[Amy]

By Cameron Stout

PEOPLE have been saying to me all week, “Bet you’re glad you’re not in the house this year”.
So they’re surprised when I reply that, despite all that’s happened, I still wish I was there.
After all, it’s been a historic week in the Big Brother house and I feel this commotion is only adding to the housemates’ experience and what they will take away from it.
Over the last year I’ve found myself more understanding and better able to rationalise both sides of an argument — something I learned in the house.

At the moment, the housemates are struggling to do that. But then, at times of high stress you tend to look at things only from your own point of view, and last week’s events have been as stressful as you can imagine.
For the first time ever, events became so heated that security guards had to be called in and were forced to stay overnight. It was very aggressive.
It was obvious that with this year’s volatile characters something was going to kick off. But while Big Brother may have set the wheels in motion by returning Emma and Michelle from the bedsit, they couldn’t have planned the responses.

Their responsibility is to monitor the situation, make sure it doesn’t get out of hand and give counselling.
I can say wholeheartedly that I had no concerns last year, because I knew that whatever happened, Big Brother could handle it.
I think events did overtake them on this occasion, but they acted responsibly after the event.
What surprised me about Emma and Michelle’s return was how shocked the others were.
Jason, Vanessa and Victor were horrified. Vanessa didn’t think it was fair and threatened to walk.
Well, I’m sorry Vanessa, but get real! You have to take what Big Brother throws at you and if you can’t take it then yes, shut up and get out.
During the food fight she complained about the waste, arguing there are starving people in the world.
That’s a nonsensical attitude, particularly for someone who claims to have first-hand experience of living in South Africa, where there are great divides between wealth and poverty.
Then there was the physical violence. I don’t condone violence but can appreciate why some people lose control after a while, whether through intimidation or provocation.
Being in the house is like being under a magnifying glass — it’s an intense environment and every emotion is deepened. Things often go a stage further than they would normally.

It’s made worse by the fact the house is claustrophobic. But yet again it was daylight when I got to bed on Thursday morning!
Jason was absolutely furious. Remember, he’d been deprived of sleep and had his bed trashed. His patience had probably worn thin.
Marco’s taunting has been described as tantamount to bullying. That’s outrageous. How can a big brute like Jason be bullied by Mincing Marco?
While I don’t agree it’s bullying, it certainly is a form of aggression. Jason may not have looked restrained, at least he didn’t let things get too out of hand. Worse things happen in any town on a Saturday night.
Until now we’ve given Jason the benefit of the doubt because he’s a Scot.
There were definite sour grapes when the girls came back because his plan had been scuppered.
I didn’t have a gameplan in the house, so I genuinely believed Jason didn’t either. But now he’s being so blatant.
Victor had a bad week. He didn’t know why he wasn’t getting hot water and complained the cold showers were giving him the sniffles.
Doesn’t he realise you don’t get a cold from being cold? Wakey, wakey Victor — the cold is a virus!
In the diary room he said there was going to be “the biggest dressing down on national TV ever”. Boring!
While some of his tactics are valid and quite comical, he has an inflated idea of his own importance.
During his argument with Emma, she threw a platter at him before he threw one back, but people criticise Victor more because Emma’s a girl. They were both wrong.
It wasn’t very smart of Emma to throw the plate and she was clearly to blame, but we don’t expect her to be smart. Victor, on the other hand, has said he’s more intelligent so he should have acted like it.
They’re being treated like spoiled children, which is great because that’s how they’re acting.
As your mum would say, they need their heads knocked together.
Nadia has been trying to stir things up. Once they got Emma back to the bedroom, Nadia started egging her on again. It may be her Latin temperament, but she’s had other issues this week.

She’s suffering from nicotine deprivation but I have no sympathy. It’s easy for a non-smoker to say this, but she went in with 300 cigarettes and should have rationed them.
And it appears the others have sussed she’s a transsexual. But when Marco questioned what it would be like to be a woman for the day, Nadia skirted round the fact that she’d been a man most of her life. I’m surprised she didn’t tell them straight away.
Nadia will now be worried the housemates will perceive her differently when they find out, which, being adults, they shouldn’t. But they may feel betrayed because she hasn’t told them, or feel threatened or even disgusted.
She’s dealing with a lot and it must be difficult for her, but that doesn’t give her an excuse to whip things up.
Stuart and Dan were the two main peacemakers on Wednesday but both had different ways of dealing with things.
Stuart physically grabbed Victor and put him in a headlock to steer him away from the trouble.
Dan was the verbal diffuser. When talking to Emma he took both her hands, asked her to look at his face and listen to him. I think they did very well. But I’m furious that people are saying Shell is faking it. She really doesn’t like conflict and was so upset she was physically sick.
People looking on will naturally worry, but she will have had a lot of care from Big Brother. There are always psychologists and doctors on hand to help.
Last week I was quite scathing about Michelle, but since then she’s redeemed herself.
Having the responsibility of partnering Emma in the bedsit has brought something out in her. She was very caring and took time to explain things.
There’s been a leap in her maturity and my attitude towards her has changed. This is what we love about Big Brother, the enjoyment of never knowing what’s going to happen next.
Well, tarra for noo!

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