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BigBrother 1 all the best stories and pictures BBC CASTAWAY 2000 ALL THE LATEST NEWS AND GOSSIP REGULAR UPDATES RICHARD BRANSON AND BILL GATES LOTTERY BALLISTIC MISSILES ON THE ISLE OF WIGHT? INTO V.W.BEETLES & CAMPERS? TRY THIS! PREGNANT? PLANNING A BABY? BUNDLE OF JOY ALREADY HERE? TRY THE GARDENCROFT PREGNANCY WEBSITE I WORK IN BIRMINGHAM'S JEWELLRY QUARTER SEE WHAT WE DO FOR A LIVING!
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Japanese fighting fish in a jam jar Gareth McLean If, like me, you imagined that Big Brother II was destined to be a predictable and uninspired re-run of last year's summer TV sensation, you can head for the water cooler safe in the knowledge that it is, yet again, fresh and breezy, absolutely compulsive, schadenfreude TV. We may have lost our Big Brother virginity, but it is the deflowering of this lot - the exposure of their insecurities, prejudices and foibles, the stripping of their genial smiles to reveal gaping maws slavering for notoriety - that makes the show so watchable. While the contestants do not mention the previous series or Celebrity Big Brother (thanks to judicious editing or house rules, no one has exclaimed giddily "Here's where Vanessa took her pants off!"), our knowledge of the previous Big Brother makes this one all the more enjoyable. As the first night's instantly engaging show ran its course, with inane chitchat revealing more about the housemates than normal people would ever want to say about themselves on TV, the delight in watching alliances bloom and ani mosity blossom among the misfits was so very tasty. Amma has played the "I'm a table dancer, and I don't know how my devout Christian mother will cope" card in a plea for sympathy. The two older blokes, Stuart and Dean, have whipped out their guitars and compared chords, while Posh Elizabeth has indicated her unsuitability for Big Brother living by not exclaiming rather desperately at the top of her voice that she is really outgoing. Never mind napalm in the morning, there's nothing as compelling as the unravelling of someone's personality. And every time is like the first time. Brian, for example, voiced concern that he would be voted out first because he was gay, only for Narinder to counter with the idea that she was the sole Indian in the house. It eluded the pair of them that it was not their sexuality or their ethnicity that would seal their fate, but their capacity for being enormously annoying. (Indeed, both might be lucky to escape without attempts on their lives.) It will not be long until this jolly bunch are at it like Japanese fighting fish in a jam jar. The introduction of an
"interactive" element for the audience - voting in a housemate
upon the first eviction - either irritates as an interruption, or gets the
sadistic juices flowing more heavily. "Here is a choice of
cats," we are effectively being asked. "Put one among the
pigeons." Or, technically, the chickens. Enjoy Big Brother while it
lasts. In 10 weeks' time, the housemates will be making up for their
splendid isolation by releasing singles, doing makeovers on This Morning
and generally making nuisances of themselves in a D-list celebrity stylee.
There is, after all, a cloud to every silver lining.
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2 -- AT GARDENCROFT
