Watching Big Brother detached from morality.
 

I'm tired of repeating myself in numerous threads so I thought I'd give you the way I think when watching this show (and its Celebrity spin-offs).

There have been countless examples of feuds and fights in the house and further more threads on here about who's "nice", who's a "bitch", who "deserves to win". I kind of ignore all of these. This is because of one reason: anyone who applies/auditions for Big Brother, or signs a contract in the celebrity version to appear on it, must be aware of the damage that it does for 99% of the housemates' reputations.

They must be aware that it's debasing, shallow, vapid, humiliating and an ordeal that's orchestrated by a rather immoral production team. Think of the number of lives that have been ruined by the show in its past and how many participants have received hate mail, death threats and a tarnished career.

It therefore strikes me as extremely rich for people to sift through housemates and base them on who's nice and who's not. Because, from experience, people aren't wholly nice or wholly horrible. It doesn't exist in the real world. People are complex. They are portrayed on this show on the "substance" of about 15 minutes a day editing, segued inbetween other "substances" so as to propagate a storyline for the show, or cause "entertainment". The whole idea of watching a real person was thrown out of the window the moment they got rid of live feed - we're now shown very minimal clips, easily manipulated into a certain way.

So the result is either this:
- you support the Housemates who are contributing the most to these highlights
- you support the nicer ones who aren't shown at all.

Now, let's examine Big Brother history and look at the nice housemates:
- Rachel Rice, Kathreya, the entire final 6 of Big Brother 4, Hira, Sophie Reade, Glyn, Eugene, Traci Bingham...

And the bitches, or the hated figures:
- Makosi, Rex, Grace, Charley, Pete Burns, Chanelle, Marcus, Caroline...

Which set of Housemates are remembered more?

Don't get me wrong - I don't want the bitches to win. I've never wanted a house bitch to win (except Makosi, who arguably wasn't even a bitch, she was just an embarrassment with the whole pregnancy hoax). There are housemates who are entertaining AND nice, and I want them to win invariably (Julian, Cheryl this series; in the past the likes of Aisleyne, Sara (bb9), Derek, Corin, Adam...). But right now we're not voting to win, we're voting to save housemates who're contributing to the show. Rhian, lovely as she is, isn't.

tl;dr? Jasmine to stay.

Read it all and agree with every point :love:

:worship: This is the best post of the year .

Yeah I sort of agree, definitely about people not being completely nice/horrible, that annoyed be in BB13 how people thought it was really a black and white divide of the Outsiders being genuinely great people and the Insiders just being terrible human beings, when I think really BB exaggerated it for entertainment purposes. I also think it's dumb to expect high moral standards on a program like BB and to not realise that housemates can make mistakes and say dumb stuff and come across as dickheads sometimes.

Although tbh I do find it hard to support people who I find very irritating or people I think I'd hate on the outside world, I think it's sorta natural for people to be drawn towards the housemates who they can identify with or find likeable

As much as i want to watch the show, and enjoy people being absolute bitches, i just can't deal with it, and i find it awful to watch, people making others feel like ****, i find it awkward to watch

Agree completely though the public will never learn and I think that Rhian will definately stay on wednesday and Jasmine will go which is ridiculous because Jasmine is adding so much to the house at the moment.

Yeah I agree that it's difficult to "support" Housemates like this, but again I just view them unemotionally, more than anything. But then I think - and Caroline's a good example here - that the Housemates who portray themselves as bitches and show little or no remorse for their behaviour are possibly acting up - either out of insecurity (in which case we should hasten to judge, since there's probably a breakdown ahead) or playing a game.

This is a TV show that has allowed Shilpa to become bullied and talked about in ignorant/racist ways, that's seen former Housemates attempt suicide (Sree is the only example off the top of my head, but I'm sure there have been others), and in recent examples seen housemates receive death threats (Benedict, Deana, Conor).

I just find it ridiculous to watch a show desperate to present the bitches to the public for viewing... it really is vaudevillian... and then complain when bitching happens.

Maybe it's selfish of me to absolve responsibility, since this is effectively supply and demand, but ultimately it's the Housemates' fault for putting themselves through it.

But for a lot of people Reality TV, is watching how people interact, and judging them based on it
In real life a person like Jasmine would not be heralded, as entertaining, she would be branded as nasty most likely. Big brother gives the public the chance for their say, and they are going to vote based on how they feel.
Idk i probably don't make sense, sorry haha

I find it quite hard to view BB completely unemotionally though, even with all the manipulation and no live feed etc. we're still spending a lot of our time essentially watching people live their lives for a good 2 or 3 months and their interactions with each other, and in our case we also spend a lot of time talking about it, that's why I sorta need to feel I actually like the housemate to support them

I usually like the HMs that are deemed pricks and the public usually hates as long as I don't really find them irritating. Take the last few seasons as an example;

People like Conor,Anton,Jay in recent seasons had a good mix of entertainment/cuntishness/annoying factor.

Deana & Aaron despite contributing a fair bit just annoyed me too much to support them. Jasmine falls under this category.

And the bitches, or the hated figures:
- Makosi, Rex, Grace, Charley, Pete Burns, Chanelle, Marcus, Caroline...

http://i46.tinypic.com/iz9a2a.jpg

I'd agree if the show was 10 or 20 weeks long but it's finished with, in just over a fortnight. The show has TV legends and comedians in it, yet we're all watching some bitch call a girl a slut and making her cry.
In my eyes there are massive amounts of differences between the hated HMs you listed and this tramp. As soon as she's out we can watch people smile for a fortnight which sounds masses amounts more entertaining for me.

Perfect post.

You should post it on DigitalSpy to get people to save Jasmine as well.

Very good post OP

Most can determine that BB is all an edited of "nice" versus "evil" or the favourite "vile"
It really is a pantomime production or as I like to describe it as a fairytale.
Our H/ms are actors cast in roles but some of us absolutely refuse to appreciate the h/m cast as the baddie.

The wicked witch the evil queen or the big bad wolf, their purpose within the story is lost on some .Without them there is no "good" h/m.
Keep the wicked witch of the West in so we can bring a Friend of Dorothy's or his sister home!.

I agree the show is better because of the "bicthes" but it's also fun and satisfying to see them get their comeuppance. I mean you don't wanna see them win. That's what makes BB such an addictive show, is that you get to punish the people you dislike. If you don't get to punish them what's the fun?

That's the whole POINT of the public voting, getting to punish people you don't like.

In an ideal world they would only cast bitches and psycho's, but BB still insists on putting some genuinely nice people in there.

I agree with most of what you've said.

All I've ever seen the show as is an entertainment show (and let's be honest, that's all it is now - like you said, the minute 24/7 live feed was removed any last remaining hint of a 'social experiment' was completely eradicated), and so as such I've always thought the logical way to watch this show and contribute towards it is to keep it as entertaining as possible.

A lot of the housemates I support I wouldn't associate myself with at all in real life, but this is the point I always try to make - we aren't living with them. We're watching them. Two completely different things. This is TV, not real life. In the real world I wouldn't go near these people with a barge pole, but to sit down for an hour a day and watch them to be entertained? Sure. A show like this thrives off the big, controversial, often 'nasty' characters...all discussion centres around these housemates and the show needs them to survive. It's completely illogical to want these housemates to leave as ultimately it gives us less to talk about, which makes the show less successful, and then inevitably (as has already happened once), the show won't even be on air. People really need to start voting with their heads and not their hearts, remembering that you're not living with them and that this is an entertainment television show, and so your intentions should lie with trying to keep it as interesting as possible.

Great post! I like a little bitching but when it goes overboad it makes me sick.... Caroline was way over the line.

Yeah, great post but my morality is all inclusive. It does not have an on and off switch.

I basically am fed up of all of the "keep the bitches 'cause they entertain me" threads.
I may be abnormal but i don't find watching vile people pretending to be bitches (while they're really just sad, disturbed, morally reduntant twats) entertaining and i hate the way Big Brother has become all about the manufactured and manipulated drama.

I've watched the first few nights of CBB but at the moment i'm finding it increasingly hard to watch BECAUSE of ****ing Jasmine and her contradictive personalities. She's as transparent as a pane of glass and is obviously trying to be perceived a certain way which a lot of people seem to be falling for.

I don't know about Danica but Channel 5 are clearly rinsing the **** out of anyone who's spending their money on votes for this contrived nonsense. It couldn't be any further from a 'reality' show.

yessss.

Totally agree with your post in principle as it is what I have been saying all along. We are now viewing a glorified soap opera with characters made by BB editing now we no longer have live feed. In the normal BB I have always said that we lose the "characters" far too soon and a vote to save has not changed that.
However, in this instance I am so over nastiness and bitching. As the series is so short I really want to watch an upbeat and fun CBB. It doesn't have to consist of nastiness to be a good BB.

I agree with your comments , it always surprises me how the public vote to save the "nice" HM or evict the "fake" HM. It's a gameshow ffs, it's not like you will ever see or hear from any of these people ever again. Who really cares about any of them , we watch it for entertainment so let's stop with the false empathy and vote out all the genuine and nice HM. Let's keep all the nasty bitching HM in there until the end and watch them fight it out for the winners crown.

And when the nasty evil bitchy winner finally steps out we should ALL applaud because they have played the game the best and won the show.

shaun,mtvn,jack,jtm45,you all give an intelligent point of view!.
i think therefore i am.

Thank Gawd we have Sheriff here to tell us who is intelligent.

Remind us again why or how you are qualified to determine who is intelligent Sheriff??

I agree totally with this, There is only one place on earth where that kind of behaviour is seen as a positive... BB...
It makes me sick when men and women in their 20's are celebrated for exhbiting behaviours that your average 12yr old would be ashamed of.

The one thing CBB has in its favour however is it gives those celebs who are percieved by the public for the character they play, or the image that is projected by the media a platform to show their true personalities...
Some live up to that reputation and some challenge the hype that surounds them.

Amazing post, I agreed with everything you said. :worship: