[Epic.]

For me it was down to the cast. Now I liked BB8 and thought the cast had various entertaining housemates. But within the 2007 realm, none of the female launch cast were exactly likable people at the time (I did root for Charley, Nicky and Tracey but they would divide the average viewer). Samanda I suppose were the one exception but they weren't really big presences till much later on. Even when you take into account the ENTIRE cast, the only ones who were semi-prominent and likeable were Samanda and Brian, and the obvious final 2 to have. But it simply had too much conflict for the average viewer to be immersed in unlike BB7 which had a lot more balanced of a cast.

Even BB6, as beloved as it is now, had so much controversy because it was lacking in clear-cut likability and being very evidently full of heated conflict. But that series was a) shorter in length and b) its polarizing housemates were still more likely to drum up rootability than BB8's equivalents; Makosi, Derek, Kemal and Science were all extremely popular at some point or another.

This is also worsened by the fact BB8 followed from BB7 which as I mentioned, had everything BB8 was complained about for. I'm sure the race row may have also put a few off as well.