A horrific mess, yet constantly entertaining
8th Place: Celebrity Big Brother 16 (2015)
CBB16
should have been awful. Like, dreadful. On paper, the line-up was poor. The launch show was as tacky as could be. The theme already sounded disastrous and seemed more like something which could have barely fulfilled a shopping task, let alone an
entire series. The “task” at the end of the live launch (firing cannon balls at cut outs of other housemates, for some reason) was a disaster. It all felt grossly unnecessary and a massive step down from the fantastic CBB15. But my opinion soon changed.
I get that CBB16 wasn’t for everyone and it’s easy to see why. After the argument filled previous Celebrity series and the potential-filled yet ruined BB16, people were probably hoping for something light-hearted. Fun. Easy to watch. And here’s the thing: I found the majority of this series so down-right ridiculous, messy, almost even
pathetic, that I couldn’t
help but enjoy it.
After how much producers had meddled in BB16, this felt like it had massively been stripped back. Ok, so yes, it was still a Channel 5 series which meant we had to endure the shoddy editing and such that came with, but the housemates were
pretty much left to their own devices. Janice helping herself to Jenna’s kosher fridge (and proceeding to eat the celery from within in front of her when confronted about it).. Farrah arguing with, well, everyone.. Gail waking into the garden mid-slanging match asking if Janice wanted anything on her toast.. Natasha finally combusting at Austin.. Producers didn’t really have much room for spoon-stirring because the cast were taking care of things themselves; like CBB15 in that sense, although that series was a lot darker and probably less fun.
Had it not been for Austin, I’d probably have placed this series higher. I know that probably sounds contradictory; he did, after all, provIde a lot of the drama the series is know for. However, unlike Farrah (who was so ridiculously over-the-top it was hard
not to laugh at how embarrassing she was), he was such a negative force. Constantly shouting and screeching about things which really didn’t require such an attitude, being an absolute dickhole to Chloe-Jasmine (remember how pissy he was that she wasn’t there to toast a drink to his brother in the garden, because she didn’t want to be around alcohol), but above all, the way he treated Janice. He was absolutely disgusting in all forms to her. A particular stand-out of his was telling her how disgusting she was and that she was a s
hit mother and that she should learn a trade (because what is it you do for a living, Austin?). And the public rewarded his behaviour. Loathsome.
Still, a very good series nonetheless and Austin got his comeuppance in CBB19 so all was not lost.
Nominated: CBB9 | CBB10 | CBB13 | CBB15 | CBB17 | CBB19 | CBB22
Evicted: CBB20 | CBB18 | CBB8 | CBB11 | CBB21 | CBB12 | CBB14 | CBB16