was the first to be evicted, followed closely by male model Alex. Her eviction came as a surprise - she had been touted as the favourite to win as the fly-on-the-wall TV show reached its dramatic climax.

Jonny was greeted with cheers and chanting from the crowd as he walked down the stairs at the front of the house.

More than eight million people had voted in this week's final round, choosing the winner rather than the housemate they wanted to see booted out.

And the region threw its support behind Jonny the joker as he faced a nail-biting wait to see who would walk away with the prize money.

Firefighters at Jonny's station in Peterlee were glued to their TV screen as they waited for the results to be announced.

They scanned the crowd that had gathered outside the Big Brother House, searching for other workmates who had made the trip to London.

"It's been great since Jonny was in the house," said colleague Michael Unwin.

"All the kids in the street have been shouting at us "Keep Jonny in the house" and everyone here has really got behind him. He's just the same in real life as he is on television."