C5 damaging the Big Brother Brand.

Big Brother first appeared on our screens seventeen years ago this week.
Very simple format, 10 strangers, no outside contact, no visits, no plying with booze, just ten normal strangers put in a house and asked to get on with it. The format was successful for the first three series, and then series by series it became more contrived, with contestants become more tawdry, and it became pedestrian and rather predictable and it did not have too.

We all know and understand that Big Brother and every reality show is edited, but actually if you get the right people in there in the first place, you do not need such a severe edit, you do not tricks, or booze to manipulate the housemates.

In the Celeb version, I do not want to see some footballers girlfriend, or some hooker, or some American actor from the 80's, if you are going to use ex contestants, stop using the same ones all the time, ask the public who they want to see and act on it and maybe you might see better ratings.

The normal version, how about not casting contestants with an IQ below 105, (this might be difficult) or contestants that promise to "shake it up" because they never do.

The show can work, let's go back to the beginning when it did work, let us have real people, a simple house, intelligent tasks, and no outside interference and no booze and then we might have a show

I think Channel 5 are doing their best to flush their Golden Goose down to the toilet, I think they are doing immense damage to the brand.

Australian Survivor 2016

I had forgotten, how easy it is to get hooked on a reality show! Most of the reality shows in Australia are those trashy, set up, Bachelor type shows, where no one really fancies anyone, throw in a couple of Bunny Boilers,

Someone hung up on their ex, and few dangerous blondes and you have got the ingredients of one of those lethal cocktails served to unwitting tourists on Kuta Beach, however the cocktail here is the joke on the viewers, who must be looking through the same dirty glasses you get at the Royal Hotel, in been not been able to spot, a show so blatantly re-shot, re-edited, it makes Kardashian robbery in Paris almost real.  

Way above all these shows, not only in production values, (almost as beautifully filmed as the BBC Apprentice) is Australian Survivor, a show that never worked in the United Kingdom, as the people were to too stupid to realize this was a game, and mistook this for something between John Fowl's “The Magus” and Club 18-30 holiday. Of course, it was trashed by the show I was on by ratings, but in reality (no pun) I would have rather been in Survivor than Big Brother.

The Island setting of Survivor, is so photogenic that a lot of airtime is spent, with beautiful shots of the coastline, crashing waves, restless seas, and far too many shots of crabs emerging from the sand, or some stone, or simply crabs walking sideways across the beach, with the back drop of nature, perhaps they (the crabs)are  most dangerous animal on the Island, apart from the contestants themselves.

The contestants, again some obvious casting, an old person, a black person, a pretty person, a semi hinged person, and a few narcissistic characters, and the typical background characters that you always know, that have something a bit special and unique about them, or let us be honest, some kind of material mental damage that has either been edited out or are following the number 1 rule in Reality TV, do as little as possible, not to be noticed, but as much as possible without drawing too much attention to yourself.

The edit of the contestants has generally been fair, as in this show, it is not about the viewers voting people out, rather than keeping them in, by watching the show in the first place. 

I cannot remember so far any singling out of anyone in particular for a poor edit, unless of course, they set themselves up for a fall in the single piece to camera interviews, where they all  have made boasts they cannot possibly substantiate, but that is the nature of the beast.

But we know these are set up and coached, don't we?

Those whom understand the genre will spot the various clues in the edit, who is going that night, but on the whole, no one has had a bad edit or can complain of the same, unlike other shows.

We are at the nuts and bolts end of the show, where the contestants are wondering if they might have over played their hands or they have made the wrong alliances without thinking of the consequences or end game, add to the mix the beauty of paranoia, and the $500,000 prize money will make the last few weeks interesting, and this is where the sleeper contestant will shine, the stronger contestants will now turn on each other, as they will be forced to vote out their perceived competition,

thus paving the way for the the sleeper to slip straight into the final, whether or not they have the popularity from the Judges, depends on whether or not they have been honest, and only one, so far has done that and that is Lee and this where lies the problem, and it is two fold, firstly as the commonality of most of these shows, the interesting characters or game players in Survivor tend to get voted out, earlier than they should, which means the person whom made you scream at on the TV, for being remarkably duplicitous has gone, which means you have to find someone else you love to hate, or in this case , this has to be all girl alliance, which will, mark my words, will implode horribly.

If you thought the fun and games have already started, think again, peoples true colors are just about to be exposed.

Half Term Report

It is always quite difficult to criticise a TV show you have been on without sounding resentful, spiteful or having an axe to grind.

I believe (allegedly) that last year's winner is to bring out a book which explains, in his view, the poor way in which contestants are treated by a production company and or a TV channel. I would agree this can happen, but everyone who has been on Big Brother was given the 'talk of doom' beforehand and were made aware of the pros and the cons of doing the show. If they decided to then do the show and sign the forms then they have to take the rough with the smooth.

I understand having spoken with cast members from other countries that they are looked after better than here in the UK - well, if that is true then go and do the show in Germany then. It is as ridiculous as winning the lottery and blaming Camelot for any misfortune that becomes of winning that lucky ticket.

To this years show: by and large I think it is good. It is quite well cast (apart from having models, which I think defeats the very point of the show) as contestants mainly appear quite normal and appeal to a cross-section of the viewing public.

I do feel there is no clear winner at this stage. Had Luke A kept his mouth shut about his secret he would sail through to the final days. Getting to the final can be very easy as it is purely about being 'grey' and in this house there are five shades of grey and then there are the rest - those people tend to reach the last two weeks and then are exposed by the cameras to be dull.

I think there is a danger of the show becoming less Big Brother and more Butlins. The tasks are designed to pass, rather than fail, and I think they have lacked imagination or they have been ripped from other shows.  The 'not laughing' task was so easy - they could have pumped laughing gas into the house and they still would have passed.

The contestants are allowed too many treats and they are allowed to bring far too many personal items into the house. The shower doors should not be frosted out and having such a big area, including a pool, means housemates can really switch off for a few hours and escape the harshness of the show - which is a huge pyschological advantage.

Punishments are pathetic. Taking away the table football is not a punishment, nor is turning off the hot water in summer a punishment. Wake them up very early, take away their booze and turn off the heaters to the pool. Do something to make them suffer.

Bring back the talking parrot! I really do think people who have been on the show and experienced it should be on the task teams as they truly understand what would work.

The 'voice of Big Brother' Marcus Bentley has been brilliant as ever, but sometimes his script is so childish and obvious (almost like the product placement on the show ) it takes away what a good job he does. Brian does a good job as presenter too.

The off shoot show BBBOTS has been funny this year, especially the Monday to Friday helpings. Jamie and Emma are brilliant together but I would suggest getting rid of the 'bedtime story' and replace it with more chat with the guests. I do not like the new psychologist on the show as he has all the charm and charisma of a wounded badger. Get rid of him. Bring back Jo Hemmings...

I understand the reasons for not having the live feed but I just believe you should give the public what they want.

Big Brother is becoming a commercial success with all the competitions and product placements and text voting etc, but it runs the danger of becoming fake and the viewers are not stupid.

Having said that the line up for Celebrity Big Brother shows great promise...

Please no more models!

In the year 2000 you could buy a pint for £2, you could also open and close a train door by yourself and if you so pleased also stick your head out of the window of a fast moving train. Facebook and Twitter did not exist and of course Big Brother One hit the screens. Ten normal people (no models, no actors) entered the house; normal people would continue to enter the house for the next few series until the wannabes arrived.

A lot of contestants have had the 'Big Brother experience' since 2000 and I have managed to meet most of them. In every basket there is of course a rotten apple, but by and large most if not all are good people, models or not.

Perhaps Big Brother got tired, but in the end rather than sending Big Brother to a hospice to die gracefully it went to Channel 5, although I still feel that the last series of Big Brother on Channel 4 had some of the funniest and best tasks to date. 

I'm not sure it sits as well on Channel 5 at this time.

But  apart from throwing money at the problem, 5 need to listen to their audience. Channel 5's first non-celebrity Big Brother was largely forgettable as the casting featured too many young people.  This year they have partially listened and yes there are a few people over the age of 30 and there is a Scottish person - whoopiee!

However having five fashion/glamour models is not great. If I wanted to see a model I would go to a fashion show and as for the two porn stars - again if I wanted to watch them I would disengage the security on my Sky Box and watch some of the more interesting channels...

A fundamental point of the show is to have a good cross-section of people, not a cross-section of wannabes who would sell their story for three Curly Wurly's, a bag of lemon bonbons and one fun-sized Milky Way. On the face of it they all look OK-ish but reading their biog's,I want to sit in a darkened room and scream. 

If Big Brother just wants to just appeal to the readers of the Daily Star so be it. But not everyone who reads the Daily Star watches Big Brother. I am sure having a few models for some people is good eye candy but if you cast properly you can get better looking and more intelligent model-types than they have. Also by picking the most ridiculous posh person Big Brother stereotypically again is telling us all posh people look like horses and all models are vacuous.

The so-called twist was good but could have been better. Why not throw some out on the first night? Why wait three days to throw them out and then replace them with a wildcard. Pointless! Depending on how good the tasks are we might end up with a great show. 

But when it comes to the cast, as all Big Brother fans know, any boast in their video's prior to entering the house must be taken with a pinch of salt. How about next year no models, and the Live Feed!

Early Thoughts

1) Deana – seems like they are reverting to character type ie Shilpa Shetty – why would she do the show as she clearly doesn’t need the money – yet another wannabe

 

2) Arron – so much for ordinary members of the public – yet another model to join the ranks of actors, singers etc that BB seems to want these days

 

3) Caroline – token posh bird – I don’t think she will last more than two weeks as the public don’t like posh/dappy people in BB

 

4) Shievonne – a former Playboy bunny with no job, hyperactive, non-stop talker – anyone that says they like to have fun when they go into BB normally ends up being the most boring one…

 

5) Conor – Irish – personal trainer, another arrogant guy who likes himself – he will be the naked one (there is one every year that likes to walk around naked – it was Craig in my year) – then we find out still lives with his mum, therefore he is all talk…

 

6) Lauren – teeth like a horse, what is it with these martial arts experts (that’s three so far in the first six that have gone into the house) – she could be the one to watch – pretty but not too pretty, confident but not too confident - I think the public will like her

 

7) Luke – chef, married – was born female – nothing like Nadia though the other gender-change housemate – bit of an unfair advantage having that back story

 

8) Adam lived in Dudley and LA – gangs, drugs, jail, fraud, assault etc  - could be a good role model if he really is reformed

 

9) Sara – model – yawning now, yet another model –Her Scottish accent makes her sound like an old woman.

 

10) Scott – if not posh then where does your accent come from?

 

11) Ashleigh – just vacuous – doesn’t deserve any more blog space

 

12) Luke, from Liverpool – full of himself, don’t think he will last too long – dressed like a bank manager

 

13) Lydia – another model, dancer yaddy yaddy ya - engaged to someone 'famous' that none of us have heard of

 

14) Benedict – porn actor who claims to have been shy as a teenager – you decide - have met him and he is a good bloke

 

15) Chris – good a normal guy – finally

16) Victoria – and another model….she is a dog lover though so that is alright

 

At this earlier stage Chris To Win

Casting Giggs is so wrong on many levels

Friday morning and it is 8.36 am and they are all sound asleep. If I was Big Brother, I would wake them up. They are after all being paid made much more than the national average wage for three weeks work, so entertain us.

Are these people celebrities? Well I recognised four, as I have met them, Nicola (Savvy) Andrew (must be slightly gay) and Denise (MILF) Natalie (Good fun) The others I would not visually know who they are. Again 5 have the budget, they did pay Pamela over $2.5m, so why not get some people everyone has heard of?

As usual everyone knew who was going in before the show was aired, and as the coverage was fifteen minutes behind the real show, it was being leaked from the studio.

Brian Dowling did a competent job dressed as a chauffeur disguised as a killer, but he still cannot interview to save his life.
The house looks great, and the first secret task fell slightly flat, as the questions were too easy and the ease that Natalie worked it.

There is a fine line between a good line up and great one, the Americans rarely perform well in Big Brother , and those twins ( I do not rate them as great beauties) will bore us to death, unless they spend the whole show in their swim wear.

There is also a fine line of great tasks and pointless ones, in Ultimate Big Brother every tasks was boring, and we were bored.

Casting Giggs is so wrong on many levels, not only that, what is it telling the younger viewers? That being unfaithful pays? Clever casting would had Imogen Thomas in the house, as well.

She should be lying low, (Giggs woman) and not prostituting herself on reality TV and if she wants to do it, it should be the redemption channel and not on Big Brother

Big Brother needs to be mean, we need proper tasks and no pampering, turn the heat up, and let the game begin.

Day One

To Win Natalie
To go first Giggs (sadly by default the Madsen, might just walk)

Get Me Out of Here-Freddie!

I love I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! for two reasons. Firstly, I would never do it and secondly, we just want most of them brought down a peg or two, or one of them to be eaten. No not really, only joking. On the opening night I thought that if any of them had walked past me I would of not recognised them. By name maybe but by sight no way. Apart from Freddie - whom I met a long time ago and was kind and gave me good media advice. I never thought it possible but most celebrities are fairly thick. Just watch (Who Wants To Be A Millionaire or The Million Pound Drop and you will know what I mean) and before you start I have won The Weakest Link!


Jessica-Jane a model, asked Freddie: "Have you ever eaten a hamster" to which Freddie replies "No" - she then follows up with "Do you know anyone else who has eaten a hamster?" Brilliant second question in normal circumstances but the first question was rapaciously stupid.The other ridiculous question was over on ITV2, which annoyingly had 'nutritionist' and camp dweller from last year Gillian McKeith as a guest - what a waste of an air flight! Anyway in keeping with TV now having to have as many regional accents as possible the new presenter Laura Whitmore is Irish (she speaks at the same speed as a demented Gatling gun) and asked: "What camp would you prefer?" but as one is luxurious and the other is hell it is hardly a relevant or clever question.





I think Fatima a true Olympic hero, who resembles a cross between Barry Manilow and Uri Geller, is an early favourite along with the Rockstar who has either been edited out or has died on set. I do not believe Mark is that caring and I think he is acting, but good on him. I suspect he will be doing every task as the public want to punish him for his cheating antics on TOWIE. I think producers want Stefanie out first as the edit has made her look bitchy or perhaps her agent has put in the contract that she goes first.


Putting Freddie in the Jungle with heart issues was like sending a recovering sex addict to Las Vegas. Now he is out for good, the show has lost a strong character.


However Sinitta and Pat Sharp? Just too annoying!


Good start though with 11.5 million viewers - looks like ITV are King of the Jungle with this one

Aaron a worthy Winner? Not sure + the future of BB

I am not sure if Aaron is a worthy winner of Big Brother or not. What I do know is that he was desperate to be on the show (10 attempts) and he studied every episode and every character and every possibility.
So much so, that I saw a lot of me in him as he went around casting his spell on the other dimwits in the house. He is certainly weird, but he won, against all odds, although in one of my first blogs I did say he would reach the final.
I am surprised to see Jay finishing so high. After being kicked off the Katy Price show, he should not of even reached the second round of Big Brother auditions. I know exactly why he was kicked off and hopefully the press do too and that it all comes out soon like one of his smelly farts.
Alex was the real winner here, pleasant, attractive to a point, kind, caring, thoughtful, but not very bright. How she did not win, I am not sure.
The sad fact is the channel will think they have a huge success on their hands. Well they do to a point. But it could be better. This is my ten point plan of what I would do.
1) Give Emma Willis the main presenting job. Two reasons: greater publicity in magazines (women celebs sell more magazines) and she genuinely loves the show.
2) Brian Dowling to present BBBITS as this is a man whose ad libs are delivered well and BBBITS would showcase his talent for spontaneous banter and fun better than the tightly scripted main show.
3) BBBITS should have more involvement from the panel and dump some of the pointless sketches.
4) Have 12 contestants in the Big Brother house of all ages and at least one should be from Scotland as well.
5) Have an early twist like removing one contestant from the house immediately by face-to-face voting.
6) No more soft tasks
7) No more giving contestants booze and parties for no reason.
8) No outside contact whatsoever.
9) Greater punishments for rule breakers.
10) Bring back the Live feed!
It wont take much to make this show great once more.

Let us wait until January to see. But please no Lauren!!!

The XFactor and Big Brothers Problems

I like the X Factor - well I did. I think this has been the worse series to date. Not only has the judging panel changed for the worse, the singing talent is not as good as it has been before.

I like Louis Wash, though he does make some half-baked decisions and quite a lot of the time he dresses his acts in a bizarre and pantomime-like way. He also knows his stuff hence my mixed feelings about him.

Gary Barlow is without doubt uber-talented as a musician and judge. Tulisa and Kelly are musicallyas well, but as judges, no. They fall very short.

The show has its faults as it is too long with too many adverts and the Sunday show should be combined with Saturday's.

I also think Dermot is not charismatic enough to present the show and has become complacent. Simon Cowell needs to come back tomorrow along with Cheryl Cole.

Big Brother suffers a similar problem. The show is not as good as it should be or could be. Sure the channel are happy with the ratings, but only because they aren't far off the higher ratings it used to obtain on Channel 4.

Why be content with average ratings when they could be so much better than they are today?

When you start to tinker with a popular format and try and make it your own, it never works and the viewers get bored and switch off.

The commonality between both shows is the fans will not put up being manipulated, short changed or taken for fools. Some TV executives, take the audience for fools. The huge tsunami that is social media means that it is very difficult to cheat or not to show or tmiss out important facts or events within these shows that are sometimes critical to the outcome of the show. The viewers know exactly what is wrong with both shows and it will take someone brave to put their hands up and say we have made a mistake, we will give the viewers what they want.

It is not going to happen soon, but until it does, viewers will continue to watch something as mundanely brilliant as Strictly Come Dancing.

Tonights Cynical Eviction

It seems absurd there is an eviction tonight, especially when one of the original possible evictees walked out of the house in a cowardly fashion - Jem has now left four housemates up for tonight's eviction (Aaron, Faye, Jay, Harry) and three of them do not deserve it as it is only as a result of her actions.

In contrast, in the latest mind-bogglingly-dumb betting task BB helped Alex at the last moment by cajoling her to eat on one more chocolate - so she passed and the house completed and won another pointless task. This then rewarded them with yet more booze.

I would have expected them to use the same logic on Jem explaining to her that there are only two days to go and that she should stay. I thought she was awful, selfish, did not live up to her promises, and ruined her sisters week. The house is better off without her and she would have gone anyway, but that is not the point.

I do believe the evictions should have been cancelled this week and along with the diehard BB fans I think this is more a cynical manipulation to try and bring in revenue at the cost of integrity of the show.

Somebody is going tonight that should not. Sadly that person is going to be Harry. Well done Jem!


Do comment as I like to read your opinions.

Nick

Who goes? Big Brother decides! Sorry BB but we the public actually decide - stupid!

Yet another voting twist, another uproar. Last week Anton, despite a huge manipulation to keep him in the house, social media won the day and Anton was out and the fans quite rightly saw through BB's plan.

Although to give it some merit, this was a clever idea, but at this stage of the competition it is clearly the wrong idea. True BB fans hate nominations being messed around. There, I said it.

Firstly the Palmer family (Faye/Gem’s relatives) have ganged up on Aaron. By putting Gem’s sister, who they knew she always argued with, in the house and getting Gem’s boyfriend and their mother to vote is biased in the extreme.

Unless the Palmer family and the rest of the country are watching a different programme I do not think Aaron has behaved that badly - yes, he is complex and a little odd at times but he did not deserve that many votes.

Jem on the other hand I think is just awful, she has destroyed her sister’s enjoyment of Big Brother and offers nothing to the viewers. She has nothing constructive to say, she is not interesting and should have carried out her threat to leave. She survived last week only because Anton was hated - and looking at the coverage this week she might survive again as BB clearly wants Aaron out. Alex is still the clear winner in my view as I feel Channel 5 owner Richard Desmond clearly wants to turn her into another money-making Jade Goody (hopefully without the tragedy this time around). The public seems to love no one better than a not-that-bright-but-sweet girl.

Just remember, it is you who decides so do vote for your favourite – if you care that much…

The Great Reality Swindle - Anton

Until last night's reveal of a twist, released on the Big Brother Twitter account and BBITS and due to be shown on tonight's show, I could have told you who would NOT win and that was Anton, Jem and Louise. In essence the twist saves Jay and Anton...

Now, after Aden's exit, when even the housemates were surprised Anton stayed it is clear that Big Brother wants him and Jay in the final and what better way in protecting them by pulling this stunt (watch the show tonight to see what they do).

Jay though is already a losing finalist - did you spot him last night over on Sky with Katie Price's reality show, Signed By Katie where he reached the final 12. I watched and it seems to have taken a little bit of every reality show that has ever been on television and put it into the mix. But Katie is a smart cookie and I have nothing but admiration for her strong business sense and work ethic. Lets watch and see what happens to Jay.

I was beginning to think as as Big Brother past winners have included a gay man, a Scot, a Welsh girl and a mix of not bright and very dull contestants plus Pete that we might finally have someone who went to public school winning the show ie Harry - but this has been dashed. I still think despite the twist/stunt Alex might win.

Is Aaron becoming a little weird or is it a game he is playing? Tom and Alex are floating just below the radar, enough for them to be effectively edited out the show, and that is not a bad thing as the final is quite close. Jem who initially promised great things has gone into hibernation.

The proof is in the pudding and lets see how bright Anton is with the twist. But he has got one thing against him - the public do not like him. But then again when Jade was up for the most one-sided eviction ever, she survived. So stranger things can happen especially on 'reality' TV which we all know by now has nothing to do with 'reality'.

Do comment on this blog and let me know your thoughts about when producers alter voting patterns.

Nick

Anton the Snake

Unless Jay puts the contents of his morning visit to the loo, allegedly, in the fridge again and this time the edit actually shows it then Anton will be the first male to be evicted from the house. It is sad because at first his alter ego in the diary room was mildly amusing, (like Harry ordering all those banana's) but as Anton has failed to deliver in front of his housemates he is a coward first and snake second. He is going to get a huge shock to his over-inflated ego when he is booed to buggery on Friday night!


Although Jem (Faye's sister) might make good television she is equally unlikeable, if for not for ruining her sisters enjoyment in the house. However the house is a better place for her as it would have been duller than BB4 if she was not there


Once ex-housemate Rebekah entered the house for a date with Tom in last night's show I had to go and lie down in darkened room and scream. Her agent has probably and correctly diagnosed that the only hope for her t make any money (apart from appearing on various late night Sky channels) is to try and make her relationship with Aden work. The poor boy, he will in time look back and kick himself at his youthful naivety.


As for the relationship between Jay and Louise, at least Louise had the foresight to end this. Now let us see if Jem moves in on Jay. They deserve each other.



Do let me know your thoughts.



Nick

out with old, in with the new

It was obvious Maisy was history, even before she was officially up for eviction. Being an ex housemate you get a good feel for what is really going on. I did not like her, she tried too hard and will be in the future one those of the ex contestants, who give the few a bad name, by turning up to the opening of a door.

I was not surprised a new contestant has entered the house, albeit someone 's sister, we might have for the first time someone who actually delivers on their promise to go in and cause trouble. But this will lead ultimately to their demise. I do not think a new person should enter after a month, they have far too much knowledge, and it usually puts them in an advantageous position.

I liked Jay at first, but there is something not quite right and I cannot put my finger on it yet. Do not get me started on Aden or Anton, one is a wimp and one a snake. I am surprised Harry is still there, him and Aaron are so diversely different from the other housemates, and that is why they get on.

I am more than sure that Alex will now win BB, she is going through a PLKE (positive low key edit) which means they are slowly building her up. So far my predictions have been correct, anyone disagree?

Why walking out of the Big Brother house is a bad move

So, Mark now joins a list of just 14 people (out of 144 contestants who have been in the Big Brother house) who either walked, escaped over the wall in Sandy's case like some baboon escaping from a zoo, or have been expelled from the Big Brother house (errr, guilty).

I was surprised to see Mark walk as the dullard lovesick Aden or the mixed-up womaniser Aaron would have been prime candidates to walk from the house as they have reasons to want to leave.

Mark could have easily 'walked it' to the final of Big Brother (excuse the intended pun) and although his behaviour was erratic, verging on odd he did not have a bad bone in his body. He was like the court jester of the Big Brother kingdom so it will be even less entertaining now. I suspect he was simply bored.

I thought originally he was a plant and him walking out just endorses that feeling in my mind. But I guess he thought it was time to go. I feel that after watching the tapes back he might live to regret it when he realises he was in with a chance of winning.

What do you think about Mark walking?

Nick

BB, The Batchelor, X Factor,

There was only a 1/2 percent in it between Aden and Heaven in the voting to evict last Friday. But Heaven lost and was the third person to leave the Big Brother house. I think she should have stayed as she offers more as a housemate than Aden. But paradoxically she is also the reason why BB has lost viewers. She is totally nicely mad and her exit interview endorsed that.

Heaven perhaps would have been more suited to The Bachelor, a cretinous 'dating' programme with rugby star/Charlotte Church's ex Gavin Henson that is so watchable it should be everyone's guilty secret. But rather Like Big Brother there is huge manipulation in the production of it. Perhaps, the winner of Big Brother should win a date with Gavin Henson...

However the UK version, compare to the original US one, of The Bachelor is sycophantic to a huge extreme. I doubt very much Gavin likes any of the girls enough to marry them. A few of the contestants, just like in Big Brother are so-called models, actors and singer songwriters etc etc. For Gavin Henson, it is a paid kissing fest and for male viewers they watch on with pure jealousy.

The X Factor is not cruel - well it was by flying some contestants out on Easyjet, what a horrible fate. Louis' choices in the older category were baffling and wrong and I am sure he will be the first to lose an act.

Back to Big Brother, two girls are up for eviction this week (Faye and Maisy) and I think the ultra wannabee Maisy will be out. She comes over as so desperate to be famous. At this rate it will be an all boys final by default.

I like Aaron, but he is a bit weird. Jay allegedly putting his pooh in the freezer was awful and as he is a favoured contestant it was edited out - but that is Big Brother as we all know. Without live feed it is all about the edit...

Do comment on my blog as I do like your feedback.

Nick

Aden must have had a charisma bypass in his sleep

Rebekah was booted from the show last week, and quite rightly so. Her only chance of any limelight now is in the darkened booths of some strip joint. Even if you failed your GCSE in the school-of-the-bleeding-obvious there is little chance of any real romance between Aden or her.


Rebekah may be good at acting but her face was a picture when she went to visit Aden's mother (with a film crew for BBBITS), and then saw his single bed, teddy bar on said bed and condoms in his bottom drawer - her face betrayed her instantly as just hanging out for the OK! magazine cash cow. My suggestion: do photoshoots with Nuts and Zoo magazines and get your kit off, do a few paid personal appearances and leave Aden alone - because you might just wreck his life.


Now I am not sure if Aaron is asexual, bisexual, straight, gay or just confused! Or perhaps all.
Although he is a game player, he has even out-gamed himself by a series of schoolboy errors with Faye, Tom and Maisy - never good to play around with the emotions of one housemate let alone three...


Aaron will of course survive this week, be up next week again, survive and so on. Which means, as I explained in my last blog, the weak (Louise, Harry) get carried into another few free weeks of staying in the house - unless there is a double eviction three people are bound to be up for eviction each time.


I would save Heaven this week - yes she believes in giants, yes she is nicely mad rather than criminally insane, but she has character. Aden on the other hand must have had a charisma bypass in his sleep, and offers the viewers nothing apart from a hurt dog look. Get rid of him. Aden to go this week.


Rather like a hedgehog who has been kicked by a school boy, Alex is coming out of her ball of insecurity, and I now think she might make the final. It is early doors however - perhaps it will be Alex, Mark, Jay and Maisy in the final.

In other news:

When I left the Big Brother house in August 2000 my phone was hacked. Phone hacking has clearly been around for years. In my view the Dowler family recently were probably were given too much compensation. On the other hand and with the inevitability of another huge cash cow coming over the horizon Jade Goody's mum is now pursuing the NOTW for cash as she claims Jade's phone was hacked too. Enough said.

Three days before Ultimate Big Brother began in summer 2010 I tripped on a paving slab in a public place (therefore the pavement was council owned) and caused myself serious shoulder and ankle injuries that had they been spotted by the Big Brother medics I wouldn't have been allowed on the show.

On both issues I could have sued (the newspaper for hacking and the council for the faulty slab) but I have chosen not to. We are moving sadly into the arena of where there is blame there is a claim.


I also have never complained about my edit on the first Big Brother, as I believe that once you sign that form then you have to expect the good and the bad that comes with that decision.
I do however think that producers of Ultimate Big Brother were wrong not to show mine and Vic's Big Brother's Little Brothers Cousin show on the main programme.
You can see our YouTube videos here. http://www.youtube.com/user/flyingdogspoo

Heaven or Hell? Live Feed?

If the conspiracy theorists are right, Big Brother will edit Rebeckah in a good way in the next few days, thus resulting in Heaven going. This can happen as there is no live feed so it can not be proven either way who is the most two-faced in the house! They certainly won't edit it for Rebeckah to leave but of course the public ultimately decides.

There are five kinds of people that enter the house, although some run across more than one category:

1) THE MICE: People who should not really be there, but occasionally make a squeak like Tom, Harry and Alex.

2) THE WATCHERS: Mainly observe from the sidelines like Louise, Harry and Heaven.

3) THE DARK HORSES: They could make the final like Mark, Faye and Jay.

4) THE EMULATORS: Anton (acts like Vic Ebuwa did) Aaron/Rebeckah (copying me!)

5) THE GAME PLAYERS: Rebeckah, Aaron, Maisy and those who say they have no game plan but do like Aden and Anton.

Generally all of THE MICE survive until halfway through the show, THE WATCHERS, and THE EMULATORS leave before and just after halfway through the show. The obvious GAME PLAYERS fall in the final few weeks week, leaving a few MICE and THE DARK HORSES fight until the end.

This Friday we have a WATCHER and a GAME PLAYER/EMULATOR up for eviction. The game player is going to lose eventually, because if you play the game you have to do it without too much malice and with a twinkle in your eye. Rebeckah has over compensated her game playing, played her hands too early and has led the hapless Aden around much as a child does to a new puppy at Christmas. Had she not led him on, she might have survived this time. I also think she has cruel side to her that has betrayed the true her on a few occasions.

Heaven is mad, but not in a criminally insane scary way, but in the nice way that a pat on the head and a polite smile will do wonders for her and for you. But she is slightly too mad to stay in the house too long, unless she is up, like she is this week, with someone like Rebeckah in an eviction. I think she will survive this week, and go next week, thus giving credence to the fact that the WATCHERS always survive a little too long.

Word from Elstree is that the live feed was discussed by the executives, however I do not know what became of those conversations and wether or not the pats on the back (after great ratings for Celebrity Big Brother), have turned to 'where have all the viewers gone'?

I tell you where and that is to bed. This is term time and for a lot of viewers 10pm is just too late. I do think perhaps there should have been a five week break between the end of Celebrity and the start of civilian.

In my last blog, I argued for and against the live feed.

I believe the cost of the live feed is around £600,ooo. If you imagine what they paid Sally Bercow and Pamela Anderson, and assuming combined they were paid more than this (they were) but for arguments sake let us pretend their combined fee was £600,000. I personally think Pamela was under used and I think most fans would have rather had a live feed than have Sally or Pamela, who added nothing to the show.

I would not urge they bring back the live feed as it is not up to me, but I hope the channel consider what the fans want. I know that advertisers cannot buy the space as it already has been sold out this year and next year for Big Brother, so it cannot be about money.

So the question is why not? What's the answer Channel 5?

Live Feed or not? and why it is going slightly wrong.

The lack of a live feed is perhaps the most contentious issue for BB fans. But let us not lose sight that it was Channel 4 who forced the issue and took away the live feed citing quite reasonably, the cost, the extra staff and of course the legal issues in having a 24 hour feed.

I would like a live feed or live BB on TV 24-7 but it is not going to happen. Some say that there is no live feed because it leaves BB to edit how they feel. Again, I think this is true to a certain extent, but the live feed can also be manipulated equally as much as the real show, so the point is mute. However I believe there could be a live feed, but the cost per person would be quite high and therefore as a business it is not really viable for the channel in these tough economic times.

From an ex contestant point of view, I can identify with some really positive aspects of the show. The opening sequences are slick, the new contestants by and large are well cast, (give or take Harry and Alex) and the edit is fair. I think the mistake is having too many young people, as if they are trying to appeal to Daily Star (the owner of Channel 5 owns the newspaper too) viewers only. If they (5) want a show like this, then they should hire a villa in France and fill it with booze and young people and let the camera's roll.

I think 5 are trying to stamp their own identity on the show, and that is taking away from what us viewers really want. I am sure 5's hands have been tied by a greater power.

I am no producer, but I have argued before that the few ex-contestants that do have a brain should be employed by BB, because we know more than most what works and what does not with BB. Television is not always rocket science. Keep the format as is, cast people that job titles do not include models or singers, limit booze and food and have tough tasks.

BB should work and can work, but not if it is altered too dramatically to suit a certain audience, then it cannot work.

I am enjoying the series, but I believe it could be better - I am not saying I could change this overnight, but to make a difference you have to take a risk and if this means Endemol, the production company, saying to channel 5: "Sorry this is not working, we make it, you broadcast it but butt out as it is our franchise."

If indeed there are crisis meetings happening, as rumoured, then someone somewhere knows something is not right.

This is what I would do:

1) Face to face nominations

2) Endurance/24 hour tasks, or tasks that are designed to be failed then be passed. I have many ideas for this.

3) Booze and cigarettes need to earned not given

4) Cancel the oven clock to disorientate them (they don't have watches in the house)

5) Bring back the parrot or something that repeats key conversations

6) Wake them up earlier

7) Live streaming of some sort

8) No contact whatsoever with the outside world

What do you think can save the show? Do comment on this blog.

Nick

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