‘Celebrity’ Big Brother – Launch Night Thoughts

September 10th 2010 Big Brother was buried by Channel 4 and given one hell of a big send off – Flash forward three hundred and forty days and here we are again. Big Brother is BACK and it seems the only thing we said goodbye to last year was Davina.

The last words of Big Brother on Channel 4 were “Big Brother Will Get Back To You” – and get back to us it certainly has! Channel 4 axed it and I bet all eyes were on Channel 5 last night and they were waiting to see if they could create a show better than them. Unfortunately, I think Channel 4 will be letting out a big sigh of relief today. The line-up is relatively unknown, as such, a lot of the public will not watch because of the “they aren’t celebrities” thing.

But who cares if they are celebrities or not? To be honest I would say I knew who 7 or 8 of them were out of 10, but that doesn’t bother me. What matters is how much entertainment will make over the next three weeks!

Last nights launch of Big Brother was Fives third highest rated program EVER. With an average of 5.2 million viewers and a peak audience of more than 6 million. This is amazing for Five and on a par with what Four have been getting on launch night for the last couple of celebrity series. However, with no live feed, I predict that Five will start to hemorrhage viewers who will lose interest quickly.

Anyway, enough with the stuff that matters to the production team and now to the launch itself! Brian Dowling took over the reigns and did a fair job, his nerves clearly showed throughout the show and I can’t blame him for that, this would have been the most nerve-wracking thing he has ever done!

I love flashy lights... This did not disappoint!

Brian came out to one of the most impressive outdoor Big Brother sets that there has ever been, filled with massive screens and graphics, an amazing entrance (I loved that circular door!) and a cool although strange twisting platform above the curling staircase to the house itself.

They kept the theme tune and the title sequence followed previous styles used by Channel 4 although for the first time little shots of the housemates can be seen in the titles.

Something I didn’t like was the way they didn’t really build up the show that much or do any sort of house tour. The introduction was very quick and before you knew it Kerry Katona was strutting her way through the famous doors.

The Housemates

So, Kerry Katona is first in. I implore you, public, do not be fooled by the sweetness and light persona she puts across. I personally find her so fake, she won I’m a Celebrity a few years ago after her life was on the rocks and vowed that the show had made her better and she is trying to pull the same “I’m on a journey” card again. Be under no illusion, she is only here for the money as she’s in quite a bit of debt, although it will probably go straight up her nose.

Next up, Tara Reid. I have never seen American Pie shockingly so I didn’t know who she was. She seemed a little out of it though and I’m not sure she knows what she’s letting herself in for. But hopefully she was act up to her VT and be a good housemate. Tara was followed by the Gypsy Wedding guy Paddy. Again, I didn’t watch that program either so I wasn’t aware of who he was. As far as I can tell though, he looks extremely boring which surprises me as I would have thought he would have something about him. Maybe it’s too early to call.

Next up, Amy Childs, star of TOWIE, another show I haven’t seen, and based on the clip they showed during Big Brother I am absolutely relieved that I’ve stayed clear of it… She seems very annoying and is probably another one putting on a persona. But obviously she is well-known and so is TOWIE, so we will see!

Darryn Lyons followed up Amy and I’ve only ever seen Darryn ironically on Big Brother spin-off shows Little Brother and Big Mouth. Quite a dull signing for me personally (What was he wearing?) but I hope to be proved wrong. Next, Sally Bercow, instantly she is my favourite, she seemed the only one that wasn’t shaking like a leaf on the way in and actually sounded interesting and that she was going to be herself! I can’t wait to see more of her and see if she will be the character I think she will be.

The actor Lucien Lavenscount was seventh and he will probably fit the role of the dull person who stays under the radar for the duration of the show, will end up in the final but not make the top three. There is always one of this type of person on Big Brother unfortunately but I’d like to be proved wrong.

I think somebody needs to call LA, they sent us the wrong Pamela! I was expecting Pamela Anderson and instead we get somebody else from Baywatch. Hm, OK, fair enough then. Pamela Bach-Hasselhoff it is, I have nothing to say on her other than she seemed like she had taken a few too many drugs last night. She was smashed! She didn’t even realise who Brian Dowling was or that he had been in Big Brother (twice!), so hopefully she is as crazy as she makes out, that might be good television.

Amazing stage!

The penultimate housemate was model Bobby Sabel.

Yep, Bobby Sabel.

No, I haven’t heard of him either, this guy didn’t even have a Wikipedia page before last night. He is obviously only there because Five want to make the show “sexy” and are trying to make them get it on in there. Very dull unfortunately. In the pre-interview with Brian he was asked if he would like to see some women in there, his response “Who wouldn’t, I’m a red-blooded male after all” – Er, Brian wouldn’t, he likes dick. Plus I’m pretty sure that it isn’t tomato sauce running through his veins. Dull dick.

Finally, Jedward! Bringing some chaos in to the show, many people won’t like them but they are perfect Big Brother material. I’m interested particularly in seeing how long they can carry on the “crazy” persona they have adopted, they can’t be like that 24/7! Plus I’m looking forward to seeing them after being in the pool or after sleeping with their hair down.

So, not a fantastic mix and probably the worst celebrity line up that Big Brother has ever had. But I remain hopeful. I believe Five will make this a good series regardless, although no matter how much I try, it’s hard to get in to this series without the live feed.

It was a great launch, although the mix of people could have been better. Everything else was brilliant though. I believe that Big Brother will put in two extra housemates in the next few days, possibly tonight. I just have a feeling and nothing to base this on. Fingers crossed for Charlie Sheen hey! Maybe they will put him in once they realise that they forgot to put any celebrities in this year.

Favourites

From favourite to least favourite, in order, here is the list of who the betting websites say will win this series: Jedward, Amy, Lucien, Kerry, Bobby, Paddy, Sally, Pamela, Tara and Darryn.

From favourite to least favourite, in order, he is the list of who I like and dislike. As the series goes on I’ll go in to more depth here: Sally, Jedward (and that is about it for who I like…), Amy, Pamela, Darryn, Tara, Lucien, Kerry, Paddy and Bobby.