Dean's new Book

[LEE]

I've just received an email from Dean :hugesmile:

Ages ago when I interviewed him you may recall that he said he was intending writing a book all about his experiences on BB - well he has finally done it.

This is what he has to say about it

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Living In The Box: An Adventure In Reality TV an explosive new book lifts the lid on Big Brother by former housemate Dean O’Loughlin, exclusively available on Ebay.co.uk from Friday 21st May, £4.99

With one week to go before Big Brother 5 kicks off and twelve sacrificial lambs once again offer themselves up to the altar of entertainment, Dean O’Loughlin, a participant in Big Brother 2, publishes the world’s first, no-holds-barred exposé of life inside the Big Brother house. 'Living In The Box: An Adventure In Reality TV' is told from the unique perspective of someone who volunteered, was selected, became a housemate, endured public scrutiny and media demonisation, and ultimately survived to tell his story. Three years in the writing, the book is a frank, honest and compelling account of what really happened behind the Big Brother walls in 2001 – the year the series was best remembered for the burgeoning on-screen relationship between Helen and Paul, the histrionics of eventual winner Brian Dowling, and the general consensus that this was television history in the making.

The show’s creators, Endemol, seek to discourage housemates from revealing Big Brother secrets by tying them into legal contracts. Since Dean could not find a publisher willing to risk incurring Endemol’s wrath, he has decided to publish the book himself. Released tomorrow (Friday May 21st), 'Living In The Box' is therefore only available to buy from the website Ebay.co.uk and is priced at £4.99 (plus P+P).

So, with Series Five about to hit our screens, the second runner-up from Big Brother 2 reveals (amongst other things):

· secret diary room conversations that weren’t televised
· how ‘creative editing’ distorted the truth of what was seen on TV
· the coercion, manipulation and emotional blackmail imposed to boost ratings
· the inadequate aftercare given to the housemates and their families
· how the pressures of instant fame, however brief, alter everyday life

Plus, with never-before-published intimate revelations about housemates, both in front of and away from the cameras, as well as rare insights into the UK’s modern media machine, Living In The Box is a must-read, not only for fans of Big Brother, but also for those with just a passing interest in reality TV and its cultural implications.

Dean comments: “I always get nervous around this time of year as another batch of naïfs takes on the challenge of Big Brother. They honestly believe they’ve an equal chance of winning £70K, but the truth is that each is picked to play a pre-designated role from which, thanks to careful editing, they can never stray too far. In writing Living In The Box I set out to tell people the truth and explain that onscreen events are merely distortions of what actually happens in the house. Quite simply, I wrote this book to expose the reality of Reality TV.”

[James]

I'll be buying this one. :thumbs: Can't find it on ebay at the moment though.

I read on the jtforum here (http://www.jtforum.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2400) that one of Dean's revelations is that a BB2 housemate slept with one of the producers on the night that he or she was evicted. :shocked:

He's not saying who though.

[LEE]

I can't find it either James, should be there by tomorrow hopefully. Certainly sounds an interesting read :shocked: :hugesmile:

[Amy]

Looking forward to the release of this book! Sounds like it's a good read!

[BusyBee]

Oh dear something else for my BB collection - a definite must have.

[rachb]

Its there now there are a few copies and they have a couple of days left to bid:thumbs::thumbs:
I've bid on one of them:elephant:

[Amy]

I read on the jtforum here that one of Dean's revelations is that a BB2 housemate slept with one of the producers on the night that he or she was evicted.

And today the Jtforum has another article from The daily star with Brian owning up to sleeping with the producer! To read article visit the JTForum (http://www.jtforum.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=2412&get=last#19355)

[Romantic Old Bird]

Was that before he went in I wonder? :devil:

[BusyBee]

Well when Brian was in the house he did very often say that there was a Big Brother in the diary room that he fancied!!

I've also put in a bid, although I hope I did think this would be something where it was a definite price, but a bidding war. Still lets see.

[Amy]

Just added my bid :thumbs:

[rachb]

ooh I've just paid for mine its on its way :hello::hello:
I can't wait:hello::hello:
this will kill some time until bb starts:hello::hello:

[Amy]

Originally posted by rachb
ooh I've just paid for mine its on its way :hello::hello:
I can't wait:hello::hello:
this will kill some time until bb starts:hello::hello:

So have I Rach :dance::dance::dance:

[Di2001]

I'm going to bid for one as well :thumbs:

[bananarama]

It's a book i would not touch with a 10 foot barge pole. Shame on Dean for opening his trap about a private relationship that has nothing to do with him. No way will i help line the pockets of a whisle blower that uses the privacy of others to make money.

I now understand why Brian kept such a low profile after the show. Too busy with personal interests.:laugh:

[dustmite]

I'm greatly amused about his 'revelations'. Surely it's blatantly obvious that a show like this is going to be edited to make the most public appeal, or are people so stupid not to realise that one? I'm a BB fan, and I'm not going to say I dislike the editing, it makes it watchable - that's what it's there for.

As for Brian having a bit of 'ows your father' with a producer, so what? Whoopie! If it had an effect on the outcome...? Well, I doubt it, there's far too many producers for that, now, if it were with all the producers... then that'd be a wee bit different.

I'll stop groaning about a silly book authored by a silly little man.

</soapbox>

[bananarama]

What makes me angry about the silly little man hungry for another few minutes of fame is that as i understand it he did not name the person in his cheap little masterpiece of a book.

By not naming it leaves others wondering. perhaps Helen might have thought it was "Paul" and so on. This sort of half baked revelation can only do harm. Unforgivable.

Credit to Brian for speaking out and stopping the possibly harmful speculations.

Who know what effect this revelation might have on Brian's tv opportunities. He is very much an entertainer suitable for children and some producers of such prog's may be prudish enough to give Brian a miss.

[dustmite]

And, in addition to our flaming... I love how he presumed that the publishing houses wouldn't take his book because they were afraid of Endemol's wrath... yeh, like that bothers them. Shame he didn't consider that it was most likely because his book is utterly awful?

I'll stop grumbling now, honest!

(ok... I probably shall not, but hey, can't blame me for trying)

[bananarama]

I'll stop grumbling now, honest!


:laugh: You might!! But I have run out of my anti-grumpy tablets so I am just not in the mood to stop whinging.. :laugh:

[LEE]

Well personally I don't think people should slag the book off without reading it first. I have just finished reading it and I thought it was very good, it bought back some wonderful memories of BB2 and really put me in the mood for BB5.

The press have picked up on one throw away half sentence towards the end and blown everything up out of all proportion. I've just been chatting to Dean and he's quite philosophical about the tabloid reviews joking that he should have remembered what the press were like picking up things out of context and twisting everything.

Give the book a chance, and if you still don't rate it after you have read it, fine, but give Dean the benefit of not just believing what the tabloids have to say, I mean they are so well known for their integrity and accurate journalism aren't they!!!

[James]

I bought and received the book tonight - good of Dean to make it available in a PDF so I didn't have to wait for it in the post. :thumbs:

I'm just looking for some inside info on BB2, and this looks like it's got it! :hugesmile:

[James]

Here's another of those tabloid reviews...

http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/ (http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=14266645%26method=full%26siteid=86024% 26headline=revealed---helen-and-paul-had-first-bb-bonk-name_page.html)


REVEALED.. HELEN AND PAUL HAD FIRST BB BONK

THE first Big Brother bonk happened TWO YEARS before everyone thought.

Teen Big Brother contestants Jade Dyer and Tommy Wright were hailed as the first couple to get hot and heavy inside the reality TV house last year.

But dizzy Helen Adams and Paul Clarke from BB2 had beat them to it.

Fellow housemate Dean O'Loughlin tells all in his book Living In The Box.

He says he stood guard outside the garden den while the couple romped inside during a party two weeks after cameras stopped rolling.


If you read the relevant passage in the book you can see what he means about being taken out of context.

It doesn't actually say that happened! :shocked:

[Amy]

Originally posted by LEE
I have just finished reading it and I thought it was very good, it bought back some wonderful memories of BB2 and really put me in the mood for BB5.


That's just what I was hoping that book would do LEE, I'm really looking forward to reading it :thumbs:

[dizzy bint]

Originally posted by bananarama
What makes me angry about the silly little man hungry for another few minutes of fame is that as i understand it he did not name the person in his cheap little masterpiece of a book.

By not naming it leaves others wondering. perhaps Helen might have thought it was "Paul" and so on. This sort of half baked revelation can only do harm. Unforgivable.

Credit to Brian for speaking out and stopping the possibly harmful speculations.

Who know what effect this revelation might have on Brian's tv opportunities. He is very much an entertainer suitable for children and some producers of such prog's may be prudish enough to give Brian a miss.

Brian is obviously aiming at a more adult audience now - as in Brian's Boyfriends.

[BusyBee]

Well mine is on its way and I for one am looking forward to reading it. At least its written by an insider who 'should' know what he's talking about ie how housemates are treated afterwards etc.

The worst BB book I've seen is the one written by Jules Stern - Big Secrets from Big Brother which really is full of quotes from friends, background dirt etc.

I quite agree - I cant see it will make any difference to Brian's career. After all he is an adult and is now appearing in adult programmes. It's nothing worse than a lot of other presenters have done.

As for P and H, I always had a sneaky feeling that they would make a return trip to THAT den, after all it was a very special place for the both of them:love:

[Romantic Old Bird]

Well my money is still on the night of day 56 anyway as far as that goes.

I would have thought Dean was more of a gentleman than to let that one out of the bag.

Anyway, if it's true, good luck to them both as far as I am concerned.

[rachb]

I'm in full agreement ROB especially about day 56!:blush::blush:
I'm sure nothing much happened on their return trip to the den but I'm glad they got the opportunity to visit the den one last time
:love::love::love::love::love:

[BusyBee]

Now day 56 that definitely was a time when there was selective editing. I am sure there were other camera views that gave a very different picture to what we were seeing :blush::blush:

Still as I've said before that den was a very special place for them both, so if they re-visited it, why shouldnt they.

Cant wait to get the book - will keep me quiet for a while.

[LEE]

Dean is actually talking about a private party that happened in the house about a fortnight after then end of the show. He doesn't say anything about H&P getting together in 'that' way in the den, he merely tells a tale about how Paul was saying how mad it had all been since they had come out and how him and H hadn't even managed 5 minutes alone together. Dean, Stuart, Vanessa and Sian came up with the idea of hurding them both into the den for a while and guarding the door so that they could have some time alone together. It was rather sweet and not at all sordid like the tabloids made out.

[Amy]

Here's an article from Ananova on Dean....

Dean still unhappy with Big Brother

Former Big Brother contestant Dean O'Loughlin says his life has still not returned to normal.

Dean, who was in Big Brother 2, says producers should give housemates more help to prepare them for life after the show.

He told TV Plus: "My main beef is the way people are misrepresented in the house and the way it can lead to hostility from the public.

"If you are given a negative persona, like I was boring, you have to live with that for years. We should have been given more help to deal with it.

"I haven't been able to go back to my old life before the show. It's been a case of adapting because Big Brother carries such a stigma.

"If you go back to your old life it's seen as a failure, and if you go for a job in the media, you're a wannabe. TV companies also don't want to touch you as you've been in Big Brother."

Dean was also unhappy with the way his family was treated. He claimed his wife Vanessa was put under pressure to appear on the show by production company Endemol.

But he added: "I still think the format is fantastic and could be really important TV. But it's been turned into car-crash TV, a real-life soap opera."

Ananova (http://www.ananova.com/entertainment/story/sm_966310.html?menu=news.celebrities)

[catherine]

To be honest i am very dissapointed in Dean. I had always regarded him at the Dad of the house and a rock.
The fact that he would betray friends like Helen and Brian who really looked up to him with seedy stories to push the sales of his book is sad.
I for one will not buy the book just for that reason. I would love to but my principles will not let me.
Its a shame that he seems to have lost his principles.:bawling:

[LEE]

Dean hasn't filled his book full of seedy or scandalous stories at all. As I said in an earlier post the story about Helen and Paul has been changed out of all recognition by the tabloids and bares no resemblance whatsoever to what Dean wrote. As for the thing about Brian, well Dean never even mentioned Brian and the papers have picked up on half a sentence taken it out of context and blown it up out of all proportion.

I stick by what I said before, I don't think its fair to slag the book off without reading it and it certainly does Dean or the book no justice whatsoever by believing at face value what you read in the press.

[BusyBee]

Well said Lee - I dont think you can criticise it until you have read it yourself - the press would, as usual, only pick up the 'lurid bits' rather than what really happened.

We all know the press wrote a loud of rubbish about P and H when they came out of the house - after all there was even an article on what happened when they 'got together' in a hotel room - did they have hidden cameras.

Dean was part of the show and therefore can give an insight into what really happened as he saw it. And those are the important words to bear in mind 'as he saw it'.

Personally cant wait to get my copy.

[rachb]

Well I got my copy of Dean's book yesterday:hello::hello:I started to read it about 10p.m and ended up staying up to read it :sleep::sleep:
How sad am I?:blush::blush::blush:
I have to say I thought it was brilliant,so well written and so much more interesting from an insiders point of vew
:thumbs:
Dean really does seem fond of all the bb2 housemates and speaks highly of all of them,well except Narinder lol:laugh:
as for the two stories that the press printed about the book he certainly didn't betray anyone and had alot to say about all of them:thumbs:
Anyone that enjoyed BB2 would I'm sure enjoy reading this as it gives the chance to relive the memories of bb2 written in Dean's classic witty style,I thoroughly enjoyed it:thumbs:
I was very sorry to hear of the pressure that Vanessa was put under by the show though:bawling:I think its so easy to forget sometimes that the relatives are forced to be part of the show aswell:bored:

[Amy]

Still waiting for my copy :bawling:

[rachb]

Don't worry Amy I'm sure its on its way:thumbs:

[Amy]

If you've rec'vd yours now then mine should be on the way.

[Robyn]

Please could someone tell me how you go about ordering a copy of Dean's book? I know you do it on ebay but at the time I couldn't grasp the bidding idea so I didn't bother. However, after reading some of the comments on here my interested has been re-ignited.

Thanks.

Robyn

[Amy]

Hello Robyn :wavey:

you have to bid for Dean's book on Ebay once you are the highest bidder you get to purchase the book, hope this helps you!?

[James]

Here's the link

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=29311&item=6909116520&rd=1

It appears to be a fixed price auction now so you can click Buy It Now to purchase it.

[Maggie]

Thanks for the link James :thumbs: just ordered mine, not been on Ebay for ages, really addictive :rolleyes:

[Robyn]

Thanks Amy and James. I think it was the bidding part that confused me the first time so I am glad it has gone to Buy It Now as I think that will be easier (for me anyway!). Once I have registered on Ebay I will order a copy.

Robyn

[cc100]

Order from here:

http://s1.amazon.co.uk/exec/varzea/ts/exchange-glance/Y06X3859572X2576195/qid=1088417340/ref=sr_aps_auctions_1_1/026-0734958-7520444

[Romantic Old Bird]

I got mine direct from Dean in pdf format last month. I also had a nice little chat with him on email.

Much as I like Dean, I think it is a little bit whingey, although I think it is fair to say BB2 contestants were still pretty much in the dark about the BB phenomenum when they went in.

It is very light reading. Takes only a couple of hours to read at the most.

[Amy]

Still no book :bawling:

[LEE]

I was talking to Dean yesterday and he said that they have finally managed to get the hard copies printed - he apologises to everyone for the wait, but they are all with the distributors now so hopefully you should be getting yours soon Amy :thumbs:

[Amy]

Oh excellent news :thumbs: Thanks for that LEE :thumbs:

[BusyBee]

Thanks Lee - I go home every day hoping the postman has arrived. Boss is away this week so I think I might do a little light reading during the day time. Rachel has given my a run down of the 'plot' and wetted my appetite. Cant wait.

[BusyBee]

Just got home to find a parcel on the doormat. Hurrah that will keep me quiet for a while. The meal will have to wait while I have a little dip into it. Guess what I will be doing tomorrow when I should be working.:blush::blush::blush::blush:

[Amy]

:hello: Got my book also today :hello:

[rachb]

I'm so glad you both got your copies today:elephant::elephant:
Hope you enjoy it

[BusyBee]

Well worth the wait - its one of those books that when you start reading you want to carry on.

[Amy]

Originally posted by BusyBee
Well worth the wait - its one of those books that when you start reading you want to carry on.

It sure is :thumbs: If people have not got a copy yet buy one it's an excellent book.

[Amy]

Just thought you may like to read some posts that Dean has made on Digital Spy he's posting on there about his book......... see this link Digital Spy (http://forum.digitalspy.co.uk/board/showthread.php?p=2509125#post2509125)

[rachb]

Its so nice to read what Dean has got to say.Such a shame he couldn't put pics in his book aswell.
I'd love to see them.
lets hope he comes to visit us here one day.

[BusyBee]

I enjoyed that Dean comes over as a really honest likeable guy - well exactly like he was in the house. I do hope there is a second edition which includes photographs. Definitely worth a little more for those personal photographs

[Amy]

Absolutely I'd pay more for the book if it meant we could have photos too! It's nice to hear from Dean again :thumbs:

[Amy]

BTW for our new member's if you look at the BB2 section you will also see an Interview section where our very own LEE Interviewed some Of the BB2 housemates :thumbs: