I’d buy spend less on alcohol. Not that I don’t like it , its just that BB knows that when the housemates have been drinking, they are less inhibited, more likely to argue (or even fight), and more flirty. So the housemates could spend more of their weekly budget on food & luxuries (or decent drink instead of cider!), and BB will find its own excuses (additional tasks, birthdays etc.) to give them more drink.

Of course, if the housemates sat down and discussed this tactic it would backfire, as BB could decide to really wind them up by not giving them any extra at all.

I dunno ... remember in BB1 when they practically _begged_ BB for booze?

Yeah, but they didn't get any did they? They need to play it cool, as in "we don't care about booze (but we're much more interesting when we have it)". If they act desperate for it BB will just wind them up by not giving any!