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The Nightmare Comes to Pass I had wanted to note something down in the moments immediately after Jon got booted last Friday evening, but I was simply in too much shock. Last Friday evening was the most outrageous injustice I think I have ever seen on UK TV. Not only did we lose the lovely Federico, but we also lost the mighty Jon Tickle. For those fans of Big Brother who truly love the show, it was a night of utter despair. Fridays eviction saw the loss of the last two genuine and interesting characters in the house, BB4 has took an awful turn for the worst.
The Nightmare comes to pass Day 29, 8.31pm, it was a nice Friday evening, the sun was soon to set behind the trees, and the legion of Jon and Fed fans were anxiously awaiting news of the first vote. In the chat room the nervousness was getting quite noticeable, we were all so excited (but also confident), but would Cameron get booted first ? In which case many voters would switch their allegiance to keep Mt Tickle in. 8.54ish, and Davina addresses the house…… Federico to leave. Actually I was not surprised when this was said, I had predicted Fed to be booted first – I had considered him Jon’s prime adversary to remaining in the house. So even though Fed was booted out first, I was not entirely concerned…after all Cameron would no doubt be booted later.
10.28’ish…. ‘and the fifth person to leave is……… Jon. ‘WHAT THE……’ For
those of you not in the DS chatroom at the time, suffice it to say that
the next 100 lines of text were essentially something like this… ‘Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo’ ‘That’s it BB4 is over for me….. it cant be happening….. nooooooooooooooooooo’ ‘I wont be watching anymore…… noooooooooo’ ‘God damn it, what a fix’
It is now some 5 days since that dreadful evening, and I remain incensed
at C4 for their double eviction policy. Some people claim it was done to
drum up a few more million viewers and draw in some much needed revenue.
But no, I am certain it was because they knew that if they had a double
eviction, with a 3 way split vote, then Mr Tickle would almost certainly
be booted. They took a big gamble – since they could have lost their
‘chosen one’ – ‘The Cameron’, but he just scraped through.
It was clearly a set up in my view. Not an overt ‘fix’ as such – where voting numbers are faked for example, but merely a very cleverly designed plot to oust ‘the tickle’. I bet they didn’t much want to lose Federico, but that was the price they decided to pay. It was a highly controlled set up, a delicate situation that had been orchestrated by the entire production team of C4/Endemol. Jon and Fed had never received a fair degree of coverage in any of the evening highlights show since Day 1. Jon had managed to survive relentless anti-Jon coverage from C4 – from showing such basic coverage as Jon clearing out his nose, to Jon telling Ray to ‘stop abusing the girls’ –taking endless quotes out of context. As many people have noted, Jon was not the sort of person that C4 decided was ‘marketable’ – compare Jon to previous BB winners. Personally, I really thought it was time that BB had an intelligent winner, someone with character, someone with views – someone who was not a vain idiot. But no, it seems C4 still don’t think the British Public want that kind of winner, so they have been on a relentless crusade to get the Jon booted.
But why the hell would they want the most interesting characters of the
show ousted ? Financially it makes no sense to me. As a Jon Tickle (and
Fed) fan, there is no way I shall be voting for the rest of this series. I
bet they lost 5-7 million pounds of future Jon/Fed votes last Friday. Had
Jon/Fed still been in the series, C4 would surely have been financially
far better off.
Q. Think about this for a moment, Steph, Nush, Tania, Ray, Scott, Cameron,
and Gos – which of those dull fools deserve our financial support ?
I happen to have always liked Davina, she reminds me of someone I used to know, who shares almost all of her cute little quirky traits. Davina has performed pretty well during her 4 year run with Big Brother. Yet maybe her time as lead presenter is now coming to an end. Her interview with Fed was a great disappointment. As for her comments about Fed’s penis size, I can’t believe that she has sunk to such levels. Did she personally want to press Fed on this issue, or did the producers press her on getting Fed to talk about it ? Anyway just reverse the gender situation, what if Steph had left the house and Dermot had questioned Steph on her sexual anatomy – there would have been mass uproar. But no, we now live in a stupid double standards society. It is now okay to ridicule a man, but it would be ‘wrong’ to do the same to a woman. Davina should be ashamed of herself for her comments to Fed, hopefully the ITC will give her a slap for her rudeness – not that it will change the past. Fed will have to live with that interview for a very long time.
Up for the Boot : Nush (3), Steph (3), and Tania (3) Gos : Ray 7 Nush – poor Gos still finding it hard to nominate. For the first time Gos has’nt voted for someone who ends up being put up for the boot – Gos loosing touch with the house. Nush : Gos & Steph – Nush sticking the knife in her girly friend steph. Ray : Tania & Steph – Something of a surprise, clearly he has given up on ‘bedding’ either of them. Scott : Steph & Tania – Scott, the tactical player, trying to get his main competition out. Steph : Ray & Nush – The vote for Nush is a surprise, voting out the more pretty one perhaps ?
Tania : Gos & Scott – Clearly doesn’t want to lose any more girls.
Interestingly, Gos and Ray are now getting 2 votes, so they are looking to
be up next week perhaps ? At this stage of the Game, even the ‘safe’
players are in danger of being put up for the public vote. As Jon Tickle
said on Big Brother Little Brother (BBLB) this week, once Gos and Steph
are up for the vote – what is there to keep them in, since the public know
nothing about their personalities. Playing the ‘stealth role’ works well
to start with, but when such housemates do eventually come to be judged by
the public, why would the public bother to keep them inside ? Q. Will any of the three girls nominated today do ‘a Cameron’? Will they change their behaviour as Cameron did last week ?
I would suspect Steph will try to get all cuddly with Cameron once he
returns, although of course that will be too late to gain public favour
–since cam’ comes back sometime late Friday I assume. As for Nush, she
will probably just giggle inanely, as she has done with greater frequency
since Gaetano entered the house on Monday. Basic to Basics – are you kidding me C4 ?
When I first heard that this years BB4 would be a ‘back to basics’
version, I sighed deeply. After all why would they even say such a bizarre
thing to us viewers. I believe they wanted us to believe that BB would be
reverting back to the original style, as seen during the glory days of
BB2. This years format would be simplified, no silly gimmicks like the
Heaven/Hell split of BB3, C4/Endemol preached that Big Brother would be
‘back to basics’. As of writing it is Day 33, we are now on the homeward bound part of the course, just how ‘back to basics’ has the show been in reality. 1. Nominations within the first night of the show. 2. Double Eviction 3. The housemate swap with BB Africa.
Oh, and if I hear the phrase ‘with a twist’ again, I’m going to smash something. The Saturday night task have been overly hyped and all have supposedly had an amazing ‘twist’, all the task have been cheap and utterly lame in my opinion. Any child could have thought of a more interested ‘task’ for the housemates to do.
As for the ‘reward room’, it has totally lost its novelty value now. Am I
the only one tired of seeing the housemates pile into that room, only to
see them binge eat/drink. Dull. I’m almost tempted to say bring back
‘heaven/hell’ for a fortnight, rather than this predictable Saturday night
lark. Hey, just remember how crazy last year was, Alex won the task, only
to then have to nominate whom he wanted to be on his side of the house –
now that WAS entertainment. The Fallen Ones Lets just briefly take note of the people we have lost so far… Anouska – loved by many – except the teenie girl text voters. Justine – well, not liked by many was she ;) Very much bitchy, with her sly Steph.
Sissy – booted for being perceived as whiney and screechy.
Fed – Dynamic guy, shared lots of his views on an array of subjects, booted by the public third attempt. Jon – The ‘Master’ of BB4. Very opinionated, straight talking, more active than most of the other HM’s.
Along with most other BB fans, the loss of Sissy and more so, of Justine
will be of no real consequence. However, the initial loss of Anouska was a
real blow to any possible romantic liaisons in the show.
The Remaining Seven Ψ Cameron – the man is indeed one of the creepiest people I’ve seen on TV. Many have called him a letch, and he we on many occasion seen his hands wondering all over his target ‘ the Nush’.
When Cameron found out he was nominated, he saw one of the most dramatic
behavioural changes seen in any housemate yet. A number of key events took
place last week, each of which give support to the idea that Cameron was
consciously playing up to the viewing audience. Cameron went into the diary room, and did his bible talk for the UK viewers. He sat there, and played the act of ‘ohh look at me, are’nt I the saint, reading from the Good Book, spreading the word of God’. Cameron was pleading to the older generation – his community to keep him in the house.
2. ‘Drink, its not clever’. Cameron has also gone into the diary room and
spouted off his puritanical beliefs about how the other housemates are bad
mannered.
* anyone with the video/audio of this moment please email me ! If an
anti-cameron campaign is to really be successful, we need this clip !
Clearly C4/Endemol will not be releasing this clip, after all they
wouldn’t any negative coverage against their big baby Cameron – their
‘Chosen one’. ---
Ψ Gos – Still lazing around the house, doing very little of note. What
else should I add about this great lump ? Sure he cooks – a little, but he
rarely contributes to any talks. His language is mostly common as muck,
and of a ‘know what I mean’ quality. Next week, Gos to go. Ψ Ray – the rude boy finally got his official final warning today from BB for his disobedience. Good for Ray, hope he tells BB to stick it, I doubt BB would have the coverage to attempt to evict Ray. Ray is even possibly the type of housemate who would have to be dragged screaming from the house, would he really just voluntarily agree to leave the house by the back door ? I do hope the rude boy does not disappoint me.
An Incompetent Misguided BB Production Team Within the first hour of BB4 commencing, I was somewhat concerned at the contestants chosen. What the hell were they thinking when they chose Steph, Scott, and Gos ? They must surely be the dullest people ever to have graced UK TV screens. Steph spends her time sweeping the floors, Scott blends in with the wallpaper, and Gos just slumps around on the sofa. In the 33 days of BB so far, we’ve seen relatively little incident of note. A few minor outburst from rude boy ray, but that’s about it. A house of harmony – who wants to see 64 days of the Waltons ? I am no fan of Cameron – as you all doubtless realise by now, but at least Cameron has shown some degree of ‘character’, at least in the past week he has actively taken measures to ensure his target fan base keep him in. His bible reading, his sickly playfulness with Nush, and his general demeanor have provided some interesting observations. Anyway… all in all, it is pretty dull.
With all the talk from many people that the show’s format is falling to pieces, I have been thinking about just what the show should be like. BB Africa has offered some interesting ideas, some of which I certainly agree with. Anyway, here are a few suggestions… 1. Show length/time of year – increase to 100days, shift the start date to around mid July. As many people have said, with the dead news time of August the show would do well to shift to this time. In summary, have the show run from early/mid July until end September – it would surely improve ratings. 2. Contestant number – I’d suggest an initial 14-16. Anything more than 20 is clearly not feasible, but the current 12 just seems too few, especially if they are going to do double/triple evictions in future BB’s. 3. A one month initial ban on evictions/nominations. Give the housemates time to settle into the house, form alliances etc. 4. BB control style : BB should truly be tough on the housemates, kick em out for even minor offences – show them who is truly in control. 5. Evictions/nominations : Why not vary the manner in which people are voted out. Naturally, the show will want the public to vote people out, but why not have people vote to ‘keep’ housemates they like. Further to this, maybe let housemates talk about nominations some weeks, but not others. Variability is the key, it is something we’ve not seen before.
6. Housemate swaps : NO WAY. It simply ruins the group dynamic, no more
gimmicks about dragging people across the world to stay in another house
for 4-5 days. Waste of time, waste of effort.
There are probably endless minor things that could be done, but I think a
few of the ones I outline would probably enhance the show to some extent.
In particular I remain amazed why the show is only 64 days long ?
C4/Endemol want to make as much money from it as possible, why not extend
it to a nice round 100days. I don’t think an extra 4-6 weeks would really
be overkill for the show. After all in other countries the show runs even
longer than what I am suggesting. Looking Ahead What can we expect, in the tale haft of this fourth series ? Are we to be bored rigid for the remaining 31days, or might we get at least a few interesting moments. In all consideration, despite the loss of Fed and Jon, I will predict that there will be some ‘notable’ events yet to come in the house. However the real passionate/interesting characters have certainly left the house. All we are left with are 7 people who lack any on-screen intensity and presence. Can anyone really tell me that Gos or Steph is going to lead to some ‘fine entertainment’ in the remaining weeks of the show ? No, the same can be said for the other five. With Tania gone, all we’ll be left with is a potentially unstable Ray and…. that is about it. I simply can’t see any of the housemates providing any lively action for us viewers. Indeed, we could be about to enter the most dull and dreadful final 4 weeks in BB history. If things get as dull as I fear they might, then the entire future of the show will be questioned – although the original format (minus stupid gimmicks) does work brilliantly. I am just saying that you’re probably going to hear some media reports start rumouring along the lines of ‘BB coming to an end?’. So Tania will be booted this week, but what about next week ? I suspect that we shall see a face off between Gos and Steph, possibly Ray as the third person. In either case, the stereotypical ‘big happy chef’ – Gos, will be booted. (yes, the Gos interview with Davina is going to be painfully dull) ---
My paramount concern remains though that the BB house will just get ever more duller as the weeks slip by. Of the 3 girls left, Tania is arguably the most active/talkative – certainly more so than dull Steph. Yet once again, the livelier housemate will get the boot, leaving the duller person behind for a further week.
I shall end this latest ranting with this thought…. Q. Do any of the housemates left in this years show really deserve any support from us BB fans ? If you want to send a message to the producers about how upset, angry, betrayed, or how fed up you are with the biased editing of C4… then just do one thing…. DO NOT VOTE AGAIN THIS SERIES.
The only message C4/Endemol will understand is when the voting/advertising
revenue falters. I predict that many people will now fail to make the
effort to vote, although many will continue to watch BB4 until Day 64. Let
us hope that most of the ‘true BB fans’ quit using their voting power for
the rest of this series. It is time that our feelings about last Friday
are expressed. Contact Calrissian - Your Feedback is very much appreciatred ;)
BB4 Audio Clips: MP3’s of various moments from the show, inc. some classics from Federico and Jon.
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