Aargh, I have written a response to this 3 times and my pc has crashed each time. So I am writing it offline and hopefully will paste it in afterwards!
OK, success, but be warned, it's become a discussion document on the BB experience, sorry, and log off now unless you have a few spare minutes!
Right, first of all, excellent, unhurried and full interview Victoria! You can tell it has not suffered from the heavy hand of the editor, and you asked the things we all wanted to know. Well done!
Poor old Stu, still smarting from the experience I see, but making the most of any opportunities given to him to meet Britney Spears, and to raise the mean average of a TOTP audience by 10 years single-handedly!
I am sure he is an overall good bloke, husband and father wise. However, I do think that no matter how heavily manipulated the whole presentation of him was, he does have a problem with having his authority challenged, especially by a woman. In addition, my goodness he was horribly insensitive to Penny re: the ‘Who would you sleep with?’ question.
Still, he has expressed broadly similar views to those given by Josh in his interview which was published in yesterday’s Observer. There is no doubt that it is a hazardous business.
Now, you all know what I am going to talk about and it is his comments re: Paul and Helen’s future prospects of marriage and happiness, so here goes!
I think he means that they have been pushed together by circumstances and public opinion, and that they may not have had the opportunity to really assess their feelings for each other sufficiently beforehand. This does make sense, and if you think about it, it is exactly what has happened.
They became joined at the hip within a fortnight of BB ending, apparently obsessed to the point of not being able to let go of each other’s hands. There was obviously a tangible thrill at even the slightest touch of their fingers at this stage in their new and passionate relationship. (PHEW! Do you think I could write Mills and Boon stuff??)
Very sweet, but that cannot last forever (sighs) unfortunately. They would not eat, sleep or function terrifically well in the real world if this had continued. Of course, they still were not IN the real world at this point.
After leaving the house they were in a amazingly surreal world, and they have been a great support to each other I am sure.
In the intervening period, Helen has changed her life entirely from the one she knew before, and Paul has returned much more to reality. It is bound to be a test on them and their relationship. My guess is that they have sunk most of their earnings into the flat, and Paul has done the responsible thing in ensuring a regular reliable income.
This might push them apart, because he will need to unwind in the evening and she will still want to talk clothes, dancing, etc. Paul is not as daft as he has been made out to be, and he might find the conversation a little repetitious.
Helen might find his normal status less appealing. She was really impressed at his being a car designer when she was ‘only a hairdresser form Wales’. The reality of his job is probably pretty mundane. Not something to enthrall when discussed at the dinner table.
She is now at least a minor celebrity, and with some smarter packaging and promotion could still become a bit of an institution on TV I think.
The whole BB experience has been a daunting and devastating thing for them all I am sure. How frustrating it must have been for them as individuals to be portrayed as the producers wanted them to be, rather than as themselves. The camera never lies, but the edit room can do a tremendous amount of damage.
I found Stuart’s comments re: the psychologist’s interpretations interesting too. One particular instance springs to mind when I thought ‘Rubbish!’ at the time.
It was when Paul was captured on tape saying ‘I love ya!’ to Helen. Geoff Beattie said that it was a very significant moment because Paul had said it and not felt the need to look back, and Helen had not felt the need to comment. He said that this meant all obstacles had now been removed from their relationship.
My interpretation of that moment was entirely different, although I think it was a very significant moment for Paul. Firstly, let us be quite basic about this, they had been rolling around in an intimate fashion on the floor, and he was a wee bit ‘overwhelmed’. He said ‘I love ya’ quite involuntarily, and was I think shocked by his own statement. You could almost hear him thinking ‘Oh ****!’
The reason he didn’t look at her for her reaction was that he realised that she either hadn’t heard it, or wasn’t quite sure she’d heard it. If he had looked at her, she would have said ‘What?’ and he would have had to elaborate. If she had said anything, she would have risked making herself look silly. IMHO of course, and who am I?
Going back to how the housemates were presented, and how some things were shown and some were not. There was one occasion when I think the producers and cameramen were very kind to P&H, and that was on their last night in the den. Whilst E4 showed uninterrupted coverage of the somnolent trio in the bedroom, the ‘live’ camera action on camera B was directed discretely at P&H’s feet. Even though we know from snippets shown that it was also filmed from above. A fair few post eviction blushes have been spared by that. Again, IMHO!
The whole point is that, going into the BB house is Faustian for the participants. These people do more or less sell their souls, without any guarantee of a positive outcome. It shows how seductive the possibility of fame can be, and it is largely speaking, pretty unethical.
If you decide to have your breasts enlarged to the point of ridicule and pose topless in a newspaper, then you know you are going to be ogled and mauled in the press. In fact, that is what you probably want.
If you go into the BB house thinking you might end up with a career in TV, and fame and fortune, you are likely to be sadly disillusioned. As viewers, we are also conned into engaging with the housemates, and into learning to care about them through close daily contact. They become as close to us as our family. They are dumped at the end of the process, and so are we. That is why so many of us are still visiting this and other sites.
The difference is that we will move on to look at the next ‘Alpha male’ and the antics of the next saucy flirt that crop up in BB3. Stuart, Penny and co. have to pick up their lives, and for the most part wish it had never happened. I wonder what Brian, Narinder, Paul and Helen did at that Kylie audience which was so unacceptable? All I have heard (courtesy the awful Dominic Mohan) is that Helen said ‘Mr Clarke, and International Popstar’ very loudly when Kylie called him onto the stage. Poor things, surely after sharing so much with us, and you can bet being watched avidly by most of the real so called celebrities, they could have been cut some slack.
I hope all this years big brother participants take heed of the problems
encountered by their predecessors. It is a foolhardy thing to do I fear.
For those of you who have been patient and long-suffering enough to read all of this post, thanks, awesome effort, and sorry I rambled on again.
I will now shut up!
