Rebecca Wilson’s tirade
It shocked me. It shocked the nation. It shocked commentators on my Big Brother fan-site OHBROTHER.com.au – who went mental posting a massive 119 comments on my story about how her behaviour had traumatised his family - and counting.
It was wrong. Gretel used to tease people’s faults out. She’d show a HM some footage, tell them what Australia thought, ask them about it and give them room to manoeuvre. She did it gently – it was almost cathartic. Rebecca just jumped straight down Terrance’s throat and, along with Brigitte’s dad, questioned his right to even be on the show. And ranting about how he had no right to shower naked - because he's 51. As i said last week showering in your togs is like protected sex - never as good. Why shouldn't he shower in the nude? it's perfectly normal. They're all adults.
Let’s be honest here – Terrance is only doing what Rebecca and me and anyone else with an ego big enough to want to be on TV is doing. Trying to get on TV. Why shouldn’t he?
OK, he’s a bit odd. OK, he’s a fame slut – he’s had his own reality TV show based on training up some real-estate agents that never made it to air and OK he’s a regular in radio competitions and promotions in his home state of Perth. But so what? He has every right to do it. He has every right to embarrass himself on national television. And he has every right to tell us what he thinks of Brigitte - mainly because in that case he actually is right.
Brigitte's moment to shine
Well, the girl we love to hate came out of Rima’s little fake mole task shining, positively shining. Not only was she the only one, apart from Cherry, to pipe up that she thought the whole thing was fake – but she took everyone targeting her with such effortless casualness.
I suppose it’s easy for her – being hot she’s used to being the centre of attention so she knows how to cope with it. The only person not intimidated by Brigitte is Cherry – because he’s as hot as her. People have been sucking up to both of them since puberty. But in Brigitte’s case, because so much of her personality is based on being hot, because she has nothing else in her life like a job or university, her personality has been warped.
Cherry has kept his head much better. He has basic manners. Now, I’ve long thought Brigitte needs a kick up the arse so hard the person doing it would need to break their leg in order to do it properly – but you can’t take this week away from her…
Dogs
I’ve never heard the use of the word “dog” so much. It’s so werid. Rory is a “sly dog”, Bianca doesn’t want to get “dogged”, what Rima did was a “dog act”, that cat’s a “dog”. It’s dog madness.
Ben = Try-hard
I’ve worked it out. Ben is just a try-hard. Not a master strategist, not a master intellect – just a try hard. He struggles to fit in with the boys – has since day one – and he has no idea how to deal with Bianca. He stinks of virgin and he stinks of immaturity. After a couple of years of uni he’ll be a changed man. He needs to move out of home as well. People don’t like him, people don’t’ hate him – so he’ll probably win.
Bianca's Temper
There’s no point discussing her too much, she’ll be gone in day or two. Her behaviour this week in reaction the “news” there is a mole in the house has been supremely irritating. Racing around getting all angry at people and being all intense and aggressive. What she has to realise is Australians are really laid back – they hate it when people are full on. Apathy is the great Australian trait – to care about stuff is a sin, passion is a vice, anger is a wickedness.
Having said that… she simply has no self-awareness. She’s completely self-obsessed, she’s completely inexperienced, she’s as completely embarrassing and completely cringe-worthy as Travis. In short, she’s completely 18.
Oh and that thing with Ben – lamest romance in the history or BB ever…
Being a Performing Seal
This task has really shone a spotlight on the ‘performing seal’ aspect of Big Brother. Sometimes you just get sick of being made to perform – of getting excited when BB throws an impromptu party or some mini-task. Sometimes you just want the night off. Ben’s been directing his anger at BB lately in a number of incidents. It’s a good ploy and one Bianca should use too. Instead of directing anger at HMs – which never does you any good – direct it at the real culprit, Big Brother.
Terri's Triumph
When all the housemates told Terri they thought she’d win I was on the edge of my seat to see how she’d react. If she’d looked happy, she’d have looked smug, if she’d have looked shifty and uncomfortable, she’d have looked like she was playing the game. But she did the best thing possible - something women can get away with beautifully - and she cried. A masterstroke – full marks for game playing.
Oh, just on Terri. I was at the house the other day and speaking to one of the camera operators. She said she’s really noticed Terri has changed – she’s changed her vocabulary, and she’s stopped with all the crazy right-wing nonsense. Whether she’s toned it down on purpose or whether hanging out with young people has expanded her narrow mind - it’s difficult to tell.
Who’ll win?
As someone over at OHBROTHER.com.au commented the other week – you don’t’ need to be interesting to win, you just need to be deserving… whatever that means.
Look at the history. Ben from BB01, Peter from BB02, Trevor from BB04, Greg from BB05, Jamie from BB06, Alicia from BB07. The only really interesting person to win has been Reggie. All the more reason why BB should do something freaky at the end – like try to get someone to walk early with $100K or let the second and third place getters keep their accumulated dosh.
Final Contradiction
There’s quite a contradiction though, which leads to the grey people winning. Basically viewers don’t want a bland person to win. But on the other hand they don’t’ want a bombastic one – THAT THEY DON’T LIKE – to win either. And that’s why the lowest common denominator wins each year.