Big Bro 4 - Anyone got some Lions? (Big Brother (TV Series))

Member Name: Whitehorse

Product:	Big Brother (TV Series)
Date:	07/07/03 (436 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It passes half an hour

Disadvantages: It doesn't pass quickly enough

Oh dear

Oh dear, oh dear.

What has happened to Big Brother Four? Is it just that the format has got old? Is it that the contestants this year are particularly boring? Is that I should do what ye olde 'Why Don't You' said and "switch off the TV and go and do something else less boring instead?"

Probably.

Big Brother Four has seen a huge drop in ratings after the other three successful shows. Even the lovely Davina and the equally gorgeous Dermot from BB Four has failed to tickle my interest in this years 12 week long haul. But somehow I keep watching and I think that has a great deal more to do with the fact that 10pm is the time I tend to stop writing and give myself a bit of a break before bed than any actual interest.

In other years to me there have been clear outstanding characters. No one can beat the delightful Anna from the first Big Bro who kept us all entertained with her genuine wit and charm. After some time I got used to Brian, he made me laugh and again seemed to have a great deal of personality. We had the batty Helen whom I couldn't stand but provided gratuitous entertainment with her stupidity and then in famously the unbelievable trailer trash Jade who made me cringe everytime I switched the television on. But this year *sigh* I'm just bored, bored, bored.

In case you need reminding here's the list of the producers choice of contestants.

Anouska - First one to flaunt herself round the house despite the fact there was no one else to flirt with (apart from the camera of course) and first to get ousted after consuming a ridiculous amount of ale and acting like a 14 year old. Sober she acts about 15. Thankfully booted in the first evictions because I don't think I could have stood much more of her.

Nush - I had high hopes for her at the beginning. Quirky and hippyish with a huge love of animals I figured she was the one who I would have instant
ly take a liking too. Sadly after weeks of being in a mopey shell, Nush has emerged to be yet another who seems quite insecure and needing the attention of the boys. Not completely unlikeable but not the outstanding personality I had perhaps hoped for.

Scott - Apparently the girls all love him. I can't see why. He's not bad looking although not my type at all but seems to lack any form of personality whatsoever. Perhaps he's just been playing a careful game and not opening his mouth too much to stay in the house as long as possible but that doesn't exactly make for riveting television either.

Sissy - Irritating. Cried a lot. Liverpudlian. Need I say more? Booted.

Tanya - Now I know Tanya got a lot of criticism. I also know that probably I would have got off on the wrong foot with her. Obsessed with make up and having probably a bit more money than sense, Tanya smoked and swore her way through the BB house until she was finally voted out. By that point however I had become a little bit more fond of her which surprised me. I liked her batty nature and waffle in the diary room and her slight clumsiness which so infuriated the others, was endearing. When the nasty Gaetano famously called her a pig I warmed to her even more. Her absence in the house is noticeable I think.

Jon. Oh Jon! Goodness me can this man bore the socks off you and I LIKE sci-fi! Whilst the housemates united against him the viewers loved him. His spiced up the house with his controlling nature and utterly Spock-like demeanour. He was an interesting character and despite the fact that I may even have loathed him as much as Justine had I been in there with him I think the house sorely misses his presence.

Justine - Famously hates John and although amusing at the beginning I found it rather uncomfortable after a while to see that vehemence she exuded at the mere mention of his name. Overall not a bad person but no particular sparkiness either.
Booted

Federico. Fed makes me despair of mankind. And I mean MANkind. He makes me think that despite all that women have done to gain equality, despite all men have down to break out of that unflattering macho role, this boy sweeps it all away with a stroke of the hair and a preen in the mirror - not to mention the downright nasty comments he made about women in general. Watching his interview with Davina afterwards made me think that this boy has a lot of growing up to do and an insecurity complex the size of the BB house.

Gos. He sleeps. He makes food. He sleeps. He gets evicted. Gos isn't a bad bloke and rather unfortunately for him his eviction night was postponed and he left the house not to rapturous applause but to the sound of his girlfriend running to meet him and nothing more. Sadly after the bomb scare the night before no audience were present. His quiet exit perhaps echoes is contribution to the house which was mostly zilch.

Stephanie. She's a Brummy and she likes to clean - a lot. Actually it must be rather nice for the housemates to have someone as tidy as Steph in the house. She seems an ok person - rather inclined to project her own reservations about other housemates onto other housemates but apart from that generally a well-rounded lass. Just not a particularly interesting person.

Ray - Irishman with a temper. He drinks, he talks fast, he gets moody, he likes to break the Big Brother rules. I guess out of all of them Ray's personality seems the strongest but I still don't feel like there's much more to him than an argumentative and rebellious nature. Oh and he likes to um...enjoy himself when he's has a drink. Thankfully I missed that episode!

Cameron - The scary fundamentalist Christian who reads the Bible out loud and thinks that bullfighting isn't cruel. Can't stand him for both those reasons. Unfortunately though Cameron seems to be a favourite with a lot of people -
perhaps because he is quite a gentle guy which I will grudgingly give him credit for although he does have a tendency to come across as an wingey old women when not in preachy mode. Suddenly picked to be the housemate to be flown to South Africa in a cross ocean houseswap, Cameron came back showing more confidence and showiness. I'm just hoping that the housemates will get tired of him and the rest of the country will vote him out - either that or I'll save enough to get those lions ;-)

Lisa - Brought in the 'sex-up' the house supposedly, Lisa spends a great deal of the time talking about herself. I didn't see the bit where she said she's a witch (or where Cameron said they don't exist - WAKE UP Cameron there's around 120, 000 of us in this country alone!) but so far she hasn't displayed any of the characteristic of any witches I know. Mostly it seems as though her stories are bigger and better than anyone else's and if you've been there, she's been there twice. What I will give in her favour though is that intuitive or not, she must be picking up on the catty vibes from other housemates and that may well make her unconsciously more pushy to be accepted. Whether I like her or not doesn't matter - it does seem to have given the housemates something else to talk (or moan) about.

Gaetano - The dreadful man from South Africa who swapped with Cameron for a week who obviously thinks every women should drop at his feet. His legacy will be his nasty name-calling at Tanya and the fact that he lied about sleeping with Nush when he got back home. Probably would have got on famously with Fed.

Currently we are left with Nush, Scott, Steph, Lisa, Cameron and Ray. A little friskiness seems to be developing with Nush and Scott and animosity between Lisa and Cameron and that my dears is the story so far.

I have no idea if BB5 is being planned. If so I think that they are really going to have to
start thinking about the format. Personally I'd say give them a task a day as well as a task per week so that they have to interact more and it gives the viewer something to focus on. I also think that they should be set conversation points every night after dinner for example so that we can find out more about the people themselves. For me getting to know someone and whether I like them or not is about finding out their views on the world, what they read and watch, what they like and don't like, what they believe in and don't believe in. I want to know and Big Brother never really tells me. Live conversations are bleeped out to protect from any legal repercussions and the edited versions tend to focus more on arguments and potential love stories. There's so much more to life and there's probably so much more to these people than what I've written above. No doubt in real life had I met them I would have a much clearer picture of who they are but then Anna and Brian just shone despite media moulding. How much is editing and how much is lack of personality? I guess I'll never know.

The international swap was a good idea but it never really came to fruition as terrestrial viewers didn't get to see how Cameron got on the the house in South Aafrica. That would have been very interesting to watch from a psychological point of view and it seems a shame that C4 didn't bother showing any of that.

Another thing is that the housemates always seem to be early 20's with an over thirty thrown in for good measure. I think I'd find an over 30 group far more interesting to watch but then I'm biased!

I never watch the live shows as here's little point listening to birdsong for hours on end. I watch maybe three shows a week and one would be the eviction show. I watch Big Brother, Little Brother when I remember because well - it's Dermot isn't it!

Unlike other years I really don't care
who goes or who stays - as long as Cameron doesn't win I couldn't give a fig.

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