[Me. I Am Salman]

Last week, Channel 5 put out a press release revealing in shocked tones that for the first time ever, the show's daytime repeat would be pulled because of an "explosive" row - which ended up being a quite unpleasant tiff between Danielle and Helen, but not anything we haven't seen before in that famous house.




But go back ten years today - yes, ten years - and you'd hit on Big Brother 5 in 2004. And in just a few hours, the return of two housemates from a secret bedsit would be about to spark one of the biggest confrontations we've ever seen on television. Live.

Fight Night became a moment of television history. Big Brother had already pushed the boundaries with its novel concept, 24-hour live streaming and mix of housemates, but it was on June 16, 2004 that things changed. Was this exploitation? Bad planning? Tasteless? Or was it fascinating? Compelling? Horrifying?

Watching back the footage now - even the edited version that made it into the highlights - is still uncomfortable. Even though we've all seen the explosion plenty of times before, and even though we know no-one was seriously hurt (at least, not physically), it's still genuinely uncomfortable to sit through.

But the live footage is even worse - the producers cut away from the video feed, but the audio is allowed to continue, as we hear bangs and crashes (presumably those silver food trays thrown about by Emma and Victor), endless screaming, and genuine threats (from Jason threatening to knock people's blocks off, to Victor's angry shouting, to Emma screaming: "I'll ******ing kill you.")

Certainly, it's easy to understand why some live feed viewers felt moved to call the police - even if now they're viewed with slight derision. After all, things got heavy in that house - housemates running at each other, arms flailing; Shell throwing up, sobbing and being comforted by Vanessa in the bathroom; people being held back by other housemates.



That's not to say that - with the distance of time, and the knowledge that things basically turned out okay - there aren't moments of humour in the whole affair. Jason screaming: "He taunted me!" has become legendary. Emma complaining that there's nothing wrong with "Jade ******ing Goodier" is one of those memorable Big Brother moments. And Stuart - oh, Stuart - holding back Victor ("WHO THE ****** ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU? YOU'RE SLICK, MAN!") is endlessly fascinating.

One of the few housemates to come out with any credit is Dan Bryan, who - helped by his dressing gown and shaved head - has the calm air of a monk about him in the midst of chaos. While Stuart is yelling in Victor's ear, Dan's in the bedroom trying to calm everyone down ("We're not going to achieve anything by shouting") and, at one point, physically carrying Emma out of the room. Admittedly, his attempts could only go so far in that tinderbox of a house, but imagine how terrible it would have been without him.

And whether the fight was Big Brother's fault is debatable, even now. Yes, they introduced piles of booze to the house - something that largely disappeared in future series thanks to this night - and knew that they were going to spark an argument with Michelle and Emma's return. Right from their first squeals from the cloches, Jason and Victor are furious and pepper their anger with swear words, while being further provoked by the irritating, ear-piercing joy of the Lipgloss Bitches.

But could the producers have expected it to go this far, when it never had before? With four series under their belts, and no incidents even a little bit close to this, how could they have known how serious things could get? What started with annoyance at the mess caused by a food fight became something altogether darker, which isn't necessarily what you'd predict. I mean, at one point Victor is huffing that Emma and Michelle better not expect to get the bottom bunk again ("I'm not sleeping up there again, love.") It's hard to really guess that it would explode.



One thing that is surprising, though, is how long it is before they intervene once the fight has kicked off. While the live feed did get cut, viewers got to see so much that could worry them (not only were there calls to the police, but concerns on the Digital Spy forums filled pages and pages) - and it wasn't until after Victor and Emma had smashed each other with the trays that Victor was called to the Diary Room to separate them.

In fact, Marcus Bentley tells us that the security guards weren't sent into the house until after "20 minutes of arguing" - and by that point, the main row had spilled over into such sustained tension that it had spread, with Vanessa and Nadia going after each other for unclear reasons in the bathroom as a side-fight. Can you imagine things going that far in today's series?



One thing's for sure - Fight Night (which ended, memorably, with a zoom onto Kitten's "no more war" graffiti) - would change the reality game forever. It was scary, nauseating and uncomfortable, yes. It was also fascinating, eye-peeling and weirdly informative. Big Brother always promoted the 'social experiment' tag. Nothing both proved and disproved that as much as the night of June 16, 2004 in a bungalow in Borehamwood.

Youtube video

Youtube video

Youtube video

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s149/...oHmw9yBma1aQcQ