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It’s just a Big Bother!

Posted in General, Media January 9th, 2007 by Melinda Varley

I’m not the most obsessive Big Brother fan – far from it. But I do find the social dynamics of the show intriguing and good office conversation.

When Big Brother first started in Australia, 12 regular people went into the house to be watched by cameras. They were given tasks in order to give them something to do and for us to watch how they did it and how they interacted with each other under the less than normal circumstances. It was funny and it was weird, but more than that – it was addictive. Who, what, when, where?! We couldn’t get enough.

Fast forward a few years on to last summer and here I am in the UK tuning into Big Brother 7. My has the show come a long way – it now recruits housemates that are likely to cause trouble without being provoked by much more than low fat cheese.

A bunch of skinny, plastic, fake, fame hungry, weird layabouts that walk around in bikinis and scream and shout at each other. It’s must see viewing…according to Channel 4 who won’t accept that the idea is old and that we no longer care to watch people we cannot relate to. The show has lost its substance and its premise.

When Big Brother first started we were told it was a psychological experiment and the house mates were chosen on the grounds that viewers, of a wide ranging demographic, would be able to relate to at least one person in the house. Who could relate to housemates such as Nikki? I dread to think.

Even worse, Channel 4 continues this charade with a bunch of washed up celebrities trying to rekindle their 15 minutes of fame in Celebrity Big Brother. It worked for the opening night pulling in 7.1 million viewers.

Unfortunately for Channel 4, the figure has now dropped by more than half to just over 3 million. Why? Some viewers have complained that bringing Jade Goody and her family into the house has backfired.

Her arrival caused two of the show’s most interesting contestants - singer Donny Tourette and filmmaker Ken Russell to walk out and left the other ‘real’ celebrities boycotting the idea that Jade is in fact a ‘celebrity.’ Hey guys, she has a perfume and a fitness video now!

Celebrities are often seen as ‘characters’ in the magazines and papers. They never seem real and you are always told not to believe what you read about them. It’s a different story though when you actually do see them being themselves on television – you somehow lose interest, the mystery is over.

However, if the celebrities are big name enough it’ll bring in the ratings – but someone who we’ve seen do it all before and who was voted most annoying celebrity of the year (by Channel 4) for 2005 doesn’t exactly equal must see television. Sorry Jade, its old news.