Big Brother reboot

[FLips]

An hour of Tom and Jenkin absolutely raging at Yinrun and borderline remote bullying her and then he gets his big moment and pisses his nappies. See ya!

[RedRooster]

1 hour ago, Gay as FOOK said:

I'm going for Olivia to win for the sheer chaos of it. She been pretty up front about how her emotions and opinions can be swayed.

I think if the likes of Jenkin, Tom and Chanelle had been out sooner, she’d have been a genuine contender. As it stands, I think she’s an outside bet - but I probably feel similarly to you. 

I thought Tom got off lightly in his exit interview given the uncomfortable bullying of Yinrun, and Jordan was a bit of a coward in letting it all happen. 

If happens all the time, but if you think your housemate is on a secret task, shut up! Don’t give the game away! 

I’d have like to have seen Tom and Jenkin get the negative reaction they deserved in front of a live audience, but what can you do?

Edited November 14, 2023 by RedRooster

[The Gaffer]

Matty having a dance to Florence & The Machine as his reward:

Coasts to the final week and finally has his own episode, which ends up being completely devastating. He seemed like he was at a real low all day, then they take him to Rainbow Rhythms and later on he winds up getting evicted at the end of a letter from home. He seems like a good'un. Godspeed, Matty. 

I have no clue who I want to win this anymore. I quite like all of them. 

Feels like it was always meant to be like this. 

 

Edited November 16, 2023 by Gay as FOOK

[RedRooster]

18 minutes ago, Gay as FOOK said:

I have no clue who I want to win this anymore. I quite like all of them. 

I feel similarly now that the miserable bastards are gone, but I also feel slightly apathetic…maybe not having someone you really dislike in the final days is a bad thing?! Regardless, there’s no one standout enough for me to feel that bothered about the final outcome. I was very invested in a Yinrun win at one point, but as amusing as she can be, her grating wailing offsets that slightly.

I’d edge towards wanting an Olivia win, although I’ve softened on Jordan a bit, it would be interesting to see if he reacts in as deadpan a way as he normally does.

Henry doesn’t need the money, so I’d probably prefer for him not to win, but he does seem like a nice guy.

As for, Nocky…she seems nice and she’s had it rough in there at times, but I’m not sure she’s been interesting enough to really deserve the victory, I wouldn’t be outraged if she won or anything, but I’d rather the winner be someone who hasn’t coasted to a degree.

[RedRooster]

Actually, fuck it - I want Jordan to win. I’ve voted 3-times for Jordan, twice for Olivia.

Jordan is probably the most interesting person left, even if he probably doesn’t need the money. I reckon he’s just being cautious with Henry, based entirely on the fact he’s well aware emotions likely intensify in such an insulated environment. Plus, is Henry on the outside going to be the same person as he is in the house? It’s a great unknown. Best not get ahead of yourself with these things.

Olivia is entertaining, but has sometimes been a bit nasty in an unnecessary way. She’s acknowledged that she’s been easily led though, and I respect that. 

Yinrun would still be my pick if it wasn’t for the constant OTT crying, and the singing with Matty which I’m 100% with Jordan on - in real life it would annoy the tits off me.

[The Gaffer]

Yeah I woke up Team Jordan. Seeing how he reacts to being crowned winner is clearly the more interesting TV. From the live feed reports last night, too, it seems to be a fool's errand at this point making out that he's stringing Henry along. They were all over each other and both admitted mentioning things were platonic between them is like a running joke.

Going to miss the final tonight after all that, but looking forward to checking out a replay. 

[FLips]

Going to be honest, really disliked that final. 

The new “freeze and unfreeze votes” thing was shamelessly just to artificially increase the number of votes received and get ad revenue from the extra votes on the app, and it killed any intensity the night had.
I really don’t believe for a second that Olivia came second either unless the entire nation of Scotland just pigheadedly voted for her.

I’ve compared it to wrestling a couple of times now, but there was nothing more wrestling than botching the ending and having the crowd chant for the 4th place finalist during the winner’s announcement.

Not to discredit Jordan because he was a worthy winner, but having him go head to head with Oliva changed the atmosphere from “I want Jordan to win” to “I don’t want Olivia to win”.

Then he went and predictably gave the most dry interview since Chanelle where he wasn’t arsed about anything. Fair play because that’s him, but dozens of “love triangle” questions sandwiched between him going “gosh I don’t know, see what tomorrow brings” for every answer did not make for an interesting interview.

Glad to see they binned Trish off for the final but it really is a shame they never referenced it or any housemates awkwardly asked where she was.

Overall it was a successful comeback. Some memorable housemates and some genuinely great moments. A little too short to really do much with though and the last two weeks felt rushed so they could pack up and get to Farage in the jungle. I thought Will and AJ were OK but not a patch on Davina or even Emma Willis. They clearly had biases throughout and sometimes their interviews were desperately trying to get an angle that never came. 
 

Best Bits: 
The Free Yinrun movement.
Tom being a prick, fannying out and then ITV making a video package of it and bitching him out on late and live multiple times.
Trish turning out to be a massive racist and watching the online echo chambers and Late and Live go into panic mode and suddenly have to stop gushing about her.
Matty’s final day where he awkwardly danced to Florence and the Machine like a psychopath and then they gave him a brutal letter from home.

Worst bits:

ITV playing damage control and evicting Tom and Kerry through the backdoor to avoid them getting rinsed by a live crowd.
AJ and Will’s interviews when they had an agenda, notably the one where they both stuck their teeth into Chanelle like it was an interrogation.
The “Love Triangle” and their obsession with asking everyone about it.
The overall presentation and editing in general, including the rubbish “celebrities”, promising a live eviction the next night and then not mentioning it resulting in Matty getting kicked out and people finding out before it happened on TV, and the vote freezing during the final.

[The Gaffer]

Yeah that was a right dull final wasn't it. I can see why Olivia closed in - the bookies had it too and she probably inherited all of the "None of the nicey-nice freaks please" vote - but other than that it was pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a show that mostly just turfed out the conflict creators for weeks on end. 

Barring teething problems I think they've ended up with a remarkably likeable, modernised version of the show. I hate getting all broadsheet-y because it is still Big Brother at the end of the day, but how many times did they air full conversations on politics, race and identity? All with a young, diverse, mostly likeable cast. It pretty much was the the Daryl-from-Peep-Show lot's nightmare BB gone woke and I loved that about it.

What would you actually put into an opinion piece decrying how it's the height of trash TV? I don't think you can do it with this series. Other TV (a lot of which it's directly responsible for) has gone on to be far trashier and so in a weird way this actually has succeeded in going back to being a fairly mild, amusing bit of social experimentation. 

Hopefully ITV are happy enough with how its done to keep going down this route. Keep the same casting principals next year, extend it out, get some consistency in how they want to handle evictions and interviews, put the live stream 24/7 and yeah, I'll be back. 

Most of my best and worst moments are the same as yours @FelatioLips so I'll just add how...bizarre...it is that the person I saw as the absolute logical narrative endpoint of winning this show (and still sort of do in my head, in another time) was the one who got Benoited for being a massive racist! 

I think it's Matty I'll end up remembering. People thought nothing of him but he's responsible for one of the funniest moments in the show's history and one of the alternately funny, brutal episode long focusses. 

Until next time... 

Edited November 18, 2023 by Gay as FOOK

[Keith Houchen]

4 hours ago, FelatioLips said:

The new “freeze and unfreeze votes” thing was shamelessly just to artificially increase the number of votes received and get ad revenue from the extra votes on the app, and it killed any intensity the night had.
I really don’t believe for a second that Olivia came second either unless the entire nation of Scotland just pigheadedly voted for her.

The scotch have form with reality tv show voting, nothing shows their inferiority complex by voting for one of their own to get it right up the English. X Factor always had one for the live finals because they knew they’d get votes regardless of how shit they were. 
 

ITV also have form for rigging phone votes. They were dragged pretty hard for it in the past so I’d be surprised if they were at it again, especially for one of their marquee attractions. 

[RedRooster]

On 11/18/2023 at 9:10 AM, FelatioLips said:

The new “freeze and unfreeze votes” thing was shamelessly just to artificially increase the number of votes received and get ad revenue from the extra votes on the app, and it killed any intensity the night had.
I really don’t believe for a second that Olivia came second either unless the entire nation of Scotland just pigheadedly voted for her.

As Keith said, there are people here who do that - look at The McDonald Brothers in The X Factor as a prime example of that. I'd like to think that it doesn't happen so much now, but who the heck knows. 

That said, I voted for Olivia and Jordan. Although Olivia was massively unpleasant at times, she seemed to understand and accept her own failings, and where she went wrong. I found her pretty entertaining when she wasn't being an arsehole, and for whatever reason I warmed to her; particularly after her babyface turn. 

So yeah, in the end she received the majority of my votes!

I'm looking forward to Celebrity Big Brother, whenever it launches. I'm intrigued to see who they'll end up casting. The Rebekah Vardy rumours concern me slightly, as she's not so much a potentially interesting housemate as an inevitably unpleasant one. 

[Keith Houchen]

46 minutes ago, RedRooster said:

The McDonald Brothers

That was the fuckers, couldn’t remember their names!! Christ they were terrible. The way Louis Walsh always used to say “The whole of Scotland are behind you” whenever he was mentoring sweaties always reminded me of the Mount Splashmore episode of The Simpsons where Kristy said in the ad “I told them you were coming, kids, don’t make a liar out of me”

[Briefcase]

Not sure if anyone bothered watching the late show after the final but they showed how the votes went at time of first eviction, Jordan had like 40% of the votes and the others had like 15%-20% of the votes, I'm sure there was like 1% between Henry, Yimrun & Olivia. The only certainty was that Jordan was miles ahead. 

Edited November 22, 2023 by Briefcase