The big gimmick of this season is that rather then going in as individuals the celebrities have entered the house in pairs - literally shackled together. This device obviously references things like slavery, prison chain-gangs, exotic (BDSM) sex and to a cynic marriage. However it mainly places a lot of extra pressure on the contestants by forcing them to do everything - sleep, eat, wash, use the bathroom etc - while only feet away from their designated partner.
The design theme of this year's house is "Russian Opulence" so there is lots faux marble, red velvet and gold-leaf all reminiscent of Tsarist Russia. Big Brother is a show that has large core audience of homosexuals so it is unavoidable that this season will lead to some discussion about the upcoming winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia where gay rights are going to be a huge issue. To that end the main characters in this series are;
- Jim Davidson - This comedian from the 1970's and 1980's is renowned as such a misogynist, racist and homophobe the nation pretty much cheered as one when he was prevented from taking part in the last winter season because he'd been arrested as part of the Jimmy Savile historical sex abuse investigation. The nation also pretty much mourned as one when the police decided to take no further action. Davidson has been shackled to Linda Nolan who once famously had him thrown out of a celebrity nightclub after he allegedly behaved in a sexually inappropriate manner towards her.
- Lee Ryan - A member of the boyband "Blue" which represented the UK in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. Words have a tendency to come out of Ryan's mouth before they have consulted with his brain leading to him announcing in the days after the September 11th terrorist attacks that whale hunting was a more important issue. Also following bandmate Duncan James' announcement that he was gay Ryan confirmed that he'd had a homosexual relationship with James which is unlikely to have pleased his wife Samantha Millar. In his pre-show interview Ryan bore more then a passing resemblance to Adam Hills host of the para-Olympic themed Channel 4 show "The Last Leg" which has been the main standard bearer of gay opposition to Russia in the UK.
- Ollie Locke - A regular on the Channel 4 'structured reality' show "Made in Chelsea" Locke claims to be bisexual but as he said in his pre-show interview most people think that he's actually a raging homosexual who hasn't quite come to terms with his own homosexuality. He is shackled to Lionel Blair who despite being exceptionally and theatrically camp is actually 100% heterosexual. There is also a rather famous - but not necessarily true - story about Lionel Blair teaching my now homosexual mother everything she knows about anatomy while she was looking after the horses that starred in a pantomime alongside Lionel Blair.
- Lusia Zissman - Although she claims to be a business woman Zissman is famous for appearing in the BBC1 show "The Apprentice." I don't watch The Apprentice so Zissman is one of many I'm going to have to Google. A quick glance of her Twitter account though reveals that Zissman prides herself in having all sorts of exotic sex including orgies with multiple partners and bisexual relationships. Therefore I think Zissman is what is termed a "Thesbian" - that is to a say a heterosexual woman who pretends to be bisexual in order to make herself more attractive to men.
Now bankrupt Dappy is one third of the band N-Dubz. The other two thirds are former X-Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos who is now also bankrupt and facing cocaine dealing charges and Fazer who is currently staving off bankruptcy by 'working on new projects in LA' whilst being propped up by Rihanna's record label Roc Nation. Whilst standing trial for affray (fighting in a public place) Dappy has been used directly as a metaphor for Chris Brown in particular over his fight with Frank Ocean. In an effort to escape the Big Brother house as quickly as possible Dappy is very much playing up his Chris Brown links in order to add to his own unpopularity that saw an Internet campaign launched to get a horse that recently broke Dappy's jaw given a BRIT Award for services to music.
Unfortunately the first pair to enter the house (Davidson & Nolan) decided to immediately unshackle the second pair to enter (Jones & Dappy) because they didn't want to make themselves unpopular with other housemates by unshackling themselves. As a result Jones & Dappy along with another two pairs face the public vote on Wednesday (8/1/14) and due to a combination of Rihanna's Navy and the dead weight of Dappy are likely to be evicted. I think that's a shame because Liz Jones has never actually met Rihanna and Dappy isn't actually Chris Brown so I was looking forward to them trying to keep the act up for the entire series. Also it might help get Rihanna interested - not because the show wants to book her but because she may benefit from watching a show that touches on the dark arts of psychology and manipulation.
Also I've noticed that this season is being sponsored by an online casino. This is interesting because unlike the set pieces of the X-Factor performances or the structured scenes of Made in Chelsea Big Brother really lives or dies on the natural rhythms of everyday life. For that you really need a live stream but Channel 5 refuses to provide one instead using their at least 18 hours of daily dead air to instead broadcast money spinning televised casino shows.
18:15 on 5/1/14 (UK date).
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