[Kai Anders]

Okay so lets face it, BB is always facing controversy. People who watch are never in a happy medium, while some people like some parts, they may dislike others and I've frequently seen COUNTLESS posts about negativity towards Big Brother, but I want to be able to display both positive and negative points towards our beloved best television friend in the hope that people can widen their views and accept BB for what it's become..

So lets get started, and heads up, if you actually read all of this, I'll forever be in love with you and I'll be eternally faithful to your commitment!


Let's get the BAD out of the way first, below are the many reasons why I believe BB is 'bad', note this has a strong relation to ratings which many seem to be passionate about!

- People are bored with the format.. face it, 15 years is a long time to continually invest in the same show each year

- People aren't into 'almost' famous housemates, it blurs the distinction between ourselves and those who can afford ultimate living. We just want people like ourselves (which I think is evident in this series, through Jale and Christopher, perhaps the two most 'normal' housemates, they do appear to have a massive following!)

- Themes - Secrets and Lies was a success partially due to the unique twist, meanwhile Power Trip is somewhat restricted and the viewers can see what is coming.

- Too many twists! I'm perhaps the only person who disagrees with the number of twists, but it really detracts value to the show as we're not as surprised by supposedly 'shocking' twists, as they're all the more common and frequent, once again we're aware of what is likely to happen.

- The Age Range - Big Brothers fan base was always targeted towards the mass market from 20-40, however with the refresh on C5 we've continually seen a lower market range closer to 15-30, this is to invite new viewers to the channel, whose market contains little youth programming, but lets face it, has it worked? I still only watch C5 for BB and the odd documentary about somebody with a disfigurement.. Perhaps the inclusion of more than 1 housemate over the 40 year old threshold would be more successful, it is also more representative of the UK, which the original Big Brother set out to achieve.

- No Live Feed! - I'll admit it, I do miss live feed, but equally I feel as though it isn't necessary in my constantly moving lifestyle where I have little time to concentrate on things such as this. Don't get me wrong, I'd probably watch it if it was available, I just think the live feed needs a rethink. People barely watch C5, putting live feed on late interferes with people's life schedules, putting it on a multichannel restricts those who can view and those who even remember to! I believe Live Feed should be online based, remember CBB with our 2 hours of live feed a night, that was very interesting! And I'd totally be prepared to pay a small fee towards it as I'm assured many of you are.. failing that, why not try YouTube as an outlet? 1,000 views can typically produce a £2 profit. Although it's not a lot, I imagine the YouTube views would be far higher than the other small clips they post, it also attracts an audience continuously, compared with the app, where in the beginning I would watch every posted clip, but now I can't be bothered, it's hard to make sense of conversations when we only get a minute of talk, thus a continued audience and an ever-expanding audience could provide some profit to the show, it could even include adverts within the live feed, therefore they get EVEN MORE profit than using just the app, the market is also widened further as far more people can access Youtube than iOS devices!

- Competition - The fact that Big Brother is still going in an ever changing market is humbling. Back in the day there were few channels, around 20-30, today that number is closer to 200-300 OR EVEN MORE! (idk!>? there are too many to count) Yes Big Brother ratings have decreased DRAMATICALLY, but when you compare this competition, and the fact that many channels are already suited to the youth target BB is trying to achieve, its easy to see why it's popularity is low. The Highlights show frequently rate similarly to shows on MTV, BBC 3, E4 and ITV2, all of which are digital. BB has struggled in recent years to sporting competition too, BB14 (the previous series) was perhaps so successful as there were no dominant shows other than a few clashes with some big name shows. Nonetheless a drop or increase of only several 100,000's is still good, in fact it's stability is much better than the C4 era, where the show continually staggered lower and lower with much more significant numbers than today, suggesting it's 'superfan' base figures.

- CBB! - It's also worth mentioning that CBB is still extremely popular, more so than civilian BB, a change from the C4 era, this could suggest the fact that people are less interested to invest time in a 8-12 week show and are more focused on a shorter version of 3-4 weeks. People find it hard to invest time in our ever changing world. The addition of somewhat 'big' names to the show, particularly those targeted towards the youthful market (look at those ex TOWIE HM numbers!) who have a massive fan base already. Therefore people have become more influenced and interested in a celebrities life compared with a regular person like themselves, and although this has been commonplace in British media since the digital revolution, it seems more-so in today's society that we are interested in celebrities. Look at shows such as Celebrity Juice and Viral Tap, and other youth-targeted shows. The viewing figures are low, and normal for a digital channel, but the fact that each week there are multiple celebrities on multiple shows, suggests that even more so we are engrossed in the Celebrity culture, something that has been pretty ethically sensitive in recent years. Therefore to conclude this point, I believe people turn off from the regular BB, unlike CBB as there is less interest. We have to learn to trust and love the characters, find our likes and dislikes with them, this takes time, and with the presence of only a one-hour highlights show.. shortened to 40 minutes a day, it can be easily difficult to read a HM thoroughly, which is perhaps suggestive of the past winners, whose fan base is somewhat smaller than compared with previously evicted housemates.

- Production - I've pretty much summed this up in the previous points. Yes, we pretty much all dislike the production and the fact that the show is so much more secretive than it used to be, and the editing appears to favour HMs in an effort to provide more entertainment but what can I really say about that, we know it's there, we know its true, we can't change it, and thats a shame, because I'd like to see a much more honest and open BB.. the lunchtime repeats often annoy me.. in one episode Ashleigh refused to eat her fish cocktail, however it never stated the fact that she can't because she's supposedly 'vegetarian' meanwhile the app did.. therefore several thousands would be unfairly informed, and their thoughts would change on Ashleigh, believing she's 'stuck-up' or is a 'wimp' or is fitting the typical stereotype of a model.

OKAY! Let's end this on positivity, here are the GOOD points that I think put the show in some shining light!

- The UK Format - Big Brother UK has inspired countless design replicas in several tens of counties across the globe. The UK franchise is particularly strong, with the previous Secrets and Lies theme being used in 5 other countries this year, it's clear that the theme, although can be dislike by many - for fear of rejecting BB fundamentals - to many, it adds a whole 'nother layer of fun, intrigue and excitement, and it must prove successful for the show too.. why would other countries invest in our format.. perhaps the high ratings for BB14 are a good indication!? Who knows, that's one of my opinions!

- It's a Staple - Big Brother has always captivated people and its uniqueness is perhaps the reason for its continued success, the ability to refresh itself with a new design, new music and new 'brand' per se continues to invite the curious. When you think about it, the format of placing 14-16 people from all across Britain into 1 house, watching them 24/7 (well the producers and editors) and evicting one each week is completely unique and actually somewhat odd when you include the fact the Big Brother is an unknown 'god-like' force. Yes BB has been on 15 years, but in 15 years so much has changed, it can still invite new viewers who may have been too young to see the first lot of series, therefore are clueless to the differences, myself included (Don't worry, I've caught up with each series missed due to my age, from BB1 - BB5... YES, INCLUDING BB4!!)

- Production - this is slightly countering the negativity of production seen before, I personally love the production of the show, though mostly through design. The titles, although lacking for the first C5 years, have recently become much more exciting and visually engaging, no more do we have to blankly look a second of footage of a HM, who we've probably all forgotten about already.. instead, we see titles that produce a better identity and is in keeping with the themes of the show. I absolutely adore the recent titles and BB14's and the eviction design was also spotless (okay, bar that crazy whooshing noise before each advert - what is with that seriously!?) The graphics for the exterior of the home are beautiful.. the big 10..9..8.. countdown really adds to the excitement of the eviction, enhancing a party vibe, with the inclusion of music as a HM exits, this is further enhanced. Meanwhile the large eye, which releases Emma into the pantomime-esque audience is visually attractive, and again enhances BB identity.. the use of this large eye has also appeared in BB AU and BB Bulgaria! The stage too is filtered with lights and energy.

- Our Beloved Emma! - Okay, so I LOVE Emma, she's a fabulous person, a stunning woman and an excellent presenter, in my opinion she beats the likes of Brian.. and she's slowly creeping up with Davina. Emma has come into her own in recent weeks, she reacts to the crowd, she adds little jokes, it's clear she's in love with the show just as much as the rest of us. Her outfits also give a little eye candy to many viewers out there! Emma's skills as a presenter are faultless, yes there have been times she's slipped (remember when she plugged Big Brother on Channel '4' and not Channel '5'!) but still, she regained herself, and made us aware of the blooper which made us endear her more. Emma is excellent, and if you don't agree with that.. then you are quite frankly stonking MAD!

- The House - I'll be the first to admit the first two series of the show were lacking in house quality compared with the C4 ear.. however the more recent series of the show really have added a new design aesthetic to the show.. BB14s completely replicated the fashion trends currently popular, while BB15 is in keeping with our ever technological world.. it's clever, it's inviting as we feel like we've seen this before, except its in OUR Big Brother house! I adore the design of the house and I believe it is still one of the strong points of the show.. again, many of the designs have been taken by other countries.. and we complain!? While other versions can't get enough!



Okay.. so here's my BIG rant about Big Brother.. I'm totally pooped with brain energy, although I hope I've provided enough evidence to support my love of the show... and some of it's negativity, but hopefully I've inspired many of you to think differently. I personally believe the negativity and positivity towards BB is somewhat because of our greed as humans. We want the best, and sometimes we get the best, therefore other's can't get to the best, and it doesn't become our best. Its all based on personal opinion.. as you can probably see.. BB14 was my ultimate favourite and with BB15 not living up to expectations (in my opinion) its clear I'm going to be somewhat more negative than before!

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this monumental rant, and please comment, I'd love your feedback on my comments as well as your own.. and heads up if you'd like me to continue with more positives and negatives in the future.. (note, these have been very generic based, this is done on purpose, I'm simply waiting for responses.. there's so much more to talk about! I've just skimmed the surface!!)

Thank you and Goodnight!