POWER FM breakfast show presenters Rick and Rachel were making the final checks on the Human Zoo yesterday.

The "zoo", a conservatory complex in Whiteley Village Outlet Shopping, will become home to six contestants tomorrow when they move in live on the Power FM breakfast show.

The contestants will spend up to ten days in the Human Zoo, where their every move can be watched by shoppers at Whiteley as well as their very own zoo keeper.

The winner of this Big Brother-style endurance and popularity contest will receive £5,000 and a dream holiday.

"The idea for the zoo started a long time ago," said Rick.

"Originally they wanted to put DJs in but that idea didn't go down very well with anybody so we came up with the idea of putting in three guys and three girls and turning it into a human endurance test, where we will monitor them 24 hours a day."

Rachel added: "Because it's on the radio rather than TV, we thought we had to put the zoo somewhere where people can easily come down and watch what's going on."

Although the Human Zoo project has similarities to the TV reality show Big Brother, Rick and Rachel say there are important differences.

"With Big Brother you had to watch it on the telly and they only let you see certain things, whereas with this you can see absolutely everything," said Rick.

Rachel added: "And also the Big Brother house is all cordoned off and people shouting over get dragged away but I can imagine people coming here with signs saying 'so and so's talking about you behind your back,' so listeners can change the dynamics of the house."

Meet the six Human Zoo contestants in tomorrow's Daily Echo and see the paper for daily updates on how the housemates are getting on.