THE revival of Nestl Rowntree's iconic KitKat brand is continuing apace - with Big Brother set to give it a further boost from tonight.

Sales of the York confectioner's top chocolate bar slumped by 16 per cent last year, largely because of a decision to scrap two key variants; KitKat Kubes and Low Carb.

But figures for January this year suggested sales were picking up again, and today the company said they "continued to be buoyant".

A spokeswoman said it was concentrating on strong growth plans for 2006 - "with the focus on core KitKat, which is proving successful".

She said a number of activities were in place to continue the growth trend, for example, the golden ticket competition to win a place on Channel 4's Big Brother programme.

As reported recently in The Press, a member of the public will have a unique chance to become a housemate in this year's Big Brother house - if they find one of a hundred Willy Wonka-style golden tickets hidden inside KitKat wrappers.

On discovering a ticket, each of which is printed with a unique security coding, purchasers must phone a 24-hour hotline number for their chance to land a place in the show, which starts tonight.

The lucky winners of these tickets, having passed thorough background checks, will be invited to pack their bags, say goodbye to their loved ones and head down to the Big Brother studios for a special live TV broadcast, where one of the lucky ticketholders will then be chosen at random to enter the house. The competition closes on Friday June 2, at 10.20pm. Forty KitKat juggernauts recently left the York factory containing thousands of bars and 100 of the tickets hidden inside.

The trucks had been loaded under a maximum security operation overseen by a team of security staff from Big Brother, and were escorted by motorcycle escorts, headed for retail depots across the country.

The KitKats are due to go on sale at 10.30pm today.

Updated: 11:18 Thursday, May 18, 2006