As the title suggests i am no fan of BB,this was'nt always the case however...
When BB first hit British TV well over a decade ago i thought it was an interesting social experiment and like the rest of the country watched avidly even with the double whammy of Davina McCall shouting all the time and the talented Dermot O'Leary clearly slumming it.The programme was considered a great success and no doubt made it's makers,Endemol,a shed load of money.
If anything series two was even better and had probably one of the most gripping scenes ever witnessed on live TV as Nasty Nick Bateman was taken to task by Scouser Craig Phillips over cheating in the BB house.Bateman was the archetype posh boy on the make and Phillips the solid working class lad just trying to get by.This was'nt just a spat,this was class war and the country was gripped.TV gold.
This moment turned out to be both the show's zenith and it's nadir.
Endemol could'nt quit on a high like that as no doubt they had too much invested in it so they had to keep going for bigger and bigger shocks.Sadly this meant filling the house with the sort of self obsessed Italia Conti rejects you'd emigrate to avoid and the sort of folk that give the working class a bad name...Plump up a cushion and watch the sparks fly.
Many of the contestants claimed on expulsion that they did'nt know what they were letting themselves in for but that's clearly bullshit.They may have been narcissistic arseholes but they we're all media savvy when it came to BB.
What they wanted above all was fame at any cost,without paying their dues,as world weary musos would have it.Why anyone would want fame just for the sake of being famous is beyond me.I don't know anyone who's even moderately famous but i'm aware of the tiresome abuse those that are suffer.I doubt if the rewards are sufficient when all you have is yourself and no discernible talent the world soon tires of you...
Ironically the most famous of the BB contestants was Jade Goody,who i doubt was savvy in anything.Let's be honest she was as thick as mince and i have no doubt she was chosen for that very reason,to be the prize exhibit in the modern day Bedlam.Crass cynicism of the highest order from the show's producers.She even managed to cause a diplomatic incident between Britain and India when she racially abused Bollywood actress Shipla Shetty.I bet Endemol were rubbing their hands in glee at that.
Over the intervening years many non-entities have passed through it's doors un-noticed by me and increasingly un-noticed by the public.Viewing figures have fallen dramatically and tabloid interest has dwindled,so much so that C4 bailed out and C5 took over the running of it(surely it's death knell?) Shouty McCall has been replaced as host by previous winner Brian Dowling.A sure case of BB eating itself...
Hopefully the programme will die a death soon along with the equally savage Celebrity BB,in which Z list celebs have mental breakdowns in your living room when they realise their careers are going down the pan.
Finally Stephen Fry summed up BB best."Joseph Bazalgette created the sewers that took the shit from your home,his great great grandson,Endemol's Peter Bazlgette, is pumping it right back in"
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