social experiment
 

Last nights bbots referred to the original series, being done as social experiment,
and how this years programme has tried to recreate that. It would be imposible
to get it 100%right, but personally I think they have done well. This series is
less predictable for both the Housemates, and the viewers. This first series
for a while that I have changed my mind several times about housmates. Its
also good that they didnt form groups. The only thing I would change would
be the amount of contact from the outside world, perhaps just a letter half way
through. I also prefer the vote to evict.:xyxwave::blush:

I don't agree. Where is the social experiment? It has just been one big bitch fest - something BB thrives on.

Well it did have some fairly 'normal' people callum, sam, sophie... but then the wannabees take over and it turns panto again.
There seems to be those who loved the old format and those who just want it to be some warped soap opera.
The outside contact and the bias towards certain HM's ruined this year for me.

This series has been nothing at all like a social experiment, it's as much an entertainment gameshow as almost all the previous series' have been. :p I have enjoyed it for the most part though.

It's never been a social experiment. As Stewart Lee put it, it's the phenomenon of "some twats in a place".

They've completely engineered this series. The queen bee task being the most recent, and most brazen example.

Much as I respect Stewart Lee, it was based on a sociological experiment.

I disagree that it has been unpredictable. It has been plainly obvious who has been going to be evicted for days beforehand. At least from my perspective being on the forums as I am. I guess its less so for a more casual viewer.

I think it's impossible for it to be a proper social "fish bowl" with the amount of outside influence there has been... I'd love them to go back to the roots that way. Not just no messages / contact from the outside world (this season gave away loads!) But no contact with other people full stop! No staff in doing tasks with them, no zombies, no knife throwers or scary clowns - literally no human contact but each other and the voice of BB. The eviction announcements should also be made away from the crowd so that housemates wouldn't hear booing, cheering or chants and the exit in an area of the house inaccessible to the housemates during eviction, so that they don't even hear the crowd response.

It would be amazing! The not knowing, the guessing, the paranoia...

I remember in an early series, either 1 or 2, about 5 weeks in they caught sight of someone and they were like "oh my god a person! Another face!!" And the effect was really quite surreal. INSIDE of the house became their whole world.

Imagine this year if they had never known that Gina was popular? Or that the mob was against hazel? It would have been very interesting.

Brilliant.

Doesn't fit with the values of the Carphone Warehouse, of course.

I prefer to call it a social experiment than a Game Show. It's only a game show as part of the social experiment.

They tried to pander to the jeremy kyle scum that follow the show and messed it up again though it started out well and went downhill.

The Stanford Prison Experiment is an interesting thing to look into for anyone interested in the more serious side of the show.

One of many documentaries

There is also a German movie called Das Experiment which is a good watch. If you don't mind subtitles.

BB has become more of a mental test of character than a social experiment.

Absolutely !!!!!

Yes !