Unbored

I know what you’re thinking, my erudite readers! Jack, watching something as stupid as Big Brother? How can he stoop so low? Let me explain. I don’t normally watch Big brother, but this year I gave it a try because the family all watched it and several times I had nothing better to do. I was surprised to find that it can be rather entertaining when watched from a psychological perspective. Here are twelve people, crammed into a deliberately small living space. Each and every one of them selected for their ability to piss each other off. The arguments, the struggles, the power plays and the constantly shifting factions that always arise between the interesting housemates and the stupid ones can be fascinating.

The show itself is not that bad. The part that’s bad is the fact most of its target audience are treated as if they are mentally challenged!

My proof, Marcus Akin and Charlie Drummond, two housemates on either side of the interesting/stupid debate.

Marcus described himself as “The Irrepressible Darkhorse”, and he lived up to the first part at least. Frequently swearing at Big Brother, delivering verbal smackdowns to any housemate that got in his way and performing acts of mutiny against Big Brother itself, up to and including breaking everyone out of the house and running amuck in the camera rooms. He gave the whole concept of big brother the big “Fuck you” that it’s deserved for so many years.

Charlie Drummond on the other hand… Where to begin? Stupid, bitchy, conceited, self absorbed and as boring as a… really boring thing! And everybody fucking loved him! Or at least the show did its absolute level best convince you they did and that you should as well. Deliberately editing out his nastier moments and having Davina and George Lamb practically worship the ground he walked on in what I can only assume was an attempt to deliberately manipulate the public into making him win.

Thankfully, Charlie ended up coming fourth, but only because if the show edited out all his nastiness there wouldn’t be anything left. But they still tried to justify his actions by claiming he had “gone on a journey from boy to man.” finally finishing Big Brothers degredation of duplicitous manipulation to outright lying. And the worst part is, if they had had picked someone easier to sell than this scumbag, the public would have fallen for it!

If there is any reason you should have seen it, it’s because you got to watch something die. Big Brother has gone as low as it possibly can, visibly scraping the barrel with its extreme personalities that they can’t possibly have a hope of containing. Pretentious, visibly smug presenters like Davina and Lamb who seem to think they are the show, to their overt clutching at straws trying to nab ratings from the gormless public. It’s atrocious, and yet I couldn’t look away, it’s like watching a car crash.

If we’re lucky, they won’t even bother with next years series. But if it manages to be even worse than this one I’ll be seriously surprised!