[Tom]

Originally Posted by BB_Eye

None of these really constitute a mental illness (except maybe Sam's emotional instability), but you're right that there was some controversy about Endemol putting "vulnerable" people in the house, which is something they haven't really attempted since. I personally never found it very shocking at the time. None of them were strictly a danger to themselves and others.

A case could easily be made for people like Grace, Sezer and Rex that they suffered from Narcissistic Personality Disorder and the histrionics of Jennifer, Chanelle and Bea are a far cry from what I would call normal. And what of Dennis and Alexandra who pretty much had the amoral, aggressive mindset of a lowlife criminal? Big Brother thrives on its "special cases".

I think Shahbaz was mentally ill and I think he was a danger to himself. There was a big thing at the time about him threatening to kill himself during the show.

All of the people I said do have some kind of mental disorder and that was obvious from the launch night- but I agree that you could argue the case for others. But that wasn't preventable because at first they just seemed normal.

I think the way for BB11 is to strike a balance between 'different' and ordinary- get people from a range of backgrounds without any obvious nasty or erratic personalities, which is something BB9 captured so well. BB9 is probably the most extreme they can go in modern day BB anyway. It would be nice for the show to end on a relatively 'normal' note.