A juvenile prank by Rex turned into something a lot more serious when Dennis spat in Mohamed’s face. Dennis was removed from the house, and several more housemates were warned. Few housemates had no part to play in the drama, but whilst some were criticised for not attempting to defuse the situation, others were condemned for getting involved. It was a frightening and horrific night for housemates, and not that much better for the viewers. Even Big Brother was clearly rattled by events. Having called Dennis into the Diary Room, he appeared on the point of sending Darnell and Mohamed to the same location, but, after a long pause, sent them to the other bedroom instead.
It all began when Rex decided to smudge Jennifer’s picture of Stuart. It was an incredibly stupid and immature thing to do, but surely nothing in comparison with what happened later. Jennifer dramatically declared herself upset, but Rex admitted it was a silly thing to do, and the pair sorted things out. However, after Jennifer’s knights in shining armour, Dale and Stuart got to hear about it, Jennifer turned on the tears again (not that I saw any actual tears) and her boyfriends tried to show their macho sides – ordering Rex into the bedroom one minute, and telling him to piss off the next.
Mohamed became involved after hearing something smashing: Dale was taking his aggression out on the crockery again, and Mohamed not unnaturally wondered what was going on. He went into the bedroom and saw Jennifer, Dale, Stuart, Dennis, Rebecca and Sylvia ganging up on Rex. Mohamed spoke up quietly and politely in support of his friend, only to have Rebecca turn on him, which was probably bad enough for Mohamed, but he was then accused of turning on Rebecca. This was when Dennis spat in his face.
When Darnell discovered one housemate had spat in another’s face, he was furious. He was shocked to discover Dennis’ friends apparently considered this acceptable behaviour. He attempted to make his point calmly, but he had to shout in order to be heard over the baying mob. He was so disgusted and upset anyway, he ended up losing his temper. Dale, despite being one of those who had made him angry, was the one who calmed him down. Dennis had been called to the Diary Room, but he stood outside the door, laughing and taunted Mohamed, who was crying and hyperventilating as Mario tried to help him into the other bedroom. Dennis’ friends, meanwhile, agreed that Darnell and Mohamed ought to be ejected for aggressive behaviour.
It is easy to blame Rex for what happened, as he certainly started it by damaging Jennifer’s painting. It was very stupid and unkind, and extremely immature. But his was far from the most violent and destructive act of the evening. It’s unlikely it was Rex’s act alone that caused the problem. The fact that the problem escalated so much and so quickly suggests that the fight was more about an ongoing divide between Rex and Jennifer. Smudgegate happened to be the catalyst, but it could easily have been something else.
There was no need for Jennifer to make quite as much fuss as she did. It wasn’t unreasonable for her to be upset, but her behaviour appeared manipulative because she seemed to become much more upset as soon as her protectors, Dale and Stuart, started asking her what was wrong. If she was upset enough to cry for hours, which does seem a bit excessive, it’s a bit surprising she was able to talk about the incident in such detail.
I can understand why Dale and Stuart wanted to protect Jennifer. It’s not clear whether they actually like her or whether they just want to get into her knickers, but it was probably natural for them to feel unhappy that their friend was crying over someone else’s behaviour. However, they went too far. Dale not only bullied Rex (although it didn’t look like it, as Rex remained calm whereas Dale looked pathetic), he also threatened Mohamed with violence – not for the first time. Damaging people is definitely worse than damaging their property. (Besides, Dale has damaged property too by breaking cups. There is no reason why people shouldn’t drink out of the cup Mikey uses to wash himself – although I can understand why people would rather not do this – but they definitely can’t drink out of cups broken by Dale.) Dale did do the right thing in calming Darnell down, but it was partly his fault Darnell got so upset.
It really is unfortunate that Darnell got so angry about the spitting incident – although several viewers (not me) have said they would have punched someone if they were in Darnell’s position, and it’s probably going to feel worse for Darnell, inside the house, than everyone else outside it. Darnell’s disgust and anger was reasonable, but he did look close to hurting someone, and, even though he was acting in Mohamed’s defence, Big Brother would have had no alternative but to eject him if he had hurt someone. (It’s not as though Darnell was physically defending Mohamed. That would have been different.) But major respect to Darnell for speaking up like that – he had the best of intentions.
It is annoying to have to be grateful to Dale, but I am very glad he was able and willing to restrain Darnell. Jennifer seemed to be hoping Darnell would be thrown out, so it was quite brave of her wussy little slave Dale to protect Darnell. He wasn’t even telling him to leave Jennifer alone – he was just telling him to calm down, which suggests he was actually worried about Darnell. But that was only one good moment for Dale. He had many bad moments too. The fact that Dale allegedly made a further attack on Mohamed yesterday seems to suggest it wasn’t a belated pang of conscience that made Dale intervene.
Rebecca was very drunk, but the way she spoke to Mohamed was nasty and vicious. She’s no longer my favourite person in the house. I think part of her problem is that she’s insecure, and wants to be in the cool group, and the drink didn’t help, but the fact that she could behave like that under any circumstances when Mohamed wasn’t even talking to her is disgusting.
Mohamed has been criticised for getting involved with the argument. I don’t think Dennis would have dared spit at anyone else – but that’s not Mohamed’s fault. I wish Mohamed had stayed out of things, and I’m sure he wishes the same – it was horrible watching him get so upset. But I can’t really blame him. He heard something smashing, and was curious to know what it was. That’s natural – if something smashed in your house, you’d want to know what was happening. Once he realised there was a big argument going on, he could hardly walk away, particularly as it was his friend Rex getting attacked. So he tried to calm things down. He didn’t do a very good job of it, but who could? Perhaps the best person for calming down such a situation would be someone neutral – but no-one’s neutral in that house.
There was so much going on, it was difficult to know what some of the other housemates were doing. I think Kat and Mikey were upset by all the shouting, but I can’t blame them for being too scared to get involved. It was a horrible situation anyway, and it might have been particularly difficult for Mikey, who couldn’t see what was happening, and Kat, whose English might not have been good enough for her to understand everything that was said. Rachel made some attempt to calm things down, but she couldn’t do much on her own. I didn’t notice Luke. He seems to save most of his confrontational moments for the Diary Room. Sylvia made surprisingly little impression too – she comforted Jennifer, but, for once, didn’t seem to get that involved with the bitching. I think Lisa was doing some comforting too, but I'm not sure.
Mario was wonderful. He can be annoying, and his opinion of himself does seem a little bit high, but he is calm in a crisis, and so good at looking after people. Mohamed’s panic attack was quite frightening to watch, and I have seen (and had) a lot of panic attacks. Mohamed clearly needed someone to look after him. Rex and Darnell weren’t getting through to him (Darnell was quite angry and upset himself, and Rex, who is naturally calm and unemotional, has trouble dealing with the emotions of others). Mario hugged Mohamed and spoke to him gently, and was both calm and sympathetic – and it clearly helped. Maybe he could have done more to control the other housemates, but he knew Mohamed needed him more than anyone else.
Some people have commented that Rachel, Dale and Dennis are training to be teachers, and feel they would be fairly useless at dealing with a similar problem in a school. They do have a point. But situations in the Big Brother house are probably, at least some of the time, a lot more emotional than a similar situation in real life. The housemates are constantly under stress. Problems seem magnified because their housemates are with them all the time. Teachers can go home at the end of the day.
Also, in effect, the housemates are not in a position of responsibility inside the house. Teachers are responsible for the children in the school, but Rachel, Dale and Dennis are here only responsible for their own behaviour, so they are approaching problems with a different mentality. Teachers are (or should be) working together in a team. Rachel lacks authority inside the house, but she might be stronger with a team to back her up. Dale, in effect, is following Jennifer’s lead, and he might follow a head teacher’s lead with the same conscientiousness – he is very much a follower – so he might be okay if he was set a good example. But the cup-smashing is a problem.
Dennis probably is quite a good dance teacher, as he did well helping the others in the treadmill dance task. But he spat in someone’s face. Mohamed wasn’t even being aggressive towards him – although it wouldn’t have been acceptable if he’d spat at someone who was being aggressive. I don’t think the spitting was a calculated move – more one done in the heat of the moment. But the fact that Dennis spat in the face of arguably the least aggressive person and no-one else does suggest that he did have some awareness and control. At the very least, he had got himself into a mindset where there were boundaries in how he could behave towards certain housemates, but much looser limits on what he could do to Mohamed.
Dennis will be missed as a housemate because his stirring is interesting to watch. But watching people spitting in other housemates’ faces is horrible. It is not fair on the other housemates to expect them to live with someone who has proved themselves capable of assault (spitting is legally classified as such) under any circumstances, but particularly so in an environment with the potential to become that inflamed; an environment from which they are not in a position to escape (even if Mohamed had tried to walk to get away from Dennis, he’d probably have had to wait the usual 24 hours). Dennis had to be removed from the house.
In other news. Sylvia was evicted with 90% of the vote. But that doesn’t seem to matter much. The important thing is that Mohamed survived.
Sunday, 29 June 2008
Day 24: Fight Night
Thursday, 26 June 2008
Day 22
How could anyone have a problem with Mohamed?
Okay, he might eat a bit more than the other housemates, but that’s nothing in comparison with the behaviour indulged in by some of the others. To me, he seems like a nice, kind, polite member of the household, and one of the very few whom I’d actually like to live with, yet he received more nominations than bossy Rex, dull Dale, two-faced Luke, two-timing Jennifer, controlling Mario, trouble-stirring Dennis – more nominations than anyone else in the house apart from new hate figure Sylvia.
Dale had the nerve to nominate Mohamed for not contributing. This is so ridiculous it’s actually laughable, and were it not for possible racist connotations in the phrase, I would now be talking about pots and kettles. Luke nominated Mohamed on the grounds of greediness, claiming that he does not know what the word ‘equal rations’ means. Last time I checked, Luke, that was two words.
It is horrible when a housemate, particularly a lovely one like Mohamed (although it wouldn’t really be any more acceptable if it had happened to Alexandra) is not only nominated but also ostracised by his fellow housemates. When Rex and Mohamed were sent to jail, they were pretty much ignored. This is in rather painful contrast to the crowds that visited Dennis and Jennifer when they were in the same predicament.
Some have suggested that Mohamed is disliked by the others because he is quiet, non-argumentative, and therefore an easy victim. But this says less about Mohamed than about his fellow housemates. They gave plenty of sympathy to Rebecca and Rachel when they were attacked by Alexandra, but none to Mohamed.
Mohamed is far from an ungenerous housemate. While he and Rex were languishing in jail, the other housemates were given a chance to use their last ‘token’ to free them, rather than saving it for hot water tomorrow. For almost the first time in the series, Mohamed raised his voice, leaning out through the prison bars to shout to the others to save the token. This most of the housemates were only too happy to do. With the exception of Kat (a close friend of both prisoners) and Rachel (who would probably have campaigned for the release of Jade and Charley, never mind Mohamed and Rex), they felt hot water was more important. As wannabe politician Luke insisted on pointing out several times, it was a majority decision. And possibly a fair one – after all, Mohamed and Rex will benefit from the hot water too - but the incident yet again put Mohamed into a considerably better light than most of his housemates.
The fact that the housemates’ dislike also seems to be extended to Rex should probably be addressed as well. It would probably be unfair for me to say Rex deserves this treatment just because I don’t like Rex at the moment. But Rex seems able to tolerate this kind of treatment, and he’s more than able to speak up for himself when necessary. Mohamed can’t do that. The Highlights showed Rex comforting Mohamed as he cried in jail, but they did not show Rex berating Mohamed immediately prior to that.
Rex now seems to be the most controlling housemate in the house – so where does that leave Mario? Well, I can tell you where Mario was last night. In my DREAMS. Can you imagine anything more horrible? The fact he was so nice in my dreams is all Rachel’s fault. He was really kind to Rachel when she sprained her wrist, and she really seemed to appreciate his support when he helped her into the Diary Room. I have to say, though, I made considerably less fuss than Rachel when I broke my collarbone, and I also hurt my knee and had (ewww) blood pouring out of my hands. But (I can’t believe I’m saying this) it would have been nice if Mario had been there to look after me. I do actually think he’s, well, lovely.
Mario was also right to say that only the fittest housemates should attempt the treadmill dance task (poor Rebecca, though), although I’m not at all sure Big Brother should have asked the housemates to do it in the first place. I’ve always thought tasks that compromise housemates’ physical health should be banned – especially as Big Brother is already messing with their mental health to severe degrees. Dancing on treadmills is one of the most stupid things I’ve ever heard of, second only to taking one’s jumper off whilst on a treadmill. (No, that wasn’t me. I’ve never even seen a treadmill in real life.)
Luke went down in certain viewers’ expectations when Darnell exposed his gameplan for all to see. We all know that Luke has a little habit of saying one thing to one housemate and something quite different to another – generally the thing they most want to hear. But Luke looks and sounds so sweet and innocent, and his bitchier comments are usually forgiven on the grounds that they are also very funny. So he has always got away with this.
Until now. Darnell worked out exactly what Luke was doing, and challenged him. Unfortunately for Darnell, he’s not a particularly popular housemate, and Rex didn’t even seem to be listening to what Darnell was telling him. So Darnell’s calm, deadly and accurate unmasking of Luke went unnoticed by all but the viewers - as did Luke’s stammering and trembling lip and complete failure to refute anything.
But the award for Most Pathetic Housemate of BB9 – if not in the whole history of the show – goes to Dale. A few days ago, he decided to show his manliness by having a little bitch about someone. Dennis and Jennifer were his audience; Rex was his target. Dale was so caught up in his eagerness to use yet another phallic metaphor, he completely failed to notice that Rex was sunbathing at his feet. (Jennifer’s frantic sign-language attempt to warn Dale is probably the most exciting thing she’s ever done.) Rex, never one to let a jibe go by, stood up and challenged Dale. Dale was at once reduced to a gibbering wreck (if ‘reduced’ is the right word).
To quote Dale himself, he did indeed ‘drop a bollock’, and Dale’s attempts to ‘wave his dick in Rex’s face’ came to nothing. He certainly cocked up there. What willy say next?
The following day, when he was feeling more courageous, Dale took Rex into the bedroom and explained exactly what ‘talking with your dick out’ means. In more gentile language, it means ‘not practising what one preaches’. Rex was naturally interested to know how Dale had come to this conclusion about him. Dale mumbled that he didn’t think that at all: “I didn’t like know what I was like on about like.”
It’s encouraging to see Dale showing such strong self-awareness. Dale, you never like know what you’re like on about like!
A lot of Dale’s critics think he is gay, and he did much to fuel their speculation when he reached out to grab at Rex’s crotch area. “Now you really are talking with your dick out,” he said. Rex, it seemed, had neglected to do up his fly – but surely there was no need to point this out quite so graphically.
Dale’s other critics, however, feel his love for Jennifer shows homosexuality is quite out of the question. He certainly appeared unhappy when Jennifer started flirting with Stuart, although perhaps it was Stuart he wanted – the same Stuart who has already broken Sylvia’s heart, thus proving she does actually have one.
Dale’s girlfriend and Jennifer’s husband are rumoured to be heartbroken too (although Dale and Jennifer claim to be ‘single’ and ‘a single mother’ respectively). The abandoned partners must feel like they’d been slapped with a wet dick, as Dale would probably say. There’s a word for people like you and Jennifer, Dale, and it’s a word you probably like. It’s ‘wanker’.
Okay, he might eat a bit more than the other housemates, but that’s nothing in comparison with the behaviour indulged in by some of the others. To me, he seems like a nice, kind, polite member of the household, and one of the very few whom I’d actually like to live with, yet he received more nominations than bossy Rex, dull Dale, two-faced Luke, two-timing Jennifer, controlling Mario, trouble-stirring Dennis – more nominations than anyone else in the house apart from new hate figure Sylvia.
Dale had the nerve to nominate Mohamed for not contributing. This is so ridiculous it’s actually laughable, and were it not for possible racist connotations in the phrase, I would now be talking about pots and kettles. Luke nominated Mohamed on the grounds of greediness, claiming that he does not know what the word ‘equal rations’ means. Last time I checked, Luke, that was two words.
It is horrible when a housemate, particularly a lovely one like Mohamed (although it wouldn’t really be any more acceptable if it had happened to Alexandra) is not only nominated but also ostracised by his fellow housemates. When Rex and Mohamed were sent to jail, they were pretty much ignored. This is in rather painful contrast to the crowds that visited Dennis and Jennifer when they were in the same predicament.
Some have suggested that Mohamed is disliked by the others because he is quiet, non-argumentative, and therefore an easy victim. But this says less about Mohamed than about his fellow housemates. They gave plenty of sympathy to Rebecca and Rachel when they were attacked by Alexandra, but none to Mohamed.
Mohamed is far from an ungenerous housemate. While he and Rex were languishing in jail, the other housemates were given a chance to use their last ‘token’ to free them, rather than saving it for hot water tomorrow. For almost the first time in the series, Mohamed raised his voice, leaning out through the prison bars to shout to the others to save the token. This most of the housemates were only too happy to do. With the exception of Kat (a close friend of both prisoners) and Rachel (who would probably have campaigned for the release of Jade and Charley, never mind Mohamed and Rex), they felt hot water was more important. As wannabe politician Luke insisted on pointing out several times, it was a majority decision. And possibly a fair one – after all, Mohamed and Rex will benefit from the hot water too - but the incident yet again put Mohamed into a considerably better light than most of his housemates.
The fact that the housemates’ dislike also seems to be extended to Rex should probably be addressed as well. It would probably be unfair for me to say Rex deserves this treatment just because I don’t like Rex at the moment. But Rex seems able to tolerate this kind of treatment, and he’s more than able to speak up for himself when necessary. Mohamed can’t do that. The Highlights showed Rex comforting Mohamed as he cried in jail, but they did not show Rex berating Mohamed immediately prior to that.
Rex now seems to be the most controlling housemate in the house – so where does that leave Mario? Well, I can tell you where Mario was last night. In my DREAMS. Can you imagine anything more horrible? The fact he was so nice in my dreams is all Rachel’s fault. He was really kind to Rachel when she sprained her wrist, and she really seemed to appreciate his support when he helped her into the Diary Room. I have to say, though, I made considerably less fuss than Rachel when I broke my collarbone, and I also hurt my knee and had (ewww) blood pouring out of my hands. But (I can’t believe I’m saying this) it would have been nice if Mario had been there to look after me. I do actually think he’s, well, lovely.
Mario was also right to say that only the fittest housemates should attempt the treadmill dance task (poor Rebecca, though), although I’m not at all sure Big Brother should have asked the housemates to do it in the first place. I’ve always thought tasks that compromise housemates’ physical health should be banned – especially as Big Brother is already messing with their mental health to severe degrees. Dancing on treadmills is one of the most stupid things I’ve ever heard of, second only to taking one’s jumper off whilst on a treadmill. (No, that wasn’t me. I’ve never even seen a treadmill in real life.)
Luke went down in certain viewers’ expectations when Darnell exposed his gameplan for all to see. We all know that Luke has a little habit of saying one thing to one housemate and something quite different to another – generally the thing they most want to hear. But Luke looks and sounds so sweet and innocent, and his bitchier comments are usually forgiven on the grounds that they are also very funny. So he has always got away with this.
Until now. Darnell worked out exactly what Luke was doing, and challenged him. Unfortunately for Darnell, he’s not a particularly popular housemate, and Rex didn’t even seem to be listening to what Darnell was telling him. So Darnell’s calm, deadly and accurate unmasking of Luke went unnoticed by all but the viewers - as did Luke’s stammering and trembling lip and complete failure to refute anything.
But the award for Most Pathetic Housemate of BB9 – if not in the whole history of the show – goes to Dale. A few days ago, he decided to show his manliness by having a little bitch about someone. Dennis and Jennifer were his audience; Rex was his target. Dale was so caught up in his eagerness to use yet another phallic metaphor, he completely failed to notice that Rex was sunbathing at his feet. (Jennifer’s frantic sign-language attempt to warn Dale is probably the most exciting thing she’s ever done.) Rex, never one to let a jibe go by, stood up and challenged Dale. Dale was at once reduced to a gibbering wreck (if ‘reduced’ is the right word).
To quote Dale himself, he did indeed ‘drop a bollock’, and Dale’s attempts to ‘wave his dick in Rex’s face’ came to nothing. He certainly cocked up there. What willy say next?
The following day, when he was feeling more courageous, Dale took Rex into the bedroom and explained exactly what ‘talking with your dick out’ means. In more gentile language, it means ‘not practising what one preaches’. Rex was naturally interested to know how Dale had come to this conclusion about him. Dale mumbled that he didn’t think that at all: “I didn’t like know what I was like on about like.”
It’s encouraging to see Dale showing such strong self-awareness. Dale, you never like know what you’re like on about like!
A lot of Dale’s critics think he is gay, and he did much to fuel their speculation when he reached out to grab at Rex’s crotch area. “Now you really are talking with your dick out,” he said. Rex, it seemed, had neglected to do up his fly – but surely there was no need to point this out quite so graphically.
Dale’s other critics, however, feel his love for Jennifer shows homosexuality is quite out of the question. He certainly appeared unhappy when Jennifer started flirting with Stuart, although perhaps it was Stuart he wanted – the same Stuart who has already broken Sylvia’s heart, thus proving she does actually have one.
Dale’s girlfriend and Jennifer’s husband are rumoured to be heartbroken too (although Dale and Jennifer claim to be ‘single’ and ‘a single mother’ respectively). The abandoned partners must feel like they’d been slapped with a wet dick, as Dale would probably say. There’s a word for people like you and Jennifer, Dale, and it’s a word you probably like. It’s ‘wanker’.
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Day 20
So, Stephanie has been evicted, and Alexandra has been ejected. As usual, we’re two weeks in, and we’ve lost two girls. This is actually an improvement: this time last year, we had lost Emily (ejected), Lesley (walked) and Shabnam (evicted). The year before, we had not only lost two girls in the first two weeks – Dawn (ejected whilst in the process of walking) and Bonnie (evicted) – but also three boys: Shahbaz (walked), George (walked) and Sezer (evicted). Not to mention Celebrity Big Brother 5’s trio of walkers: Donny (who climbed over the wall), Leo (who smashed his way through the wall), and Ken (who left via the conventional route, but might have given us equally memorable exit if he’d been twenty years younger).
You’d almost think people weren’t having fun in the Big Brother house.
Big Brother 9 might not be the most exciting house ever, but at least the housemates seem happy to stay put for the moment.
The only thing I don’t understand is why, having lost two girls, Big Brother decided to put Stuart into the house. The only interesting things that have happened as a result of his entry are Jennifer’s huge smile (I didn’t know she could do that) the moment she laid eyes on him, and Dennis’ subsequent eagerness to show him the bedroom.
The fact Sylvia seems to have fallen in love with Stuart at first sight does make me feel a little bit more sympathetic towards the lying bitch, although I can’t say I’m impressed by her taste. But most of my sympathies lie with Sylvia’s boyfriend, who can’t be enjoying watching Sylvia cry over another man – although the fact she has shown herself to be a lying, scheming bitch might well have put him off her some time ago.
Mohamed and Sylvia face the public vote this week. I have no idea what anyone could have against Mohamed, who is a nice, kind and principled young man whom Alexandra would do very well to look up to. But the housemates obviously have a problem with him.
Dale finally did something interesting last Friday when he started to cry. Jennifer gave him a big hug, but her words were a lot less kind. For once, I think I’m on her side. Dale, I think it’s very sweet when guys cry because they’re scared of being evicted (if only Sezer hadn’t waited until his name had already been called). But Dale, like next time you want to like cry about like being up for eviction, why not like wait till you’re actually like up for like eviction like? Just a, like, thought.
I like Darnell. He’s not afraid of an argument, but he can make a point without sounding aggressive. He seems to be doing amazingly well considering he’s partially sighted – I never would have guessed he was. He and Mikey are both very brave, and if Mikey wants to use a cup to wash his naughty bits, that’s fine with me. He’s only using it for pouring, and he does keep with his belongings, rather than taking it back to the kitchen. I can understand why Jennifer wanted to clarify this point, but the patronising way she went about it – not to mention the very rude way she walked away from him when he was still talking to her – is far more disgusting than peeing into a cup, which Mikey wasn’t doing anyway.
Dennis is a bitch with a game plan, but he is an interesting character. The Highlights suggest he’s not very subtle about stirring things up, but he manages to get a reaction out of his housemates that doesn’t seem to have backfired on him as yet, if the nomination results are anything to go by – although perhaps the other game-playing housemates see him as too pathetically obvious to be a real threat.
Kat is still the favourite to win, but I don’t understand why. She does seem to be very nice and genuine. She’s usually very cheerful, and gets over any upsets quickly. But she doesn’t really have anything interesting to say. This doesn’t make her a bad person, and I do like her a lot. I just don’t think she’s entertaining enough to win a gameshow where personality plays such a big part. I can see that someone like her might win if it got to the end and there wasn’t anyone nice left – that’s pretty much what happened when Anthony won BB6, his only competition being a geek, a gameplayer, a bottle shagger and a deranged stalker (although I think the geek should have won). But he wasn’t the favourite in Week Three.
Lisa and Mario, having dominated the action in Week One, have now faded into the background a bit, and only appear occasionally to make a negative comment on one or more of their housemates. Mario’s claims of “I’m not going to be evicted” sent a lot of people to the phone to dial his number, but most voters felt there were more important things to worry about than wiping the smarmy smirk off his face – not that I’ve seen the smarmy smirk for a while. Mario got enough nominations to face eviction last week, and he’d probably have gone against anyone but Alexandra (who had 87% of the vote so far, and I bet she’d have ended up losing by least five percent more if she hadn’t been ejected). But this week, the fairly meek and mild Mohamed has beaten him to face the public vote against two-faced Sylvia.
Rachel continues to be very nice – so nice, her housemates are becoming suspicious. There are people in the world who are genuinely that nice, including people who have been on Big Brother, but Big Brother doesn’t usually trouble to show housemates in the best light possible. Even Luke (who is very nice himself, to people’s faces) and Rebecca (who is nice all the time, and I want to kiss her every time I see her) are starting to doubt her. Apart from crying when Alexandra had a go at Rebecca, Rachel doesn’t seem to have shown any weakness at all. She even says she doesn’t usually cry. A beauty queen probably needs a lot of strength and determination because it’s quite likely she’ll come in for a lot of criticism, both from those who disagree with beauty pageants and those who were competing against her. Rachel’s experiences as a child star in films might have helped her to develop this strength, and to grow up fast. Rachel has certainly shown she’s not as fragile as she appears, and her determination to win Miss Wales led her to enter the competition not once but twice. It has even been alleged that she cheated by wearing heels under a long dress in a part of the Miss Wales competition where heels were forbidden, although I’d have thought the judges would have noticed if their smallest contestant had suddenly grown an extra four inches. I think Rachel probably is a very nice girl, but she’s also a determined character with very high standards, and it would be a mistake to underestimate her.
Big Brother fans predicted that Sylvia would face eviction this week, alongside either Mario or Rex. After an increase in popularity last week, Rex is now being condemned by many viewers as bossy and cruel, and I’d say he has a definite tendency to put words in other housemates’ mouths.
So why is Mohamed up for eviction instead? Maybe he is a lot more irritating than he appears to be. Maybe some of Alexandra’s friends (if she had any) blame him for her departure. Maybe they see Mohamed as a likely winner, and are stupidly hoping he might lose to someone as active as Sylvia. Or maybe they used their intelligence, a rare trait in the Big Brother house, and voted for Mohamed to help ensure Sylvia leaves.
If this is the case, it’s surprising they’ve all chosen the same housemate to be Sylvia’s rival. But it’s probably a lot easier to influence nominations that you might think. Sezer and Imogen got banned for discussing nominations in BB7, but two of their friends made exactly the same nomination choices as they would have done. Vanessa in BB6 was also able to influence nominations in such a way that Big Brother didn’t notice, and, despite rumours that one housemate had been breaking the rules in this way, they weren’t sure who it was until Derek gave her away three weeks later. And not forgetting Nasty Nick, who smuggled pen and paper into the house back in BB1.
The housemates in BB9 don’t seem that bright, and Big Brother has presumably learned from their experiences with rule-breaking housemates. But I’m sure there are always going to be Big Brother housemates who are interested in cheating the system, either in order to help themselves win, or just for the fun of deceiving the all-seeing one.
LOVE: Mikey, Mohamed, Rebecca
LIKE: Darnell, Kat, Rachel, Luke
UNSURE: Dale, Lisa, Dennis
DISLIKE: Jennifer, Mario, Rex, Stuart, Sylvia
EVICTION PREDICTION: Sylvia to go with 70-80% of vote
You’d almost think people weren’t having fun in the Big Brother house.
Big Brother 9 might not be the most exciting house ever, but at least the housemates seem happy to stay put for the moment.
The only thing I don’t understand is why, having lost two girls, Big Brother decided to put Stuart into the house. The only interesting things that have happened as a result of his entry are Jennifer’s huge smile (I didn’t know she could do that) the moment she laid eyes on him, and Dennis’ subsequent eagerness to show him the bedroom.
The fact Sylvia seems to have fallen in love with Stuart at first sight does make me feel a little bit more sympathetic towards the lying bitch, although I can’t say I’m impressed by her taste. But most of my sympathies lie with Sylvia’s boyfriend, who can’t be enjoying watching Sylvia cry over another man – although the fact she has shown herself to be a lying, scheming bitch might well have put him off her some time ago.
Mohamed and Sylvia face the public vote this week. I have no idea what anyone could have against Mohamed, who is a nice, kind and principled young man whom Alexandra would do very well to look up to. But the housemates obviously have a problem with him.
Dale finally did something interesting last Friday when he started to cry. Jennifer gave him a big hug, but her words were a lot less kind. For once, I think I’m on her side. Dale, I think it’s very sweet when guys cry because they’re scared of being evicted (if only Sezer hadn’t waited until his name had already been called). But Dale, like next time you want to like cry about like being up for eviction, why not like wait till you’re actually like up for like eviction like? Just a, like, thought.
I like Darnell. He’s not afraid of an argument, but he can make a point without sounding aggressive. He seems to be doing amazingly well considering he’s partially sighted – I never would have guessed he was. He and Mikey are both very brave, and if Mikey wants to use a cup to wash his naughty bits, that’s fine with me. He’s only using it for pouring, and he does keep with his belongings, rather than taking it back to the kitchen. I can understand why Jennifer wanted to clarify this point, but the patronising way she went about it – not to mention the very rude way she walked away from him when he was still talking to her – is far more disgusting than peeing into a cup, which Mikey wasn’t doing anyway.
Dennis is a bitch with a game plan, but he is an interesting character. The Highlights suggest he’s not very subtle about stirring things up, but he manages to get a reaction out of his housemates that doesn’t seem to have backfired on him as yet, if the nomination results are anything to go by – although perhaps the other game-playing housemates see him as too pathetically obvious to be a real threat.
Kat is still the favourite to win, but I don’t understand why. She does seem to be very nice and genuine. She’s usually very cheerful, and gets over any upsets quickly. But she doesn’t really have anything interesting to say. This doesn’t make her a bad person, and I do like her a lot. I just don’t think she’s entertaining enough to win a gameshow where personality plays such a big part. I can see that someone like her might win if it got to the end and there wasn’t anyone nice left – that’s pretty much what happened when Anthony won BB6, his only competition being a geek, a gameplayer, a bottle shagger and a deranged stalker (although I think the geek should have won). But he wasn’t the favourite in Week Three.
Lisa and Mario, having dominated the action in Week One, have now faded into the background a bit, and only appear occasionally to make a negative comment on one or more of their housemates. Mario’s claims of “I’m not going to be evicted” sent a lot of people to the phone to dial his number, but most voters felt there were more important things to worry about than wiping the smarmy smirk off his face – not that I’ve seen the smarmy smirk for a while. Mario got enough nominations to face eviction last week, and he’d probably have gone against anyone but Alexandra (who had 87% of the vote so far, and I bet she’d have ended up losing by least five percent more if she hadn’t been ejected). But this week, the fairly meek and mild Mohamed has beaten him to face the public vote against two-faced Sylvia.
Rachel continues to be very nice – so nice, her housemates are becoming suspicious. There are people in the world who are genuinely that nice, including people who have been on Big Brother, but Big Brother doesn’t usually trouble to show housemates in the best light possible. Even Luke (who is very nice himself, to people’s faces) and Rebecca (who is nice all the time, and I want to kiss her every time I see her) are starting to doubt her. Apart from crying when Alexandra had a go at Rebecca, Rachel doesn’t seem to have shown any weakness at all. She even says she doesn’t usually cry. A beauty queen probably needs a lot of strength and determination because it’s quite likely she’ll come in for a lot of criticism, both from those who disagree with beauty pageants and those who were competing against her. Rachel’s experiences as a child star in films might have helped her to develop this strength, and to grow up fast. Rachel has certainly shown she’s not as fragile as she appears, and her determination to win Miss Wales led her to enter the competition not once but twice. It has even been alleged that she cheated by wearing heels under a long dress in a part of the Miss Wales competition where heels were forbidden, although I’d have thought the judges would have noticed if their smallest contestant had suddenly grown an extra four inches. I think Rachel probably is a very nice girl, but she’s also a determined character with very high standards, and it would be a mistake to underestimate her.
Big Brother fans predicted that Sylvia would face eviction this week, alongside either Mario or Rex. After an increase in popularity last week, Rex is now being condemned by many viewers as bossy and cruel, and I’d say he has a definite tendency to put words in other housemates’ mouths.
So why is Mohamed up for eviction instead? Maybe he is a lot more irritating than he appears to be. Maybe some of Alexandra’s friends (if she had any) blame him for her departure. Maybe they see Mohamed as a likely winner, and are stupidly hoping he might lose to someone as active as Sylvia. Or maybe they used their intelligence, a rare trait in the Big Brother house, and voted for Mohamed to help ensure Sylvia leaves.
If this is the case, it’s surprising they’ve all chosen the same housemate to be Sylvia’s rival. But it’s probably a lot easier to influence nominations that you might think. Sezer and Imogen got banned for discussing nominations in BB7, but two of their friends made exactly the same nomination choices as they would have done. Vanessa in BB6 was also able to influence nominations in such a way that Big Brother didn’t notice, and, despite rumours that one housemate had been breaking the rules in this way, they weren’t sure who it was until Derek gave her away three weeks later. And not forgetting Nasty Nick, who smuggled pen and paper into the house back in BB1.
The housemates in BB9 don’t seem that bright, and Big Brother has presumably learned from their experiences with rule-breaking housemates. But I’m sure there are always going to be Big Brother housemates who are interested in cheating the system, either in order to help themselves win, or just for the fun of deceiving the all-seeing one.
LOVE: Mikey, Mohamed, Rebecca
LIKE: Darnell, Kat, Rachel, Luke
UNSURE: Dale, Lisa, Dennis
DISLIKE: Jennifer, Mario, Rex, Stuart, Sylvia
EVICTION PREDICTION: Sylvia to go with 70-80% of vote
Friday, 20 June 2008
Day 16: Alexandra
I don’t need to say what happened to Alexandra. I’m sure even the non-BB fans have heard about it.
But did Big Brother make the right decision?
Yes, they did.
Alexandra said something that could be interpreted as a threat to her fellow housemates. She said when she leaves the house, she’s going to see her housemates’ friends and family, and she’s going to be able to do the shit she can’t do when she’s in the house. She has gangster friends who have ‘instructions to follow out’.
I believe she didn’t mean it the way it sounded. When Big Brother asked her questions about what particular phrases meant, she explained them coherently and convincingly. Also, it’s not unlikely Big Brother edited what Alexandra said, leaving in the phrases they see as important. I’m glad Alexandra admitted to saying what she did, as I don’t know how far we can trust Big Brother to give a balanced view of anything. Different phrases will have different levels of importance depending on the context in which her words are taken, and the omission of a particular phrase might make the phrase following it seem very different. I’m not suggesting that Big Brother did this on purpose to make Alexandra worse than she is - to some extent, it is their job to exaggerate incidents in the house: in order to entertain the viewers, they have to make some scenes seem more dramatic than they actually were. But in matters of possible criminal behaviour, they have a responsibility to depict scenes as honestly as they can.
Some would say ‘pow pow pow’ is pretty conclusive. But conclusive of what? That Alexandra is a violent, nasty, aggressive thug? Or perhaps that she is a mentally damaged individual who never should have been placed in so stressful and challenging a situation as Big Brother.
A lot – if not most – of Alexandra’s problems are her own fault. Some are the fault of the people who have hurt her – and she must have been hurt a lot. She finds it very difficult to trust people, and any signs of apparent disrespect is very upsetting for her. Anyone with such characteristics is likely to be under particular strain in the Big Brother house because Big Brother is playing games, and a lot of her housemates are going to be playing games as well, and I think this puts anyone who is very suspicious of this all the time under a lot more stress than most housemates. There are past housemates who could also be described as obsessive about this sort of thing and who were hurt by others in the house, but most of them accepted it as a part of BB life rather than fighting it, and showed themselves to be much stronger people than anyone expected at first. Alexandra can’t help but fight anything that comes along.
Sometimes Alexandra’s tenacity can be very positive. She seems to have worked hard at the tasks, and she has made some good points about unfair behaviour from the other housemates. The problem was that she insisted on making her points over and over again, and that she took any response to what she was saying, including ‘you’re right, Alexandra’, as an attack. But Alexandra has spent so much of her life fighting, and she’s probably got so much into the habit of it, she can’t always tell when there is something to fight and when there isn’t, and life has taught her ‘if in doubt, fight’. This sort of mentality is going to make life incredibly stressful, and it’s not all that surprising she can’t always think before she speaks when she’s in that sort of state.
This could be a feasible reason why Alexandra behaves as she does, and I think it seems very sad that Alexandra is so insecure, she feels she has to defend herself from what she sees as attacks every moment of the day.
But Big Brother has more to consider than a particular housemate’s intentions. Big Brother didn’t articulate this point very well, but I believe the real problem in this situation was that Alexandra’s words could be perceived as being threatening. I am happy to accept she didn’t mean what she said in an aggressive way, but you also need to consider the effect your remarks are having on other people. Her housemates have been disturbed by Alexandra’s words on a number of occasions. So has Big Brother, and so have the public. It’s not fair for her housemates to have to cope with the severe anxiety caused by living with someone with Alexandra’s problems. If you go into the Big Brother house, you can expect to be frightened by Big Brother. You can expect conflict. But you shouldn’t be that seriously worried about comments made by another housemate.
Alexandra said herself that her remarks could be perceived as threatening if put into a particular context. She obviously has serious emotional problems that have limited her understanding to some extent – for example, she has trouble accepting that some of her housemates’ words to her were not meant as she interpreted them - but she understands what should have been Big Brother’s main point. Alexandra was, at first, willing to listen: she stayed quiet when requested (I don’t think ‘mmm’ noises count as an interruption), and quickly stopped herself when she did find herself breaking into what Big Brother was saying.
But I think Big Brother made a mistake in continually saying Alexandra ‘was’ aggressive rather than using the words ‘could be perceived as’. Maybe it wouldn’t have made a lot of difference, but I think sometimes it’s easier to appreciate what someone else is saying if they show some sign that they’ve listened to you, and that they respect your views. (Respect is particularly important to Alexandra.) Big Brother barely acknowledged Alexandra’s explanation. If this wasn’t an aggressive act exactly, it is certainly one that could put someone on the defensive, and make them less amenable to hearing your points of view.
I wonder if it might have helped for Big Brother to show Alexandra footage of the incidents in question. Alexandra doesn’t think she’s an aggressive person, but seeing footage of her behaviour might have help her to understand what Big Brother means. A lot of housemates including Jade and Charley have watched videos of their time in the house and realised that what seemed perfectly reasonable at the time in the heat of the movement was actually pretty awful. I’m not saying Alexandra should have been shown these videos instead of being ejected. She had to go. But it might have supplemented her earlier warnings, and helped her to see Big Brother’s and her housemates’ points of view.
If any BB fans hate Alexandra for her behaviour, I can’t really blame them. But one thing I do think is unacceptable is discussing what they would like to do to Alexandra if they saw her in the street, or what they would like her gangsters to do to her. I can understand why people feel angry with Alexandra, and I don’t think it’s an unnatural expression of anger to imagine what you would like to do in that moment of emotion.
However, I think writing about what you would like to happen to Alexandra on the Internet is taking it too far. In some ways, people who do this are worse than Alexandra. I haven’t seen anyone threatening to send gangsters after her yet (although hoping her gangster friends turn on her is not far off), but there does seem to be a big difference between Alexandra and the people who have written about her like that. Alexandra doesn’t seem to realise what she’s done wrong: at the moment, I don’t think she can see past the fact that she wasn’t trying to be aggressive and Big Brother’s inability to accept that. But the people writing aren’t in Alexandra’s position. They know her behaviour was wrong because they condemned it themselves.
I am sure that most, if not all, of the people who wrote things like this aren’t really planning on doing what they said. I’m sure most people wouldn’t march up to Alexandra in the street and pow pow pow. As they’re in a stronger position mentally and emotionally than Alexandra, they are probably less likely to carry out what they’re saying than Alexandra is. But even talking about it could be perceived as a threat. That’s actually pretty much what Alexandra was doing, except that her words seemed more ambiguous.
So, to reiterate. Alexandra should not have gone into the house. This is Big Brother’s fault for putting entertainment before of Alexandra’s and her housemates’ mental health. If Alexandra meant her remarks in the way she says she intended them, she was not being threatening. However, we must also consider the potential effect on anyone who hears these remarks, and her words could certainly ‘be perceived as’ threatening, and this is against the Big Brother rules. Housemates who break the Big Brother rules should be punished, and three serious offences should result in removal from the house. But that doesn’t mean we have any right to speak about her in the way she appeared to be speaking about others.
Alexandra had to go. That’s one thing Big Brother did get right.
I hope Alexandra and her daughter (together or separately, whichever is best for them) stay safe, and that Alexandra is able to work towards overcoming her problems.
But did Big Brother make the right decision?
Yes, they did.
Alexandra said something that could be interpreted as a threat to her fellow housemates. She said when she leaves the house, she’s going to see her housemates’ friends and family, and she’s going to be able to do the shit she can’t do when she’s in the house. She has gangster friends who have ‘instructions to follow out’.
I believe she didn’t mean it the way it sounded. When Big Brother asked her questions about what particular phrases meant, she explained them coherently and convincingly. Also, it’s not unlikely Big Brother edited what Alexandra said, leaving in the phrases they see as important. I’m glad Alexandra admitted to saying what she did, as I don’t know how far we can trust Big Brother to give a balanced view of anything. Different phrases will have different levels of importance depending on the context in which her words are taken, and the omission of a particular phrase might make the phrase following it seem very different. I’m not suggesting that Big Brother did this on purpose to make Alexandra worse than she is - to some extent, it is their job to exaggerate incidents in the house: in order to entertain the viewers, they have to make some scenes seem more dramatic than they actually were. But in matters of possible criminal behaviour, they have a responsibility to depict scenes as honestly as they can.
Some would say ‘pow pow pow’ is pretty conclusive. But conclusive of what? That Alexandra is a violent, nasty, aggressive thug? Or perhaps that she is a mentally damaged individual who never should have been placed in so stressful and challenging a situation as Big Brother.
A lot – if not most – of Alexandra’s problems are her own fault. Some are the fault of the people who have hurt her – and she must have been hurt a lot. She finds it very difficult to trust people, and any signs of apparent disrespect is very upsetting for her. Anyone with such characteristics is likely to be under particular strain in the Big Brother house because Big Brother is playing games, and a lot of her housemates are going to be playing games as well, and I think this puts anyone who is very suspicious of this all the time under a lot more stress than most housemates. There are past housemates who could also be described as obsessive about this sort of thing and who were hurt by others in the house, but most of them accepted it as a part of BB life rather than fighting it, and showed themselves to be much stronger people than anyone expected at first. Alexandra can’t help but fight anything that comes along.
Sometimes Alexandra’s tenacity can be very positive. She seems to have worked hard at the tasks, and she has made some good points about unfair behaviour from the other housemates. The problem was that she insisted on making her points over and over again, and that she took any response to what she was saying, including ‘you’re right, Alexandra’, as an attack. But Alexandra has spent so much of her life fighting, and she’s probably got so much into the habit of it, she can’t always tell when there is something to fight and when there isn’t, and life has taught her ‘if in doubt, fight’. This sort of mentality is going to make life incredibly stressful, and it’s not all that surprising she can’t always think before she speaks when she’s in that sort of state.
This could be a feasible reason why Alexandra behaves as she does, and I think it seems very sad that Alexandra is so insecure, she feels she has to defend herself from what she sees as attacks every moment of the day.
But Big Brother has more to consider than a particular housemate’s intentions. Big Brother didn’t articulate this point very well, but I believe the real problem in this situation was that Alexandra’s words could be perceived as being threatening. I am happy to accept she didn’t mean what she said in an aggressive way, but you also need to consider the effect your remarks are having on other people. Her housemates have been disturbed by Alexandra’s words on a number of occasions. So has Big Brother, and so have the public. It’s not fair for her housemates to have to cope with the severe anxiety caused by living with someone with Alexandra’s problems. If you go into the Big Brother house, you can expect to be frightened by Big Brother. You can expect conflict. But you shouldn’t be that seriously worried about comments made by another housemate.
Alexandra said herself that her remarks could be perceived as threatening if put into a particular context. She obviously has serious emotional problems that have limited her understanding to some extent – for example, she has trouble accepting that some of her housemates’ words to her were not meant as she interpreted them - but she understands what should have been Big Brother’s main point. Alexandra was, at first, willing to listen: she stayed quiet when requested (I don’t think ‘mmm’ noises count as an interruption), and quickly stopped herself when she did find herself breaking into what Big Brother was saying.
But I think Big Brother made a mistake in continually saying Alexandra ‘was’ aggressive rather than using the words ‘could be perceived as’. Maybe it wouldn’t have made a lot of difference, but I think sometimes it’s easier to appreciate what someone else is saying if they show some sign that they’ve listened to you, and that they respect your views. (Respect is particularly important to Alexandra.) Big Brother barely acknowledged Alexandra’s explanation. If this wasn’t an aggressive act exactly, it is certainly one that could put someone on the defensive, and make them less amenable to hearing your points of view.
I wonder if it might have helped for Big Brother to show Alexandra footage of the incidents in question. Alexandra doesn’t think she’s an aggressive person, but seeing footage of her behaviour might have help her to understand what Big Brother means. A lot of housemates including Jade and Charley have watched videos of their time in the house and realised that what seemed perfectly reasonable at the time in the heat of the movement was actually pretty awful. I’m not saying Alexandra should have been shown these videos instead of being ejected. She had to go. But it might have supplemented her earlier warnings, and helped her to see Big Brother’s and her housemates’ points of view.
If any BB fans hate Alexandra for her behaviour, I can’t really blame them. But one thing I do think is unacceptable is discussing what they would like to do to Alexandra if they saw her in the street, or what they would like her gangsters to do to her. I can understand why people feel angry with Alexandra, and I don’t think it’s an unnatural expression of anger to imagine what you would like to do in that moment of emotion.
However, I think writing about what you would like to happen to Alexandra on the Internet is taking it too far. In some ways, people who do this are worse than Alexandra. I haven’t seen anyone threatening to send gangsters after her yet (although hoping her gangster friends turn on her is not far off), but there does seem to be a big difference between Alexandra and the people who have written about her like that. Alexandra doesn’t seem to realise what she’s done wrong: at the moment, I don’t think she can see past the fact that she wasn’t trying to be aggressive and Big Brother’s inability to accept that. But the people writing aren’t in Alexandra’s position. They know her behaviour was wrong because they condemned it themselves.
I am sure that most, if not all, of the people who wrote things like this aren’t really planning on doing what they said. I’m sure most people wouldn’t march up to Alexandra in the street and pow pow pow. As they’re in a stronger position mentally and emotionally than Alexandra, they are probably less likely to carry out what they’re saying than Alexandra is. But even talking about it could be perceived as a threat. That’s actually pretty much what Alexandra was doing, except that her words seemed more ambiguous.
So, to reiterate. Alexandra should not have gone into the house. This is Big Brother’s fault for putting entertainment before of Alexandra’s and her housemates’ mental health. If Alexandra meant her remarks in the way she says she intended them, she was not being threatening. However, we must also consider the potential effect on anyone who hears these remarks, and her words could certainly ‘be perceived as’ threatening, and this is against the Big Brother rules. Housemates who break the Big Brother rules should be punished, and three serious offences should result in removal from the house. But that doesn’t mean we have any right to speak about her in the way she appeared to be speaking about others.
Alexandra had to go. That’s one thing Big Brother did get right.
I hope Alexandra and her daughter (together or separately, whichever is best for them) stay safe, and that Alexandra is able to work towards overcoming her problems.
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Day 14
Poor Mario.
Did I really say that?
Yes, and I think I meant it as well.
He just didn’t seem so bad in Monday’s episode, and actually I came close to wanting to hug him at the end.
The first thing that went wrong was Jennifer told him he was like her dad. Mario appeared stunned into silence and maybe a bit hurt. Of course, it’s possible BB edited it that way to help ensure eviction rival Alexandra goes on Friday. And maybe Mario was only shocked because he hadn’t realised Jennifer could speak. But I think Mario sees himself as quite a cool, young person, so being told he wasn’t was a bit of a shock for him. And it’s not very nice to see people that upset, even if they are tossers.
At the end of the episode, Mario climbed into bed for a bit of nookie with Lisa. Now, obviously, this is totally disgusting, not to mention very disrespectful towards the people who have to share a room with them. But when Big Brother called Mario to the Diary Room at what seemed like a pretty crucial moment, he really seemed a bit embarrassed and bewildered, and not like his usual objectionable self at all. If he’d been wearing a few more clothes, maybe I would have wanted to hug him.
But Jennifer deserves no hugs whatsoever. Not only did she upset a housemate I now have a very tiny amount of affection for, she blames Mario for the fact she doesn’t “feel like a mother.” She seems to believe that if Mario stopped behaving like a father, she would feel like a mother. No, Jennifer, it doesn’t work that way. If you want to feel like a mother, then GO HOME and look after your twenty-two month old baby. And seriously, missing court dates because you’re busy fame-seeking is very nearly as disgusting as having sex with Mario. (Not that I’ve ever had sex with Mario.)
The house’s other young mother, Alexandra, is facing eviction alongside Mario. After her behaviour on Monday night’s eviction show, her chances of staying are minuscule. When Dennis arranged a house meeting – a pathetically obvious attempt to stir up trouble – Alexandra claimed she has never talked behind anyone’s back: if she has a problem, she tells people to their face. She was so convincing, I believed her. What’s more, I think Alexandra believed it too. But the public aren’t going to let her get away with that.
Sylvia doesn’t want to let her get away with that either. As soon as the meeting was over, she went to the Diary Room and bitched about Alexandra behind her back, saying that Alexandra is always talking about the other housemates. “I’m FUMING,” she said in the Diary Room. “FUUMMIINGG!” I’m not sure if she was trying to be Nikki or Nadia, but it wasn’t very convincing.
At least Luke showed a bit of honesty – of a sort. “If I want to talk about people, I’m not going to do it to their faces,” he told Big Brother in the DR. “I’m going to do it behind their backs in the Diary Room!” This isn’t clever, and it’s only a little bit funny, and it’s completely at odds with the claims he made in his audition tape. But he was so endearingly delighted with himself, I really don’t think anyone minds. Being cute and young and not very manly puts you at a huge advantage in the Big Brother house.
It’s unfortunate for Mikey that the public thinks only one of those things - the last one (I think he’s all of them). They have no problems with his blindness, of course, but I really don’t think disliking him for his voice and his appearance is all that much more acceptable. Neither is criticising him for not trying to have conversations with Dale. I mean, how is Mikey supposed to know where Dale is when Dale never speaks? Besides, do you want to talk to Dale? I don’t think I even fancy him anymore. I’m torn between Rachel and Rebecca (and Sezer and Imogen and Gareth Southgate, but they’re not in Big Brother). So if Big Brother would like to feature a bit more of Rebecca in the Highlights, I’m sure all her fans would appreciate it.
Did I really say that?
Yes, and I think I meant it as well.
He just didn’t seem so bad in Monday’s episode, and actually I came close to wanting to hug him at the end.
The first thing that went wrong was Jennifer told him he was like her dad. Mario appeared stunned into silence and maybe a bit hurt. Of course, it’s possible BB edited it that way to help ensure eviction rival Alexandra goes on Friday. And maybe Mario was only shocked because he hadn’t realised Jennifer could speak. But I think Mario sees himself as quite a cool, young person, so being told he wasn’t was a bit of a shock for him. And it’s not very nice to see people that upset, even if they are tossers.
At the end of the episode, Mario climbed into bed for a bit of nookie with Lisa. Now, obviously, this is totally disgusting, not to mention very disrespectful towards the people who have to share a room with them. But when Big Brother called Mario to the Diary Room at what seemed like a pretty crucial moment, he really seemed a bit embarrassed and bewildered, and not like his usual objectionable self at all. If he’d been wearing a few more clothes, maybe I would have wanted to hug him.
But Jennifer deserves no hugs whatsoever. Not only did she upset a housemate I now have a very tiny amount of affection for, she blames Mario for the fact she doesn’t “feel like a mother.” She seems to believe that if Mario stopped behaving like a father, she would feel like a mother. No, Jennifer, it doesn’t work that way. If you want to feel like a mother, then GO HOME and look after your twenty-two month old baby. And seriously, missing court dates because you’re busy fame-seeking is very nearly as disgusting as having sex with Mario. (Not that I’ve ever had sex with Mario.)
The house’s other young mother, Alexandra, is facing eviction alongside Mario. After her behaviour on Monday night’s eviction show, her chances of staying are minuscule. When Dennis arranged a house meeting – a pathetically obvious attempt to stir up trouble – Alexandra claimed she has never talked behind anyone’s back: if she has a problem, she tells people to their face. She was so convincing, I believed her. What’s more, I think Alexandra believed it too. But the public aren’t going to let her get away with that.
Sylvia doesn’t want to let her get away with that either. As soon as the meeting was over, she went to the Diary Room and bitched about Alexandra behind her back, saying that Alexandra is always talking about the other housemates. “I’m FUMING,” she said in the Diary Room. “FUUMMIINGG!” I’m not sure if she was trying to be Nikki or Nadia, but it wasn’t very convincing.
At least Luke showed a bit of honesty – of a sort. “If I want to talk about people, I’m not going to do it to their faces,” he told Big Brother in the DR. “I’m going to do it behind their backs in the Diary Room!” This isn’t clever, and it’s only a little bit funny, and it’s completely at odds with the claims he made in his audition tape. But he was so endearingly delighted with himself, I really don’t think anyone minds. Being cute and young and not very manly puts you at a huge advantage in the Big Brother house.
It’s unfortunate for Mikey that the public thinks only one of those things - the last one (I think he’s all of them). They have no problems with his blindness, of course, but I really don’t think disliking him for his voice and his appearance is all that much more acceptable. Neither is criticising him for not trying to have conversations with Dale. I mean, how is Mikey supposed to know where Dale is when Dale never speaks? Besides, do you want to talk to Dale? I don’t think I even fancy him anymore. I’m torn between Rachel and Rebecca (and Sezer and Imogen and Gareth Southgate, but they’re not in Big Brother). So if Big Brother would like to feature a bit more of Rebecca in the Highlights, I’m sure all her fans would appreciate it.
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Day 12
I was feeling a bit guilty yesterday evening. I was really mean about Mario in my last blog, and I was thinking – he can’t really be that bad. After all, I hated Imogen and Mikey in BB7, and they’re both lovely in real life.
But yesterday, Mario made my blood boil and my skin crawl yet again. On yesterday’s Highlights show, housemates were given the task of learning a musical instrument. For this week’s task, they must work towards a performance of Oh When the Saints Go Marching In, and the housemates will continue to study their instruments throughout their time in the house. Instruments included a violin, flute, recorder, tuba, drums and triangle. (For some reason, the descant recorder is in the bass section and the tuba in the treble section.)
It’s a really good task, and one I’m sure I’ve suggested on a Big Brother forum.
The housemates were very excited by this task. They were all talking at the same time, but not in an argumentative way. Maybe the quieter people hadn’t yet had the chance to air their views, but I’m sure someone like Rex would have ensured this happened. Rex is a prat sometimes, but he’s mostly fair. But then Mario had to get involved. He shouted at everyone until they all stopped talking, then said Mikey should have first choice of instrument. There were a few minor objections to this, which were probably more objections to Mario’s manner than his idea, but Mario insisted, and they finally agreed that it would be quite difficult for Mikey to read the music as it’s not in Braille.
Mario then turned to Mikey, and asked whether he preferred the drums of the triangle. Mikey mumbled something about the possibility of playing another instrument, but Mario talked over him. It was the drums or the triangle – with an emphasis on the triangle. Mikey chose – surprise, surprise – the triangle.
Mikey went to the Diary Room later, and said all the things I wish he’d been able to say to Mario’s smarmy face. He said, quite rightly, that there was no reason why a blind person shouldn’t learn to play an instrument, and he’d particularly wanted to try the violin. Mikey could easily have proved more musical than anyone else – a lot of blind people have better than average hearing, and the fact Mikey works as a DJ probably means he has at least some interest in music. Stringed instruments also have an advantage over wind instruments in that the fingering is much simpler and it might even have been possible for Mikey to work out how to play Oh When the Saints for himself without any help from the others. He certainly couldn’t have been any worse than Sylvia or Jennifer or whoever was playing the violin (all I know is that one of those two was responsible for breaking it).
Mikey also said he felt Mario might be the cause of all the conflict in the house. While this isn’t completely true – he wasn’t responsible for any of Alexandra’s arguments – he certainly has a point.
Some people might see Mikey as two-faced for objecting in the Diary Room rather than speaking to Mario. But I don’t blame him at all. Mikey is quite a nervous character, and Mario is the overconfident type. Even if Mikey did say something to Mario, I don’t think Mario would have listened because he’d be too busy talking.
Darnell rose considerably in my estimation in his attempts to make Mario see reason. It wasn’t an easy job. Darnell, having been named the Most Musical Housemate, is the conductor of the Big Brother Orchestra, so he is, in effect, the leader of the task, and gave several housemates his advice and opinions. But Mario didn’t like it. When Darnell came to speak to him, he did all he could to stop Darnell from speaking, and, when Darnell did finally manage to say something coherent – and also very reasonable – Mario decided one of the words Darnell used was insulting, and started going on at him about that instead.
However, when I say Darnell rose in my estimation, that doesn’t mean he didn’t sink in my estimation before that. Darnell is technically black, but, as an Albino, a lot of people think he’s white. Darnell sees things differently. He sees every non-Albino in the world as being coloured. Therefore, in Darnell’s opinion, it is acceptable for him to say something derogatory about ‘coloured people’ because he is talking about white people too.
I really don’t think I agree with that. I’m sure he only says these things in a jokey way, and he did only talk about using the word, rather than using it directly. But I think the way Darnell uses the word is at least as offensive as the way Emily used it last year. It’s fine for Darnell to say things like that to his friends, but it does sound completely different on TV.
Nominations took place for the first time today. The results will be revealed tomorrow, but the public are fairly sure who it will be: Mario and Alexandra. This is a great shame because the public's hatred of Alexandra almost certainly means we will have to put up with Mario for another week. If Mario does leave, the vote is likely to be close, and Mario will therefore not be leaving with the record-breaking percentage he deserves – although his row with Luke – yes, sweet little Luke! – this morning might help to swing things in Alexandra’s favour.
Alexandra has managed to win herself a few friends, although probably not enough to save her from going up for eviction. She is very close to Dennis, and she’s bonded with Mohamed over haircare. Sylvia won’t nominate Alexandra unless it suits her gameplan to do so*. But the rest of them could easily have nominated her - although she is in a slightly better position than Mario, who has probably been nominated by everyone except Lisa.
A week ago, I had a horrible feeling Big Brother might pull the same tricks with nominations as they did last year with Charley in order to keep Alexandra in for longer. Now, I’m hoping this is exactly what they’re going to do. But time is running out. The housemates nominated today. Billi (not that you’ll remember him) had his nominations cancelled last year, and BB6’s Vanessa (you know, the one who was asleep the whole time) was punished for discussing nominations after nominations took place.
It is easy to understand why Alexandra is unpopular with her housemates and with the public - her attacks on Rebecca, Rachel and Stephanie were vicious. But, since then, Alexandra has been making a real effort. Maybe I was wrong when I said she didn’t understand what she’d done; maybe Big Brother has taken my advice and made a better attempt at explaining it to her. But, at the very least, she accepts that what she did was wrong, and is trying not to let it happen again, and, as this probably wasn’t easy for her, she does deserve some credit for this. Even if she is only doing this in order to stay in the house, she is still trying hard to overcome an objectionable character trait, and make the house a more pleasant place for everyone.
Is Mario doing that? Not really.
Mario can occasionally be very amusing. Yesterday, Mario also claimed they couldn’t be sure of Rachel’s and Dennis’ motives in coming on the show because they are "Big Brother fans." He also feels that certain members of the house are desperate to win the show. Lisa then commented that some housemates are “digging holes” for themselves without realising. Lisa, I completely agree.
Dennis spoke again yesterday - in the Diary Room – but I do kind of wish he hadn’t. Having a game plan isn’t a good way of endearing yourself to the fans, but admitting you have given up your gameplan isn’t all that much better. Dennis really ought to have kept quiet about that – although the unnecessarily icy tones of the female Big Brother perhaps made him feel as though he had no choice. But claiming to have no gameplan could be a gameplan in itself, and I think that thought is going to be in a lot of people’s minds.
One housemate who does have a gameplan – and quite a similar one to the one Dennis was stammering about – is Sylvia. Or Slyvia, as she has become known on the Digital Spy forums. She spends a lot of time running about from one housemate to another, saying what they want to hear, and doing her best to ingratiate herself with everyone. No-one has confronted her over this, but I’m hoping it hasn’t gone unnoticed. If this is the case, perhaps Sylvia will take priority over Alexandra when it comes to nominations. A Sylvia-Mario eviction could easily give the un-super one a shock.
But yesterday, Mario made my blood boil and my skin crawl yet again. On yesterday’s Highlights show, housemates were given the task of learning a musical instrument. For this week’s task, they must work towards a performance of Oh When the Saints Go Marching In, and the housemates will continue to study their instruments throughout their time in the house. Instruments included a violin, flute, recorder, tuba, drums and triangle. (For some reason, the descant recorder is in the bass section and the tuba in the treble section.)
It’s a really good task, and one I’m sure I’ve suggested on a Big Brother forum.
The housemates were very excited by this task. They were all talking at the same time, but not in an argumentative way. Maybe the quieter people hadn’t yet had the chance to air their views, but I’m sure someone like Rex would have ensured this happened. Rex is a prat sometimes, but he’s mostly fair. But then Mario had to get involved. He shouted at everyone until they all stopped talking, then said Mikey should have first choice of instrument. There were a few minor objections to this, which were probably more objections to Mario’s manner than his idea, but Mario insisted, and they finally agreed that it would be quite difficult for Mikey to read the music as it’s not in Braille.
Mario then turned to Mikey, and asked whether he preferred the drums of the triangle. Mikey mumbled something about the possibility of playing another instrument, but Mario talked over him. It was the drums or the triangle – with an emphasis on the triangle. Mikey chose – surprise, surprise – the triangle.
Mikey went to the Diary Room later, and said all the things I wish he’d been able to say to Mario’s smarmy face. He said, quite rightly, that there was no reason why a blind person shouldn’t learn to play an instrument, and he’d particularly wanted to try the violin. Mikey could easily have proved more musical than anyone else – a lot of blind people have better than average hearing, and the fact Mikey works as a DJ probably means he has at least some interest in music. Stringed instruments also have an advantage over wind instruments in that the fingering is much simpler and it might even have been possible for Mikey to work out how to play Oh When the Saints for himself without any help from the others. He certainly couldn’t have been any worse than Sylvia or Jennifer or whoever was playing the violin (all I know is that one of those two was responsible for breaking it).
Mikey also said he felt Mario might be the cause of all the conflict in the house. While this isn’t completely true – he wasn’t responsible for any of Alexandra’s arguments – he certainly has a point.
Some people might see Mikey as two-faced for objecting in the Diary Room rather than speaking to Mario. But I don’t blame him at all. Mikey is quite a nervous character, and Mario is the overconfident type. Even if Mikey did say something to Mario, I don’t think Mario would have listened because he’d be too busy talking.
Darnell rose considerably in my estimation in his attempts to make Mario see reason. It wasn’t an easy job. Darnell, having been named the Most Musical Housemate, is the conductor of the Big Brother Orchestra, so he is, in effect, the leader of the task, and gave several housemates his advice and opinions. But Mario didn’t like it. When Darnell came to speak to him, he did all he could to stop Darnell from speaking, and, when Darnell did finally manage to say something coherent – and also very reasonable – Mario decided one of the words Darnell used was insulting, and started going on at him about that instead.
However, when I say Darnell rose in my estimation, that doesn’t mean he didn’t sink in my estimation before that. Darnell is technically black, but, as an Albino, a lot of people think he’s white. Darnell sees things differently. He sees every non-Albino in the world as being coloured. Therefore, in Darnell’s opinion, it is acceptable for him to say something derogatory about ‘coloured people’ because he is talking about white people too.
I really don’t think I agree with that. I’m sure he only says these things in a jokey way, and he did only talk about using the word, rather than using it directly. But I think the way Darnell uses the word is at least as offensive as the way Emily used it last year. It’s fine for Darnell to say things like that to his friends, but it does sound completely different on TV.
Nominations took place for the first time today. The results will be revealed tomorrow, but the public are fairly sure who it will be: Mario and Alexandra. This is a great shame because the public's hatred of Alexandra almost certainly means we will have to put up with Mario for another week. If Mario does leave, the vote is likely to be close, and Mario will therefore not be leaving with the record-breaking percentage he deserves – although his row with Luke – yes, sweet little Luke! – this morning might help to swing things in Alexandra’s favour.
Alexandra has managed to win herself a few friends, although probably not enough to save her from going up for eviction. She is very close to Dennis, and she’s bonded with Mohamed over haircare. Sylvia won’t nominate Alexandra unless it suits her gameplan to do so*. But the rest of them could easily have nominated her - although she is in a slightly better position than Mario, who has probably been nominated by everyone except Lisa.
A week ago, I had a horrible feeling Big Brother might pull the same tricks with nominations as they did last year with Charley in order to keep Alexandra in for longer. Now, I’m hoping this is exactly what they’re going to do. But time is running out. The housemates nominated today. Billi (not that you’ll remember him) had his nominations cancelled last year, and BB6’s Vanessa (you know, the one who was asleep the whole time) was punished for discussing nominations after nominations took place.
It is easy to understand why Alexandra is unpopular with her housemates and with the public - her attacks on Rebecca, Rachel and Stephanie were vicious. But, since then, Alexandra has been making a real effort. Maybe I was wrong when I said she didn’t understand what she’d done; maybe Big Brother has taken my advice and made a better attempt at explaining it to her. But, at the very least, she accepts that what she did was wrong, and is trying not to let it happen again, and, as this probably wasn’t easy for her, she does deserve some credit for this. Even if she is only doing this in order to stay in the house, she is still trying hard to overcome an objectionable character trait, and make the house a more pleasant place for everyone.
Is Mario doing that? Not really.
Mario can occasionally be very amusing. Yesterday, Mario also claimed they couldn’t be sure of Rachel’s and Dennis’ motives in coming on the show because they are "Big Brother fans." He also feels that certain members of the house are desperate to win the show. Lisa then commented that some housemates are “digging holes” for themselves without realising. Lisa, I completely agree.
Dennis spoke again yesterday - in the Diary Room – but I do kind of wish he hadn’t. Having a game plan isn’t a good way of endearing yourself to the fans, but admitting you have given up your gameplan isn’t all that much better. Dennis really ought to have kept quiet about that – although the unnecessarily icy tones of the female Big Brother perhaps made him feel as though he had no choice. But claiming to have no gameplan could be a gameplan in itself, and I think that thought is going to be in a lot of people’s minds.
One housemate who does have a gameplan – and quite a similar one to the one Dennis was stammering about – is Sylvia. Or Slyvia, as she has become known on the Digital Spy forums. She spends a lot of time running about from one housemate to another, saying what they want to hear, and doing her best to ingratiate herself with everyone. No-one has confronted her over this, but I’m hoping it hasn’t gone unnoticed. If this is the case, perhaps Sylvia will take priority over Alexandra when it comes to nominations. A Sylvia-Mario eviction could easily give the un-super one a shock.
Saturday, 14 June 2008
Day 10
I told you! I told you to vote that wanker out. A flurry of last-minute bets left Mario as the favourite to leave, but as usual it was a lovely young underrated female who left the house – following in the footsteps of Shabnam, Bonnie, Mary and Anouska, is Stephanie.
If Mario gets any more big-headed, he won’t fit through the exit door, and that scenario is even more unbearable than Mario without a top on. “I know so many people throughout the world,” he said smugly as Stephanie left the house. “We’re talking fan clubs and everything.” In your dreams, babe!
I wish Mario would stop patronising Mikey. I wouldn’t mind so much if he was trying to help and just getting it totally wrong because of his own incompetence. That would be quite sweet. But Mario really seems to be using Mikey in order to make himself look good. In an earlier episode, he asked if Mikey could use the bathroom ahead of his housemates. If there was a real need, I’m sure they’d have been happy to let him go first. But if Mario anticipates a blind housemate’s needs, and the other housemates don’t, Mario looks (in theory) kinder and sensitive than they do – and because of this, at least some of them are going to feel very uncomfortable about refusing in case it looks like discrimination. I hope Mikey tells Mario to piss off soon.
Stephanie has always been at a severe disadvantage. Young, beautiful females never do well, and Stephanie’s disastrous but completely understandable reaction to the (impossible) task had her as an early favourite to leave. Unfortunately, it seems as though Mario’s grotesqueness came to the public’s notice just too late.
So why didn’t you vote him out?
It seems some of you tried.
Just after 9.15 yesterday evening, Mario haters across the country dialled the number, hoping the next forty-five minutes would be his last. Some were disconnected; some were told the number was barred. Even more were given the message the line was closed. On TV, Davina McCall continually urged viewers to vote, and those that had previously attempted to vote for Mario decided to see if a vote for Lisa or Luke would be accepted. It was. They then tried Mario’s number again – and the line was still closed. Although it is said you cannot be charged for a call to a closed line, some voters were charged.
This isn’t the first time Big Brother has been suspected of fraud. BB8’s incoherent twins, Sam and Amanda, were such clear favourites, some bookies paid out well before the announcement was made that not the twins but Brian had won. While some of Brian’s fans had also had trouble placing their votes, the majority seemed to be fans of the twins. True, Brian’s fans had a lot less reason to complain about their inability to vote. But now it’s happening all over again – and a number of gameshow-related phone-ins have recently been revealed to be fraudulent. So why not Big Brother too? It’s worth checking out at least.
If the problem was no more than a fault on Mario’s line, it should still be investigated. Stephanie could have been unfairly and wrongly evicted. It’s happened in Australia.
Even if Stephanie really was so far ahead that Mario could never have caught up with her, Mario’s line should not have been closed.
But he could go next time. The only housemate who really seems to like him is Lisa - who allegedly shagged him in the early hours of Thursday morning, and again following their eviction survival. EWWWWWWWWWWW! I know I’ve said this before, but VOTE MARIO OUT before it happens again.
So, due to his limited popularity within the house, Mario could easily be facing eviction next week. I know some people will be voting Mario out even if he’s up against Alexandra – the same Alexandra who would apparently beat Sezer’s record if she was up against Sezer. (I’m so glad my favourite BB7 housemate is so memorable, even if it is for all the wrong reasons.) The only problem is, if the vote is fixed so Mario survives again, no-one will be surprised if he’d up against Alexandra.
We’re going to miss Stephanie for several reasons. First of all, she is very beautiful. Mario might complain that she didn’t spend enough of her time in the house putting on make-up (what is wrong with you, Mario), but I think she’s gorgeous, and I’d rather look at her first thing in the morning with her hair all over the place than look at Mario at all – although the sight of his bum as he leaves the house is something I’m looking forward to.
But Stephanie is not just a pretty face. Her kindness and sensitivity were shown not only in her support of Dennis after they failed a task. she can even understand Alexandra’s feelings. She has the courage to stand up to Alexandra and also Mario, but also the intelligence and tact to speak to Alexandra calmly and rationally. She might have struggled with the task of pretending she loved Mario, but she was committed to the electric shock task in both her determination not to quit, and her support of the others. Stephanie is feisty and she can be funny, and there’s not really anyone else like that. Rachel can defend others and Rebecca is really amusing– but they’re not Stephanie.
Kathreya appears to be the current favourite to win. She is lovely, and it’s about time a girl won again (although perhaps we would have had two female winners last year if everyone had been able to register their votes). But she doesn’t seem to have said anything particularly intelligent or illuminating yet. I think my favourite is still Mikey, Rachel or Rebecca, although I haven’t heard much from the latter for a while. But who knows what will happen in the next (hopefully not too many) weeks? The £100,000 could end up going to Dale or Darnell. Well, if they never speak, they can’t be evicted for bitchiness, can they?
Rex shocked housemates by appearing angry following Stephanie’s eviction. Alexandra and Sylvia think he has a game plan to get her group out (Alexandra has a group? Of friends?) and Stephanie was on his side. Mohamed then raised eyebrows by announcing his attention to look after Rex, “because he needs me.” “I thought Dennis was the gay one: flipping heck!” said Luke, in a rare moment of, well, speech. (As he’s popular, no-one seems to have accused him of discrimination against homosexuals.)
And Jennifer, darling, I know I told you to do something, but your claim to be the only ‘real’ person in the house wasn’t quite what I had in mind.
If Mario gets any more big-headed, he won’t fit through the exit door, and that scenario is even more unbearable than Mario without a top on. “I know so many people throughout the world,” he said smugly as Stephanie left the house. “We’re talking fan clubs and everything.” In your dreams, babe!
I wish Mario would stop patronising Mikey. I wouldn’t mind so much if he was trying to help and just getting it totally wrong because of his own incompetence. That would be quite sweet. But Mario really seems to be using Mikey in order to make himself look good. In an earlier episode, he asked if Mikey could use the bathroom ahead of his housemates. If there was a real need, I’m sure they’d have been happy to let him go first. But if Mario anticipates a blind housemate’s needs, and the other housemates don’t, Mario looks (in theory) kinder and sensitive than they do – and because of this, at least some of them are going to feel very uncomfortable about refusing in case it looks like discrimination. I hope Mikey tells Mario to piss off soon.
Stephanie has always been at a severe disadvantage. Young, beautiful females never do well, and Stephanie’s disastrous but completely understandable reaction to the (impossible) task had her as an early favourite to leave. Unfortunately, it seems as though Mario’s grotesqueness came to the public’s notice just too late.
So why didn’t you vote him out?
It seems some of you tried.
Just after 9.15 yesterday evening, Mario haters across the country dialled the number, hoping the next forty-five minutes would be his last. Some were disconnected; some were told the number was barred. Even more were given the message the line was closed. On TV, Davina McCall continually urged viewers to vote, and those that had previously attempted to vote for Mario decided to see if a vote for Lisa or Luke would be accepted. It was. They then tried Mario’s number again – and the line was still closed. Although it is said you cannot be charged for a call to a closed line, some voters were charged.
This isn’t the first time Big Brother has been suspected of fraud. BB8’s incoherent twins, Sam and Amanda, were such clear favourites, some bookies paid out well before the announcement was made that not the twins but Brian had won. While some of Brian’s fans had also had trouble placing their votes, the majority seemed to be fans of the twins. True, Brian’s fans had a lot less reason to complain about their inability to vote. But now it’s happening all over again – and a number of gameshow-related phone-ins have recently been revealed to be fraudulent. So why not Big Brother too? It’s worth checking out at least.
If the problem was no more than a fault on Mario’s line, it should still be investigated. Stephanie could have been unfairly and wrongly evicted. It’s happened in Australia.
Even if Stephanie really was so far ahead that Mario could never have caught up with her, Mario’s line should not have been closed.
But he could go next time. The only housemate who really seems to like him is Lisa - who allegedly shagged him in the early hours of Thursday morning, and again following their eviction survival. EWWWWWWWWWWW! I know I’ve said this before, but VOTE MARIO OUT before it happens again.
So, due to his limited popularity within the house, Mario could easily be facing eviction next week. I know some people will be voting Mario out even if he’s up against Alexandra – the same Alexandra who would apparently beat Sezer’s record if she was up against Sezer. (I’m so glad my favourite BB7 housemate is so memorable, even if it is for all the wrong reasons.) The only problem is, if the vote is fixed so Mario survives again, no-one will be surprised if he’d up against Alexandra.
We’re going to miss Stephanie for several reasons. First of all, she is very beautiful. Mario might complain that she didn’t spend enough of her time in the house putting on make-up (what is wrong with you, Mario), but I think she’s gorgeous, and I’d rather look at her first thing in the morning with her hair all over the place than look at Mario at all – although the sight of his bum as he leaves the house is something I’m looking forward to.
But Stephanie is not just a pretty face. Her kindness and sensitivity were shown not only in her support of Dennis after they failed a task. she can even understand Alexandra’s feelings. She has the courage to stand up to Alexandra and also Mario, but also the intelligence and tact to speak to Alexandra calmly and rationally. She might have struggled with the task of pretending she loved Mario, but she was committed to the electric shock task in both her determination not to quit, and her support of the others. Stephanie is feisty and she can be funny, and there’s not really anyone else like that. Rachel can defend others and Rebecca is really amusing– but they’re not Stephanie.
Kathreya appears to be the current favourite to win. She is lovely, and it’s about time a girl won again (although perhaps we would have had two female winners last year if everyone had been able to register their votes). But she doesn’t seem to have said anything particularly intelligent or illuminating yet. I think my favourite is still Mikey, Rachel or Rebecca, although I haven’t heard much from the latter for a while. But who knows what will happen in the next (hopefully not too many) weeks? The £100,000 could end up going to Dale or Darnell. Well, if they never speak, they can’t be evicted for bitchiness, can they?
Rex shocked housemates by appearing angry following Stephanie’s eviction. Alexandra and Sylvia think he has a game plan to get her group out (Alexandra has a group? Of friends?) and Stephanie was on his side. Mohamed then raised eyebrows by announcing his attention to look after Rex, “because he needs me.” “I thought Dennis was the gay one: flipping heck!” said Luke, in a rare moment of, well, speech. (As he’s popular, no-one seems to have accused him of discrimination against homosexuals.)
And Jennifer, darling, I know I told you to do something, but your claim to be the only ‘real’ person in the house wasn’t quite what I had in mind.
Friday, 13 June 2008
Day 9: Eviction Day
Alexandra made a slightly better impression yesterday. When Rex touched her lighter, she used the words ‘fuck’ and ‘violated’ so many times, my dad asked if she knew any other words. But she kept her voice down to fifty decibels, and she was making a valid point. Rex has no right to touch her lighter just because they’re living together. If me and my parents smoked, I would never touch their lighter without asking. It must be worse in the house when you have so little – no privacy, no real friends, no time on your own. The lighter must seems like one of the few things that is Alexandra’s alone.
So Rex made a big mistake there – if it wasn’t for that, I’d be liking him quite a lot right now. He was great in the task – he encouraged the people who were struggling; did his best to help Dennis and Rachel with their impossible task. Rex is now many people’s favourite to win – but, for me, deliberately touching the lighter of someone who has asked you not to do so is not the behaviour of a winner. It makes her feel violated, Rex, for f***’s sake – yes, f***ing violated. Just remember she told you that.
The task was awful. Dennis and Rachel had to do a ‘steady hand’ task – manoeuvring a wand from one end of the track to the other without touching the track. Every time they did, the other housemates were given an electric shock. Kathreya and Rebecca were crying with pain, but it was Alexandra and Sylvia who were the first to remove their suits, thereby earning two fails. But wait a minute, is Big Brother allowed to do that? If Big Brother asked Dennis and Rachel to slap their housemates every time they made a mistake, it might have been a lot less painful. But that would have been illegal. How it possibly be considered acceptable for Big Brother force two of his housemates to torture the others?
I don’t blame the people who removed their suits one bit – but Sylvia claimed that one of her reasons for doing so was because “I am Sylvia.” Well, I have only one thing to say to that. Who is Sylvia? What is she? Where did you find her? (Has anyone else ever quoted Shakespeare and Nikki Grahame in the same paragraph?)
Dennis was in tears after failing the task. The two people who comforted him most were the supposed ‘evil bitch’ Alexandra and ‘selfish bitch’ Stephanie. Dennis probably was milking it at least a little bit, but Stephanie was really kind to him. Is there any way we can save her from going tonight and boot that twat Mario out instead?
Not only has Mario proved to be a wanker, Lisa annoyed me yesterday too when she claimed Stephanie needs to show more respect for her elders. “It’s common sense. We’ve been here longer than she has.” True, Lisa, but just because Stephanie has only been alive for nineteen years, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn from her, and it certainly doesn’t mean you don’t have to show her respect. Also, most of the voters are going to be closer to Stephanie’s age than Lisa’s. So, is Lisa expecting us to show respect to our elders as well by not voting her and Mario out?
Come on, voters. The number you need to dial is here.
Get Mario out!
So Rex made a big mistake there – if it wasn’t for that, I’d be liking him quite a lot right now. He was great in the task – he encouraged the people who were struggling; did his best to help Dennis and Rachel with their impossible task. Rex is now many people’s favourite to win – but, for me, deliberately touching the lighter of someone who has asked you not to do so is not the behaviour of a winner. It makes her feel violated, Rex, for f***’s sake – yes, f***ing violated. Just remember she told you that.
The task was awful. Dennis and Rachel had to do a ‘steady hand’ task – manoeuvring a wand from one end of the track to the other without touching the track. Every time they did, the other housemates were given an electric shock. Kathreya and Rebecca were crying with pain, but it was Alexandra and Sylvia who were the first to remove their suits, thereby earning two fails. But wait a minute, is Big Brother allowed to do that? If Big Brother asked Dennis and Rachel to slap their housemates every time they made a mistake, it might have been a lot less painful. But that would have been illegal. How it possibly be considered acceptable for Big Brother force two of his housemates to torture the others?
I don’t blame the people who removed their suits one bit – but Sylvia claimed that one of her reasons for doing so was because “I am Sylvia.” Well, I have only one thing to say to that. Who is Sylvia? What is she? Where did you find her? (Has anyone else ever quoted Shakespeare and Nikki Grahame in the same paragraph?)
Dennis was in tears after failing the task. The two people who comforted him most were the supposed ‘evil bitch’ Alexandra and ‘selfish bitch’ Stephanie. Dennis probably was milking it at least a little bit, but Stephanie was really kind to him. Is there any way we can save her from going tonight and boot that twat Mario out instead?
Not only has Mario proved to be a wanker, Lisa annoyed me yesterday too when she claimed Stephanie needs to show more respect for her elders. “It’s common sense. We’ve been here longer than she has.” True, Lisa, but just because Stephanie has only been alive for nineteen years, it doesn’t mean you can’t learn from her, and it certainly doesn’t mean you don’t have to show her respect. Also, most of the voters are going to be closer to Stephanie’s age than Lisa’s. So, is Lisa expecting us to show respect to our elders as well by not voting her and Mario out?
Come on, voters. The number you need to dial is here.
Get Mario out!
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Big Brother Blogs: Day 6
Last night’s highlights show saw Alexandra making vicious attacks on Rebecca, Rachel and Stephanie (in other words, everyone who dared to open their mouths). The forums are screaming ‘Get Alex Out’ and ‘What a bitch’, and they do have a point. To quote the lady herself, Alexandra is ‘not ready – just remember I told you that.’
It’s good Alexandra wasn’t trying to be aggressive. I understand that she has struggled a lot in life (although I’m not quite convinced by her claim that she ‘found herself pregnant’ at 16 - surely there was a bit more to it than that!). It’s understandable that she’s ‘protective’ of herself. But it doesn’t mean she should be allowed to go around talking to people like that, and it’s a bit worrying that someone who doesn’t seem to be able to understand or control her own behaviour has been put into a stressful situation like the Big Brother house.
The stressful situation in question was - Rebecca burned the chips. Apparently, it was the utmost thoughtlessness for Rebecca to be cooking at all when professional chef Rex is in the house. Sweet Rachel tries to stand up for Rebecca, saying that it was really kind of Rebecca to help, but Alexandra’s response reduced Rachel to tears.
Stephanie gets into the argument by telling Alexandra she shouldn’t talk to people like that. But Alexandra claims it’s Stephanie’s fault the argument is still going on because if Stephanie hadn’t made a comment, Alexandra wouldn’t have had to respond to it. “If someone asks you something, you answer back, don’t you?” says Alexandra.
The question on many people’s lips is, who is Alexandra trying to be? Makosi? Jade? Charley Aisleyne? The question I have to ask is, why would Alexandra want to be like them? Jade might have been popular in BB3, but she received almost 50% of the votes for the Worst Housemate Ever. And I’m not being funny, right, but Charley’s a bit of a joke now. (Who’s Gandhi? Is he hot?) Makosi managed third place in BB6, and is probably the most memorable housemate of BB6, but the negative response from the crowd left her feeling threatened.
Aisleyne, who also finished third, is probably the only one of the four who emerged from the house with a shred of dignity – presumably the shred that was covered by her thong – but she needed what was effectively two weeks’ immunity from eviction in order to turn public opinion around. Alexandra will be lucky to survive that long. The only question is whether she will be evicted or ejected.
But if Alexandra can turn herself into one of those girls, it will be an improvement. She currently has considerably less chance of winning than Charley ever did.
So, do I want Alexandra evicted at the earliest opportunity? I’m not sure. I am a bit worried about the people who have to share a house with her, and Big Brother’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy has already been exposed as pretty nonexistent. But I don’t want to let the poor girl out into the world. Everyone hates her. Some vulnerable people like Nikki and Lea do well in the house because they’re so used to feeling vulnerable, it’s not such a shock when they get into – and out of – the house. But other people can’t deal with it at all, and that could include Alexandra. Some might argue that she deserves everything she gets, but will being nationally reviled actually help her? It does seem to have helped housemates like Jade and Grace – even though public reaction did go too far - but it seems much more important that Alexandra is given the chance to understand and learn from her mistakes. Big Brother should at least make an attempt to explain to Alexandra why her behaviour could be perceived as wrong. I don’t think she really understands at the moment.
Alexandra did make at least one good point during the argument. It is not unreasonable for her to be concerned when the group are on rations and Rebecca has burned the chips. Perhaps it was necessary to address it, and she is quite right that, once the situation has been dealt with, and it’s been agreed that Rex will cook in future, they do need to move on and forget about it. But what seems to have escaped Alexandra is that she doesn’t need to have the last word. She might have called the meeting and elected herself chairman, but she’s not in charge. A good chairman would have listened to what Rebecca had to say (if she had, Rachel and Stephanie would probably have kept quiet), and then forgotten about it.
Alexandra is not without good qualities. She would probably have dealt with Rebecca very effectively if Rebecca really had been trying to cause trouble. (Sylvia even had the nerve to suggest that Rebecca had burned the chips on purpose – silly cow!) But Alexandra’s own insecurities, probably a result of her difficulties growing up, are so strong, she doesn’t seem to realise that most people who have different opinions from her aren’t actually attacking her.
However, Alexandra wasn’t the only person who came off badly during the argument. Apart from Rex, who meekly agreed he should do all the cooking from now on, none of the guys said anything. However, Rex, Dale, Darnell, Dennis and Mohamed have hardly said anything on any subject, and lovely Luke is mostly silent outside the Diary Room. Inside, on the other hand, not only his opinions come out, but also his claws.
Sylvia also showed what many have perceived as two-faced spinelessness by agreeing with Alexandra to her face, and slagging her off behind her back – but I would say this is no more than good old-fashioned survival instinct. Having already aligned herself with Alexandra, she probably feels as though she can’t back out of the friendship now. Alexandra would make things very difficult for her if she did, and I can’t blame Sylvia for wanting to avoid that. I don’t like her, though.
But the three girls who did stand up to Alexandra came over very well. Rebecca was shocked and bewildered, but remained gentle and polite, and tried not to let Alexandra’s behaviour bother her – which can’t have been easy. Rachel has been criticised for crying, but she did it very quietly when she was with the group – we might not even have noticed if Big Brother hadn’t kept pointing the camera at her – and it didn’t stop her from standing up for Rebecca. And everyone cries in the Diary Room, although not many people make such generous and intelligent observations as Rachel at the same time.
As for Stephanie, her surprisingly sensitive and mature way of talking to Alexandra about the incident has probably gone some way towards saving her from being evicted on Friday. Stephanie made a very bad impression over the first couple of days –but the task was very unfair. Mario and Lisa are now officially the most nauseating couple in history (scenes like Mario’s birthday party could be seen as discriminating against emetophobics – maybe I should call Ofcom!). They did have some advantages entering as a couple, so a twist for them might have evened things up a bit. But Stephanie and Luke were deliberately selected to participate by Big Brother, and had no choice but to go along with it.
I can see that it would have been difficult to choose Mario’s fake girlfriend randomly, as would usually happen in a twist like this – but Stephanie is the last person they should have chosen. She’s a lovely, bubbly and actually quite intelligent housemate who was always going to make a strong impression – she didn’t need a task to help her. Someone like Rachel (a former actress) or Rebecca would have entered into the task with far more enthusiasm and humour, and might have welcomed the chance to stand out a bit more. Or maybe one of the guys could have been Lisa’s fake toy boy – she is extremely sexy and young-looking, so a relationship with Dale, Luke, Darnell, Rex or even gay Dennis would have been interesting and not that unbelievable - Dennis having so far shown no inclination for anyone other than himself.
But Mario and Stephanie – could any couple be more ridiculous? He’s old enough to be her father, and although that wouldn’t always matter, they very clearly seem to be part of a different generation. Stephanie is only nineteen – she’s the youngest member of the house, and Mario is the oldest - and while she probably isn’t an innocent virgin, it did seem a bit inappropriate to force them into a fake relationship.
Stephanie naturally found the whole experience of snuggling up to mooby Mario distasteful and upsetting, particularly once she was told she had to marry the guy. This led to arguments, which led to the failure of the task – but that wasn’t all Stephanie’s fault. While Alexandra did suspect the relationship was a fake, it didn’t seem to occur to anyone that Mario and Lisa had a prior acquaintance – at least not until Big Brother told the housemates there was a secret couple in the house. So of course they chose the two oldest housemates.
A few people have suspected Mikey of being Big Brother’s Chosen one - the latest version of BB7’s Pete. Mikey has been blind since an operation went wrong ten years ago, and this is just the kind of sob story that might appeal to Big Brother. I really like Mikey because he’s a really brave and intelligent guy who is already astonishingly independent in his new house. In some ways, he does have an advantage over his other housemates in that everything he does is interesting and often moving. I wouldn’t have liked it if his disability was his only interesting quality, but he is a strong character who isn’t afraid to give his opinions – and, in their turn, his housemates aren’t afraid to tell him when he’s doing something wrong. Only monstrous Mario patronises him, and this seems to be more out of a desire to make himself good than to help Mikey.
Kathreya seems very warm and lovely, and I love her Thai accent. She is another who made some attempt to calm Alexandra down during the argument, but, it has to be said, she didn’t try very hard. Maybe it’s just that her voice is very soft, and wasn’t heard over Alexandra’s strident tones; maybe she was too scared to say anything more productive than a gentle ‘Calm down’. But maybe she is trying to make herself look good by appearing to try to help, whilst being careful not to be so forceful, she actually stops the dramas from progressing further. I’m inclined to think she’s just nice, but Kathreya is still a bit of a mystery.
A few words of advice for the housemates:
Dale and Jennifer - Being beautiful isn’t an alternative to having a personality.
Mario – put a shirt on.
Darnell, Dennis, Rex – do something. Anything.
Alexandra – I don’t think you’re ready.
It’s good Alexandra wasn’t trying to be aggressive. I understand that she has struggled a lot in life (although I’m not quite convinced by her claim that she ‘found herself pregnant’ at 16 - surely there was a bit more to it than that!). It’s understandable that she’s ‘protective’ of herself. But it doesn’t mean she should be allowed to go around talking to people like that, and it’s a bit worrying that someone who doesn’t seem to be able to understand or control her own behaviour has been put into a stressful situation like the Big Brother house.
The stressful situation in question was - Rebecca burned the chips. Apparently, it was the utmost thoughtlessness for Rebecca to be cooking at all when professional chef Rex is in the house. Sweet Rachel tries to stand up for Rebecca, saying that it was really kind of Rebecca to help, but Alexandra’s response reduced Rachel to tears.
Stephanie gets into the argument by telling Alexandra she shouldn’t talk to people like that. But Alexandra claims it’s Stephanie’s fault the argument is still going on because if Stephanie hadn’t made a comment, Alexandra wouldn’t have had to respond to it. “If someone asks you something, you answer back, don’t you?” says Alexandra.
The question on many people’s lips is, who is Alexandra trying to be? Makosi? Jade? Charley Aisleyne? The question I have to ask is, why would Alexandra want to be like them? Jade might have been popular in BB3, but she received almost 50% of the votes for the Worst Housemate Ever. And I’m not being funny, right, but Charley’s a bit of a joke now. (Who’s Gandhi? Is he hot?) Makosi managed third place in BB6, and is probably the most memorable housemate of BB6, but the negative response from the crowd left her feeling threatened.
Aisleyne, who also finished third, is probably the only one of the four who emerged from the house with a shred of dignity – presumably the shred that was covered by her thong – but she needed what was effectively two weeks’ immunity from eviction in order to turn public opinion around. Alexandra will be lucky to survive that long. The only question is whether she will be evicted or ejected.
But if Alexandra can turn herself into one of those girls, it will be an improvement. She currently has considerably less chance of winning than Charley ever did.
So, do I want Alexandra evicted at the earliest opportunity? I’m not sure. I am a bit worried about the people who have to share a house with her, and Big Brother’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy has already been exposed as pretty nonexistent. But I don’t want to let the poor girl out into the world. Everyone hates her. Some vulnerable people like Nikki and Lea do well in the house because they’re so used to feeling vulnerable, it’s not such a shock when they get into – and out of – the house. But other people can’t deal with it at all, and that could include Alexandra. Some might argue that she deserves everything she gets, but will being nationally reviled actually help her? It does seem to have helped housemates like Jade and Grace – even though public reaction did go too far - but it seems much more important that Alexandra is given the chance to understand and learn from her mistakes. Big Brother should at least make an attempt to explain to Alexandra why her behaviour could be perceived as wrong. I don’t think she really understands at the moment.
Alexandra did make at least one good point during the argument. It is not unreasonable for her to be concerned when the group are on rations and Rebecca has burned the chips. Perhaps it was necessary to address it, and she is quite right that, once the situation has been dealt with, and it’s been agreed that Rex will cook in future, they do need to move on and forget about it. But what seems to have escaped Alexandra is that she doesn’t need to have the last word. She might have called the meeting and elected herself chairman, but she’s not in charge. A good chairman would have listened to what Rebecca had to say (if she had, Rachel and Stephanie would probably have kept quiet), and then forgotten about it.
Alexandra is not without good qualities. She would probably have dealt with Rebecca very effectively if Rebecca really had been trying to cause trouble. (Sylvia even had the nerve to suggest that Rebecca had burned the chips on purpose – silly cow!) But Alexandra’s own insecurities, probably a result of her difficulties growing up, are so strong, she doesn’t seem to realise that most people who have different opinions from her aren’t actually attacking her.
However, Alexandra wasn’t the only person who came off badly during the argument. Apart from Rex, who meekly agreed he should do all the cooking from now on, none of the guys said anything. However, Rex, Dale, Darnell, Dennis and Mohamed have hardly said anything on any subject, and lovely Luke is mostly silent outside the Diary Room. Inside, on the other hand, not only his opinions come out, but also his claws.
Sylvia also showed what many have perceived as two-faced spinelessness by agreeing with Alexandra to her face, and slagging her off behind her back – but I would say this is no more than good old-fashioned survival instinct. Having already aligned herself with Alexandra, she probably feels as though she can’t back out of the friendship now. Alexandra would make things very difficult for her if she did, and I can’t blame Sylvia for wanting to avoid that. I don’t like her, though.
But the three girls who did stand up to Alexandra came over very well. Rebecca was shocked and bewildered, but remained gentle and polite, and tried not to let Alexandra’s behaviour bother her – which can’t have been easy. Rachel has been criticised for crying, but she did it very quietly when she was with the group – we might not even have noticed if Big Brother hadn’t kept pointing the camera at her – and it didn’t stop her from standing up for Rebecca. And everyone cries in the Diary Room, although not many people make such generous and intelligent observations as Rachel at the same time.
As for Stephanie, her surprisingly sensitive and mature way of talking to Alexandra about the incident has probably gone some way towards saving her from being evicted on Friday. Stephanie made a very bad impression over the first couple of days –but the task was very unfair. Mario and Lisa are now officially the most nauseating couple in history (scenes like Mario’s birthday party could be seen as discriminating against emetophobics – maybe I should call Ofcom!). They did have some advantages entering as a couple, so a twist for them might have evened things up a bit. But Stephanie and Luke were deliberately selected to participate by Big Brother, and had no choice but to go along with it.
I can see that it would have been difficult to choose Mario’s fake girlfriend randomly, as would usually happen in a twist like this – but Stephanie is the last person they should have chosen. She’s a lovely, bubbly and actually quite intelligent housemate who was always going to make a strong impression – she didn’t need a task to help her. Someone like Rachel (a former actress) or Rebecca would have entered into the task with far more enthusiasm and humour, and might have welcomed the chance to stand out a bit more. Or maybe one of the guys could have been Lisa’s fake toy boy – she is extremely sexy and young-looking, so a relationship with Dale, Luke, Darnell, Rex or even gay Dennis would have been interesting and not that unbelievable - Dennis having so far shown no inclination for anyone other than himself.
But Mario and Stephanie – could any couple be more ridiculous? He’s old enough to be her father, and although that wouldn’t always matter, they very clearly seem to be part of a different generation. Stephanie is only nineteen – she’s the youngest member of the house, and Mario is the oldest - and while she probably isn’t an innocent virgin, it did seem a bit inappropriate to force them into a fake relationship.
Stephanie naturally found the whole experience of snuggling up to mooby Mario distasteful and upsetting, particularly once she was told she had to marry the guy. This led to arguments, which led to the failure of the task – but that wasn’t all Stephanie’s fault. While Alexandra did suspect the relationship was a fake, it didn’t seem to occur to anyone that Mario and Lisa had a prior acquaintance – at least not until Big Brother told the housemates there was a secret couple in the house. So of course they chose the two oldest housemates.
A few people have suspected Mikey of being Big Brother’s Chosen one - the latest version of BB7’s Pete. Mikey has been blind since an operation went wrong ten years ago, and this is just the kind of sob story that might appeal to Big Brother. I really like Mikey because he’s a really brave and intelligent guy who is already astonishingly independent in his new house. In some ways, he does have an advantage over his other housemates in that everything he does is interesting and often moving. I wouldn’t have liked it if his disability was his only interesting quality, but he is a strong character who isn’t afraid to give his opinions – and, in their turn, his housemates aren’t afraid to tell him when he’s doing something wrong. Only monstrous Mario patronises him, and this seems to be more out of a desire to make himself good than to help Mikey.
Kathreya seems very warm and lovely, and I love her Thai accent. She is another who made some attempt to calm Alexandra down during the argument, but, it has to be said, she didn’t try very hard. Maybe it’s just that her voice is very soft, and wasn’t heard over Alexandra’s strident tones; maybe she was too scared to say anything more productive than a gentle ‘Calm down’. But maybe she is trying to make herself look good by appearing to try to help, whilst being careful not to be so forceful, she actually stops the dramas from progressing further. I’m inclined to think she’s just nice, but Kathreya is still a bit of a mystery.
A few words of advice for the housemates:
Dale and Jennifer - Being beautiful isn’t an alternative to having a personality.
Mario – put a shirt on.
Darnell, Dennis, Rex – do something. Anything.
Alexandra – I don’t think you’re ready.
Big Brother 8: First Impressions
I wasn’t going to watch Big Brother this year. I managed to avoid Celebrity Hijack without any particular effort but Big Brother 9 has sucked me in again. So far, it looks a lot better than BB8 – but only my 6th or 7th favourite series.
So here’s my belated first impressions.
Alexandra – a bit of an opinionated bitch. Maybe she’s just trying to make a strong impression but she seems too forceful. She uses a lot of words without having anything much to say. She sounds like she’s got a sore throat but she’s still talking over people without any trouble.
Dale – he’s hot and I wish I was living with him but where’s his personality?
Darnell – I hope it’s not rude to say this but I don’t think he’d have got in the house if he wasn’t albino. He does seem very nice though, and it’s a good sign he can make being albino sound so interesting when he’s probably talked about a million times before.
Dennis – great dancer, not a great talker. Some people say he’s a bitch, but I don’t think I’ve heard him talk yet.
Jennifer – she’s hot and I wish I was living with her but where’s her personality?
Kathreya – mad in a good way. Very relaxed and kind but she could become annoying in time – although very few people can be annoying when carrying cookies. Not that I’ve noticed the cookies so far but maybe I was too busy looking at Rachel.
Lisa – sexy and funny. She’s much too good for Mario. She’s really dealing with the task well – a lot of women would be seriously bothered if their boyfriend was pretending to be dating a hot blonde 19 year old. BB’s probably disappointed in her reaction but I love her.
Luke – very, very sexy and I definitely wish I lived with him. He’s very cute and intelligent, a bit like Glyn from BB7. I want to pick him up and give him a cuddle, but he’s probably bigger than me. He’s all sweetly worried about the task which is very attractive.
Mario – he seems like a creepy twat, but maybe that’s because he’s a very middle-aged guy feeling up a teenager. It’s not his fault he’s doing that – he has to go along with the task – but he’s not that convincing really because he’s acting like he hates her. He’s doing well at pretending he doesn’t know Lisa though.
Mikey – I’m absolutely certain the words ‘I love Mikey’ never passed my lips during BB7. But I could be saying it a lot in BB9. He seems a very sweet character – it would annoy me if they put a blind person in the house just for the sake of it and he wasn’t interesting or entertaining but Mikey’s lovely. Vulnerable in some ways but he can speak his mind. I admire him a lot.
Mohamed – I’m sure I met him at auditions. If so, he’s a really nice guy. If not, he’s probably still nice, but it would be nice if he spoke more. I love his hair! He’s very handsome and I wouldn’t mind living with him either.
Rachel – Hot hot hot! So Imogen won Miss Wales, Rachel was runner-up… can we have a whole house of Miss Waleses next time? Actually Rachel doesn’t have anything very interesting to say and it’s stupid to put people in the house just because they won or nearly won Miss Wales but maybe BB's just pretending she doesn’t have a personality like they did with Imogen.
Rebecca – Another mad one! Maybe she's a little bit desperate, but maybe she really is up for anything. Nice boobs! Not much personality other than that so far, but she is genuinely – and I think intentionally – funny. Maybe she’s trying a bit too hard to be mad but I think she’s enjoying herself.
Rex – A man who can cook! I love him just for that, but I have no idea what he’s like apart from that.
Stephanie – I would say she’s hot, but she’s so immature, I just can’t bring myself to fancy her. She’s been given a horrible task in a really unfair way, so I can’t really blame her for being bitchy and whiny. But she is still bitchy and whiny.
Sylvia – She hasn’t made any impression either, but it’s not a good sign she’s so close to Alexandra. It’s not much fun being the bitch’s best friend.
So here’s my belated first impressions.
Alexandra – a bit of an opinionated bitch. Maybe she’s just trying to make a strong impression but she seems too forceful. She uses a lot of words without having anything much to say. She sounds like she’s got a sore throat but she’s still talking over people without any trouble.
Dale – he’s hot and I wish I was living with him but where’s his personality?
Darnell – I hope it’s not rude to say this but I don’t think he’d have got in the house if he wasn’t albino. He does seem very nice though, and it’s a good sign he can make being albino sound so interesting when he’s probably talked about a million times before.
Dennis – great dancer, not a great talker. Some people say he’s a bitch, but I don’t think I’ve heard him talk yet.
Jennifer – she’s hot and I wish I was living with her but where’s her personality?
Kathreya – mad in a good way. Very relaxed and kind but she could become annoying in time – although very few people can be annoying when carrying cookies. Not that I’ve noticed the cookies so far but maybe I was too busy looking at Rachel.
Lisa – sexy and funny. She’s much too good for Mario. She’s really dealing with the task well – a lot of women would be seriously bothered if their boyfriend was pretending to be dating a hot blonde 19 year old. BB’s probably disappointed in her reaction but I love her.
Luke – very, very sexy and I definitely wish I lived with him. He’s very cute and intelligent, a bit like Glyn from BB7. I want to pick him up and give him a cuddle, but he’s probably bigger than me. He’s all sweetly worried about the task which is very attractive.
Mario – he seems like a creepy twat, but maybe that’s because he’s a very middle-aged guy feeling up a teenager. It’s not his fault he’s doing that – he has to go along with the task – but he’s not that convincing really because he’s acting like he hates her. He’s doing well at pretending he doesn’t know Lisa though.
Mikey – I’m absolutely certain the words ‘I love Mikey’ never passed my lips during BB7. But I could be saying it a lot in BB9. He seems a very sweet character – it would annoy me if they put a blind person in the house just for the sake of it and he wasn’t interesting or entertaining but Mikey’s lovely. Vulnerable in some ways but he can speak his mind. I admire him a lot.
Mohamed – I’m sure I met him at auditions. If so, he’s a really nice guy. If not, he’s probably still nice, but it would be nice if he spoke more. I love his hair! He’s very handsome and I wouldn’t mind living with him either.
Rachel – Hot hot hot! So Imogen won Miss Wales, Rachel was runner-up… can we have a whole house of Miss Waleses next time? Actually Rachel doesn’t have anything very interesting to say and it’s stupid to put people in the house just because they won or nearly won Miss Wales but maybe BB's just pretending she doesn’t have a personality like they did with Imogen.
Rebecca – Another mad one! Maybe she's a little bit desperate, but maybe she really is up for anything. Nice boobs! Not much personality other than that so far, but she is genuinely – and I think intentionally – funny. Maybe she’s trying a bit too hard to be mad but I think she’s enjoying herself.
Rex – A man who can cook! I love him just for that, but I have no idea what he’s like apart from that.
Stephanie – I would say she’s hot, but she’s so immature, I just can’t bring myself to fancy her. She’s been given a horrible task in a really unfair way, so I can’t really blame her for being bitchy and whiny. But she is still bitchy and whiny.
Sylvia – She hasn’t made any impression either, but it’s not a good sign she’s so close to Alexandra. It’s not much fun being the bitch’s best friend.
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