Nice post, rachb.

I think that there were two barriers to Helen and Paul's romance: Helen's relationship outside, and Paul's early "fling" with Penny. As he became more attracted to Helen in the ensuing weeks he did not want to be cast as the bad guy, that is not a criticism. Indeed I think that Paul's heart was wrestling with his conscience from about week 4 and it was incredible to watch, that's why before BB5 Paul was my favourite housemate ever. I think the relationship would have moved on quicker had it not been for his scruples, I don't think Helen would have held back. But it did make it fascinating and of course we could not help but love the way they looked at each other whilst sticking to the "no snogging" rule that Paul had imposed! That, coupled with Helen's persona, gave the affair an "innocence" that had us all spellbound.

Helen was not as innocent as some thought, you only have to read a lot of her conversations in the BB2 book, but as a couple, there was an innocence about their relationship itself.

Stuart and Michelle's situation was markedly different. Stuart fancied Michelle immediately. On day one, he kept going back to her on the pretext that he had forgotten her name. Michelle was attracted to both Stuart and Victor and flirted with both of them early on. Marco also fancied Stuart, but in befriending him realised that Stuart was straight and fancied Michelle, which is why on an early truth or dare game he dared Stuart to snog Michelle. I think it was around day 5. And the rest, as they say, is history.

I think Paul's snog with Penny was around the same time. He realised it was a mistake straight away. If she had been the right one for him, I don't see him behaving as he did toward Helen for the next 8 weeks but he still would have been the same guy, just different circumstances.

You're right as you say there will never be another Paul and Helen. There will never be another Stuart and Michelle either. If there is a romance in a future BB, it will be two different people and it will probably take a completely new course.

I also have to say I did watch a lot of live feed in BB5 as I was off work sick at the time. Michelle DID behave quite badly during the Wedding Task (though I thought it was hilarious, I did worry about her health) but during the chained task I think the editing made the possessive, jealous side of her character look far worse than it was. She had two problems with that task: not just the fact that Stuart was chained to Shell, but also that she was changed to the one person in the house that she despised: Jason. Even so, I was impressed how she kept it in during the day, but one or two moments each day where she wanted Stuart were included on the edit and it looked like she was behaving like that all the time. It was really not the case. Almost excluded from the edits on the C4 shows were the number of times Stuart initiated hugging and kissing. If you watched it during the day, you would conclude that, far from being henpecked, Stuart was quietly in control of the relationship!

Anyway, I've gone on long enough!