Well Big Brother has come to an end and I know in a few weeks I will have forgotten all about it. But at the moment it is pretty raw. People who don’t watch the show will be raising their eyebrows. Those who love the show will understand. So I thought I would do my retrospective now.
Favourite Housemate
No competition here. It was the Slickman Victor. I loved him before Ultimate Big Brother and I was glad that they put him in as recognition of the devotion he has amongst BB fanatics. I loved him because he was the first person who really was up front about it being a game and saying he was here to ‘take these suckers out.’
A word for the Ultimate BB winner Brian. I like the guy. He is funny and charming and really impossible to dislike. His only flaw for me was he made the shows he was in too predictable. Because nobody stood a chance against him. That’s not his fault but as a viewer I found it more difficult to enjoy series when we knew who would win a week in. I found it difficult to enjoy Pete (BB7) for exactly the same reason.
Honourable mentions go to Alex (BB3), The Tickle (BB4), Kitten (BB5), Makosi (BB6), Aisleyne & Glyn (BB7), Rex (BB9), Freddy, Marcus, Noirin (BB10) and Ben (BB11)
Favourite Series
I liked all the series but for my favourite the list begins and ends with one series. It has to be BB5. It was the one that saved the programme after the sedate (not boring) BB4. It had three of the true heavyweight housemates in Nadia, Victor and Michelle. And it had Kitten, Ahmed, Marco and Emma besides. This was when the BB producers really began to get the idea of how to manipulate the housemates more cannily. Whenever they began to get along they threw something else in to stir them up. My only beef with it was that it became clear fairly quickly that Nadia was going to win.
I also loved BB10. It had a great set of storylines that ran through it. Mainly around two housemates. Freddy and Noirin. Everyone fell out with Freddy, everybody fell in love with Noirin. The Freddy storyline encapsulated one of my favourite BB trends. Where somebody is disliked by the cool crowd; they put him up week after week and then he picks them off as the cool kids realise he is popular. The tension was sustained throughout the series and it was really only in the last week where it was obvious that Sophie was going to win.
I have a great affection for BB1 and liked the fact that BB6 was really the only time I genuinely did not know who was going to win it when Davina called out the winners name.
Worse Housemate
There were lots of housemates I really disliked at times but it must be said in almost all these cases that ended the second they left the house. The reason I disliked them was mainly because they were opposed to housemates I liked.
The housemate I truly loathed was Siavash. He showed some promise but about 7 weeks in he turned into a complete prick. Refusing to nominate and making out he was some kind of fucking martyr for doing so. I have never been able to tolerate housemates who complain they hate nominating. That is why they are there. For crying out loud, and Siavash was the worse culprit ever at this.
Honourable mentions: Bea (BB10), Dale, Jennifer, Becca (BB9), Lea, Sezar, Mikey (BB7), Maxwell, Saskia (BB6), Emma (BB5), Jonny, PJ (BB3) Stuart and Elizabeth (BB2) and Darren (for changing his noms when Mel overheard them) (BB1)
Forces of Nature
Many housemates tell us all the stuff they are going to do on their VTs then disappear without trace when they get in the house (see Bubble BB2, Bonnie BB7 or Jo ‘the cougar’ BB11). Then there are the wildcards. People who genuinely are a little unusual/unhinged.
The undisputed King of this genre was Nikki (BB7). I can remember watching her and thinking this is an act. But as the show continued it became clear it wasn’t. She is actually like that. Then we had Makosi (BB6). A woman so conniving that she was prepared to suggest she did not realise a man had his fingers and not his penis inside her. We also had Science (BB6) the proverbial man who could start an argument with a mirror. Marcus (BB10) a man of such breathtaking self confidence/delusion he probably believes he could shit gold if he wanted to.
Romance
I don’t care that they split up there has only been one romance in the BB house and that was the first. Helen and Paul. Nuff said.
Davina
There were times I wished I had a volume control but I always forgived her because I knew she was a fan.
Beefs
My final part is just a chance for me to offload about some of the things that have aggravated me about Big Brother over the years.
Nadia and the fags - I realise that they had to give her the fags to stop her walking and Nadia was the star attraction that year, but as a purist it skewed the competition and I thought it was unfair on other housemates who were missing things as well.
BB7 and evicted housemates - It shouldn't have happened simple as that. They were voted out. Your fault you put somebody unbeatable like Pete in. Spice it up some other way.
BB11 and the final few days - What were the producers thinking have a vote to evict after giving Josie a pass to the final. If Sam and Corin had stayed we would have had an actual fight for the winner not a procession.
