An outlandish band frontman with Tourette's Syndrome and a penchant for elastic trousers is set to cause a storm in the Big Brother house.

Peter Stephenson, 24, lead singer of Brighton-based psychedelic rock band Daddy Fantastic, is one of 50 potential contenders in the new series of the reality TV show which starts tonight.

He missed a gig the band had lined up as part of the Brighton Festival Fringe in The Hope pub in Queen's Road, Brighton, on Monday telling friends he had gone to visit a sick relative in France.

But it was revealed yesterday that he was, in fact, at one of several secret European locations waiting to find out if he is one of the 12 contestants who will enter Big Brother, which starts on Channel 4 at 9pm tonight.

The programme-makers have hinted that a Tourette's sufferer will be on the show. Mr Stephenson was diagnosed with the disorder, which causes sufferers to have muscular twitches, swear and make involuntary noises, when he was 14.

His band, which describes its sound as "Jimi Hendrix meets Scooby Doo", has a stage act which features werewolves, zombie pole dancers, rubber Gestapo outfits and dominatrices.

Mr Stephenson, who joined the band in August 2004 and is known as "The Daddy" onstage, lists his interests as "watching electric guitar rock bands, jumping up and down saying 'yeah, yeah, yeah', drawing, painting, whistling, shopping for Sixties retro clothes, staring in mirrors, snapping my fingers".

He performs in a white wig, sunglasses and trademark red-striped elastic trousers and claims to bring mayhem to Daddy Fantastic's "psychedelic rock and roll circus".

In an online profile he says: "I'm Daddy Fantastic, my tightpants are made of elastic and if you'll be kind, I'll blow your mind, the results will be quite psycheTASTIC!"

Yesterday his fellow band members were staying tight-lipped, insisting they could not reveal any information about Mr Stephenson until later in the week, though they would not say why.