Celebrity Big Brother
We have a television hanging from a bracket in the corner of the kitchen, intended to provide distraction while cooking, washing up, or ironing. While ironing a shirt this evening I switched the television on, and the channel it had last been showing popped up on the screen. Channel 5. I didn't recognise the logo that flashed across the screen, but I recognised the music. My first reaction was “another series of Big Brother?”.
I don't generally watch much television – while writing this I'm sitting in the lounge on my own, the television is switched off, the kids have already gone to bed, and my other half is out (late Christmas party for the staff of the school where she works). The only sound in the room is the tapping of the keys on the Chromebook, and the trickle of water through the pump in the fish tank.
I used to watch television, but fell out of the habit during the years I worked in London. I am vaguely aware of who celebrities are through social media – which perhaps explained what happened this evening.
One minute I was ironing my shirt. A few minutes later I realised I had stopped ironing my shirt, and was watching Big Brother. Celebrity Big Brother. For a few moments I was horrified with myself, but couldn't bring myself to switch the TV off – I wanted to know which Z-List celebrities were in the house.
The mix of people in the house is interesting – you could surmise that some have been offered more than they could sensibly refuse (Patsy Kensit, and Alexander O'Neal spring to mind), some are looking for exposure (Cami Li, Chloe Goodman, Alicia Douvall, Michelle Visage),some have almost cruelly had money thrown at them with a pretty big chance they will implode on live TV (Keith Chegwin), and some have been paid to go in and hit on the models (Calum Best, Jeremy Jackson).
Perhaps the most interesting house-mates are Katie Hopkins, and Perez Hilton. They both carry huge reputations going into the show, they have both quite obviously been paid a huge amount to take part, and they are both reading from a very different script than the rest.
Katie has obviously been paid – and armed with enough ammunition – to cause as much hurt and damage as possible. She essentially plays a part on television in the UK (and more recently on the internet) – a carefully constructed, deliberately controversial hate figure – making ridiculous claims about people being fat, lazy, stupid, and so on – in order to garner attention, readers, and viewers. It usually works.
Perez Hilton is probably the smartest of the entire group, and is obviously using the show for his own ends. Every interaction he makes turns into an interview of sorts – he seems to target those looking for attention, and invitesthem to talk. I'm sure the producers are hoping he will become full of himself, and start telling stories, but I'm not sure he's that stupid at all.
Anyway...
Will I watch it again? If there was a live feed on the internet, possibly – but there is not. In their infinite idiocy, Channel 5 seem to be presenting it as a television show running to a schedule – I imagine this is being done so the editors can work their magic and paint the various actors in the light they wish, rather than let the boring truth unfold.