[JohnnyBB]

It’s British summertime (yes, really) and time for the round of traditional sporting events that make us feel all gooey and patriotic, a bit like a Royal Wedding that our taxes don’t fund.

The Boat Race has been and gone with Oxford taking a soggy win this year. The London marathon, which I’m running, is just three weeks away - shame that the demise of my aching knee joints is scheduled for two weeks' time.

This coming Saturday sees the Grand National, the race that persuades even the most vocal anti-gambler to stick a £1 on the 500/1 outsider "because you never know what might happen".

Even the Barbour-clad animal huggers will be at the fences waving placards declaring the race cruel, while keeping one eye on their betting slip and the other on John McCririck (if he's not there at all, that could be hard going). The country will grind to halt for 15 minutes as we watch the nearest television screen to see how many of the starting horses will make it round all 30 gruelling fences.

Yet despite every improved safety precaution brought on by the previous year’s race, sadly some of the starting line up will fall. And not get up again, there is no point flogging a dead horse.

And that brings me neatly on the subject of this article – Channel 5’s Big Brother, a dead horse that should have seen the inside of a dubious meat plant long ago.

This morning’s announcement that Emma Willis will be, pardon the pun, taking the reins from Bryanair Dowling is one which will have come as no surprise to many.

Emma has been quietly plugging away at spin-off show Big Brother’s Bit On The Side since the show moved to Channel 5 - and she's been pretty good with the presenting hand she's been dealt. She's been spoken about as the natural heiress to Davina McCall’s throne, and now she’s been given her chance to be ringmaster of the Elstree freakshow.

Yet just like the jockey of a 500/1 Grand National outsider, Emma has a gruelling ride ahead of her. Big Brother’s glory days are long gone.


Characters like the wonderfully stupid Jade Goody (God rest her soul), Nasty Nick Bateman, irritating Nikki Graeme and Kinga Karolczak simply don’t make the grade anymore. Those sorts of characters are now heading for Simon Cowell’s auditions instead.

The Big Brother house is full of the blandest members of society. It’s no longer special to have a pair of super-camp bickerers, a playboy, or a dumb blonde because the world has moved on and those types are ten a penny on The Only Way Is Essex. The bonus for the viewer being they seem perfectly capable of evicting themselves on a regular basis, with no cost to us.

Even the celebrity specials aren’t special anymore. Celebrity is used in its loosest terms as C5 seem to use it as an excuse to roll out wannabes who'd have to be hard-pressed to be considered as outshining the cast of Babestation.

C5 will never top a purring George Galloway drinking milk from the cupped hands of Rula Lenska – that was classic TV. MPs like Nadine Dorries prefer a free trip down under to the I’m A Celebrity jungle courtesy of Ant and Dec these days.

Big Brother used to be a platform for instant fame just like the X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent, TOWIE and The Voice are today. It’s now just a TV irrelevance lost in time to a channel nobody watches.

Channel 5 are clearly hoping that by spicing up Big Brother’s recipe to include a fine filly like Emma Willis it will make a dead horse palatable again.

I suspect like a Findus Lasagne, it will simply leave a bad taste in our mouths.

Source the mirror

[Vanessa]

Thee Mirror is rubbish anyway.

[Jake.]

Well isn't that a suprise

[Matt]

C5 will never top a purring George Galloway drinking milk from the cupped hands of Rula Lenska – that was classic TV.

[Jake.]

Julie

[reece(:]

I can see what they are saying in the vein that they cast so many Essex type housemates and "hotties", no age diversity etc..

[DigitalSid]

I've never seen a more ironic article.

[Jordan.]

Yet they're talking about it

[Tregard]

The Mirror.

[Suze]

I don't think that news article is that well thought out and written really. It's just a rant by a BB loathing reporter with nothing better to do but write that, not anything touched on that some people haven't already said themselves at times. I don't think any of that heralds the end of BB. I think if anything does, it is the lack of live feed stopping us from getting a better idea of what goes on in the BB house. As with most things anyway, they will get mundane/stale/tedious, and monotonous and finally run their cause or just need a breather for a few years and then come back revitalised, which happens with quite a few TV shows and such. High brow Celebrities doesn't always make for a good Celebrity BB either. Contestants in the normal BBs are just way too savvy now also.

[arista]

Thats Political


The Mirror Vs the Star

Thats a attack on King Richard


Feck the Mirror on This.

[Smithy]

It is tbf

[arista]

Originally Posted by Matt

Yes thats a Classic Shot - Well Done Endemol/Ch5HD


Feck the Mirror

[DigitalSid]

The Mirror Group have been flogging that dead horse since about 99 .

[Jack_]

The same paper that branded Frankie Boyle as a racist and was forced to pay £50k in libel damages as a result. Yeah, do one.

[iRyan]

Just another article written by some miserable, low-rate journalist.

[Marc]

Why people actually aspire to be journalists I have no idea.. You just come across as an arrogant twat

[Gstar]

Everytime someone mentions journalists I just think of Cam in tracy beaker

[newsbb]

The mirror is a dead horse tbh.

[Vanessa]

Nobody reads the mirror anyway. Most people just buy The Sun.

[Ramsay]

Originally Posted by newsbb

The mirror is a dead horse tbh.

beat me to it lol

[Jords]

If it was returning now on Ch5 things might of been different.

[Black Dagger]

Didn't the 3am Girls write that?

Those menopausal ***** like nothing.

[joeysteele]

It has given BB a mention anyway, the old saying goes, all publicity is good publicity.

I do really think it will depend on the housemates who are in the house as to whether Emma can shine or not.
On bbbots she has got herself in difficulties at times as to certain housemates, she also doesn't handle well controversy either.
As in with Aaron when he won and Pete Burns asked that extremely inappropriate question while he was talking to Emma.
She never really addressed that with any real professionalism or understanding for Aaron either.

If BB has a really good set of housemates then she may get a chance to shine but if it's like last year and all we get in the main is her opinions riding over other peoples then she may find presenting it tough going.
I have a feeling, despite others criticisms of Brian, she may find he is a pretty hard act to follow as to the main show.

I wish her well though, I hope she does well for BBs future.

[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Jords

If it was returning now on Ch5 things might of been different.

This.

I always thought if channel 5 wanted to give the show a shot, it needed breathing space. Not only did they rush it on air as quickly as possible but have crammed as many series as they can in a short space of time.

If it was returning now after a 3 year break it might have been different.