[Freddie Fisher]

I'm fascinated by Ben's manner with people, and am enjoying Mario and Ben's dynamic more than any other relationship in the house. While Ben is very tactile, he also gives people a lot of psychological space in conversations. That is a very personable and warming combination, and quite rare for somebody with such a sharp and discerning mind. He reminds me of Siavash in this respect.

People who interact like Ben tend to make certain kinds of friendships. As you're giving people space to be themselves, you can develop a very wide variety of friendships with different people. And feeling like somebody is interested in you for your own sake and vibe is very warming, so friends will tend to feel particularly 'close' to you. You may end up with a lot of friends, even without being a 'group person'. Your friendships will be a collection of 1-1 connections, which is a great way to be sociable and individual at the same time.

And you can still 'hold court' and be individually entertaining too sometimes; Siavash certainly does. Being able to make friends this way is just another arrow in your quiver. It can even be easier to be creative and entertaining when you're bouncing off somebody else.

While in the house, I'd use my analyses of my fellow housemates so inspire me as to how to behave and develop as a person. This is a game that can evidently be played at home too. I'd like to be more like Ben in this respect, and he's inspired me to experiment with a similar approach. I'm 'dominating the conversation' a bit less these days, and have been getting some very positive responses so far.

Are there any of this year's housemates that *you* would like to become more (or less) similar to? If so, do comment :-)