[Feefs]

I've been meaning to write this up and post it for days now. Sorry if it's too late for any of you to invest for the sace of piccies.

In 'Hot Stars' that is the new freebe mag with OK, there is a thing about how you can be a contesant on BB 2002. I almost missed it, because OK was all sealed up, and the only thing on the front was a piccie of Posh and Becks. However, in a magazine rummaging session I turned it round to see the front of 'Hot Start' had a pick of Helen and Davina.

There are a few pics from BB" and a couple from BB1. Helen and Paul after Helen had turned around during spooning. I've never seen that still before and they don't look like they are about to snog, they look like they just have! Very close. There's one of the girls in the jacuzzi with Ama's bits on display, one of the whole lot of them from the finale, on of Helen and Brian dressed up as cowboys and indians and Davina leading Brian out at the end. BB1 pics are of Nasty Nick blubbing in the diary room and some general shouting round the table.

My fingers are now much shorter, so I hope you enjoy the following ....

Oh Brother!
Have you got what it takes to be the new Brian or Helen? Play your cards right and you could be on the third series of Channel 4’s Big Brother. We tell you how …

What do you need to do?
To become a BB contestant, you must fill in an eight-page application form and send it in with a home video: Elizabeth famously stripped and ran into the freezing sea in hers. This is just the first of many ways in which BB tries to filter out the non-committal. Applicants must be over 18.

What next?
Once a form has been received, it’s assessed by the BB production team and the successful applicants will be invited to Regional Selection Days. Thos who impress the panel of judges will then be invited to further interviews and some of those will go through to the next stage, where they will undergo psychological an medical screening (the adder the better, we think(. Finally, the chosen contestants must make themselves available for a ten-week period in the summer. Along with the final ten, there will also be some hopefuls on standby in case of an unplanned Nasty Nick-type eviction.

What exactly is BB looking for?
BB stresses that “no-one will be excluded on the grounds of race, religion, disability or sexual orientation”, but this is exactly the type of information they want to know about. BB1 and BB” are proof enough that being religious/gay/slightly unstable/a stripper gives you a better chance of becoming one of the household. In their search for “the best possible group of people regardless of their background”, these are some of the questions that the likes of Bubble and Josh Rafter were asked.

If you do get through, what are the pros and cons of living in the BB house?
The biggest pro is that you might win £70,000 like Craig Phillips and Brian Dowling, but you’ve got a one in ten chance of that happening. Some believe it’s an experience of a lifetime, and, of course, most just want their 15 minutes of fame. You might even meet your life partner – like Tom McDermott and Claire Strutton, or Helen Adams and Paul Clarke. At the very least, you’ll meet host Davina McCall and get a great tan after days of mindless sunbathing.

The cons are far greater: no contact with the outside world; there are 30 cameras in the house, so you live your life under intense scrutiny; you might be in the house with another Nasty Nick (or worse); and the press probably won’t be kind. Think about the stories that were dug up about the likes of perceived man-eaters Melanie Hill and Amma Antwei-Agyei.

Suspected (although unconfirmed) eviction date of first housemate:
June 7, 2002. The moving-in date will probably be two weeks before this. Could you deal with walking in the footsteps of first evictees Sada Walkington and Penny Ellis?

How to get on
1. You’ll be asked if you’re gay, straight, bisexual or would rather not answer (You can be sure that your application will be thrown in the bin if you tick the last option!)
2. What might people dislike about you? (The more obnoxious you are, the better your chances – so bump this one up as much as possible. Stuart Hosking got in, after all, and received a massive 83 per cent of votes to leave the house amid a sea of boos).
3. Describe your personality in no more than 30 words … (Being a team player is unlikely to get you anywhere, neither will bragging about honesty or integrity)
4. What is the worst think that you’ve ever said to anyone and whey? (!I hate sharing a house with you” might just happen to work)
5. What is the greatest disappointment or sadness you’ve had in your life so far? (Make this good 0 the sadder, the more interesting you’ll be. If there’s nothing, make it up).
6. Please complete the following sentence; The way I live my life is .. (Try “naked, with no moral codes and battling my tendency for violent outbursts”.)
7. Why to you think people would want to watch you for nine weeks? (“Because I am a size FF glamour model” might interest the panel. The first thing we knew about Nick’s replacement, Clair Strutton was that she’d had a boob job.)
8. Have you ever had any contact with any mental health professional? (“Yes, my grandfather was Sigmund Freud,” should see you into the final ten.)

[Kaz]

Thanks for writing that up, Feefs. Very interesting. Keep up the good detective work!

The description 'man-eater' could possibly be used to describe Mel, but I wasn't aware that Amma's behaviour - either in or out of the house - warranted that description.

[Feefs]

It did say perceived man-eaters, but didn't notice Amma having that reputation. Mel definitely had a repuation for being a tease, and Amma's job required it, but it's hardly the same thing. Ho hum.

The woman who wrote the article was a bit bold on several fronts. She's decided that Tom and Claire, and Helen and Paul are life partners, even though both couples are playing the "taking things as they come" card. Unless she had some insider gossip of course!

Overall the tone seems to imply that to get on BB3 you need to be controvertial, and that may just be the opinion of the journalist, but I do wonder if they've been encouraged that way by the producers. However, they'd never accept someone with self-confessed violent tendencies, so I'm guessing it's the journalist.

This supplement to OK is trying very hard to be like heat. It has a similar layout, and is cheekier than the main mag. The tv, book and video review pages especially are laid out almost exactly the same, and the back page is quotes. It is generally more gossipy, so could be a good source of BB news. It had lots on Pop Idol too. Unfortunately, it's all wrapped up with the main mag, so you can't flick through it.