UK Series 5 review: Big Brother Gets Evil (10 yrs on)

[Brekkie]

As promised, a repost of my summary of the fifth series:

Part 1 of 3:

LAUNCH: From Friends to Enemies
The 12 HMs enter live after the last ever episode of Friends. C4
plugged BB with lines such as "From Friends to Enemies" and started
off by sending in homosexual Marco, who can't stand Asylum Seekers,
followed by homophobic asylum seeker Ahmed. Next is Jason, wearing
just a thong, followed by gay hairdresser Dan - who claims straight
men fall for him. "The most intelligent housemate ever" Stuart is
followed by bad boy Victor.

The girls arrive and it's blonde bombshell Vanessa, bisexual (and not
to bright) Emma and then Kitten - who gets booed on the way in when
she jumps onto the stage to find her girlfriend and gives V signs to
the press and crowd. Wanabee glamour model Michelle is followed by
nice girl Shell - and finally the housemates with the biggest secret -
Nadia.

Every year the press suggest a transexual will enter the house -
every year they are wrong - until now. Nadia is a post-op transexual
from Portugal who is entering the house to find acceptance as a woman.

A few twists are revealed - an alarm call to wake housemates every
morning - one dorm with ten beds - and only 12 housemates - with
every evictee taking their bed with them. And finally the biggest
twist - the winner could get nothing. The prize fund begins at
£100,000 (tax free). Every Saturday housemates face a task to hold on
to the prize fund - with upto £10,000 wiped off if they fail.

WEEK 1: Hell's Kitten
Kitten got booed in and broke rules from the start - refusing to go
to the diary room, breaking furniture and climbing on the roof. She
also failed to participate in the first task - a vote to determine
who wouldn't get their suitcase for the entire stay in the house -
and therefore had to live off others belongings. Within four days she
had two strikes, with BB then issuing an ultimatem that if Kitten got
a third strike, BB would evict any Housemate of their discretion. A
plate painting task led to Kitten painting on the mirrors - her third
strike - and eventually her eviction. But she refused to leave, so
Big Brother began docking the prize fund for every second she was in
the house at the rate of £10,000 a minute. When she left it stood at
£91,000.

WEEK 2: The housemates nominated for eviction this week are...
Saturday and the HMs get a childrens party complete with sickly food.
Then a couple of hours later, they get their first Saturday
Challenge. One HM must answer questions in the diary room while
another spins the remaining HMs on a roundabout in the garden. Each
correct answer means one HM can leave the roundabout - each incorrect
answer means £1000 is removed from the prize fund. Stu answers 5
correctly, meaning the prize fund drops to £86,000.

Ahmed, Emma and Michelle are nominated for eviction - but are they.
On Friday night Davina crosses to the house and reveals that tonight
there will be a double eviction. Later she tells Emma and Michelle to
leave - but after leaving the main house and approaching the exit
doors, they are escorted to a secret Big Brother Bedsit - where they
will work for BB, watch live feeds of the other housemates, before
returning to the HMs.

WEEK 3: Security...
During her two weeks in the house Michelle and Stu had fallen for
each other and taken their relationship to a level not seen before in
the house. Michelle watching Stu on screen in the bedsit was classic -
"No Naked Jacuzziness". They also saw a second relationship blossom
between Jungle Cat Jason and Vanessa.

However, it was the Jungle Cat's (Jason, Victor, Ahmed) disccussions
about Marco's Harem (Marco, Emma, Michelle, Nadia) that irritated the
bedsit duo - with Jason and Victor constantly bitching. They got
revenge by giving Victor cold showers and egging Jason's bed. They
also got to make a chilli cake for the HMs.

On Day 20 they returned - hidden under serving domes on the table.
Then it kicked off. Marco had the nerve to sing infront of Jason
which escalated into a full blown fight between Emma and Victor.
Nadia and Vanessa also attacked each other, while Shell collapses in
fright. BB sent in security, seperated the housemates into different
rooms. The six involved got formal warnings and Emma was sent to the
bedsit and later removed. But the classic shot of the series - the
camera zoomed passed the housemates, taking the security guard in the
shot then zooming in on the writing on the wall - "No More War".

More follows...

 

[Brekkie]

Part 2 of 3:

WEEK 4: At last, you've kicked someone out
With two housemates thrown out and the bedsit twist, no actual public
eviction had taken place - until week 4. Daniel and Vanessa had been
nominated ahead of the Big Fight, but the eviction was delayed a
week - with Vanessa getting the boot.

WEEK 5: The Judas Kiss
Big Brother gathers the housemates on the sofas - "This is Big
Brother - can Becki come to the diary room?" Becki who? She arrives
from the bedroom and heads to the diary room passed the stunned
housemates. Then the evil twist arrives.
New HMs are immune from nomination - or nominating. However, BB gave
Becki the power to nominate one HM to automatically face the public
vote - she had to do this by kissing them once on both cheek. She
choose Michelle - and when Michelle discovered she was up for
eviction with the rest of the Harem - Marco and Nadia - she flipped,
thinking people were nominating her. In fact, she hadn't received a
single nomination that week. Marco was evicted.

WEEK 6: Silence is golden
The latest Saturday Challenge saw the housemates split into farmers
and cows, with farmers guiding each blindfolded cow around an assault
course using a cattle prod. EVIL - but very funny!

The housemates went back to school for a week as part of their task.
In a spelling test, BB asks Shell to spell Graduate, "as in You are a
Graduate with first class honours". Shell breaks down in tears on
confirmation of the news and gets a graduation party - complete with
the obligatory Shell streak across the garden - but despite this they
failed their task and lose next weeks shopping.

However - they rebel. On Thursday morning they wake up and remain
silent for the whole day. BB annoys them with random alarms, making
areas out of bounds and refusing to speak to housemates in the diary
room. Then they take drastic action. A fancy dress Party in week 3
saw Stuart fall in love with a cowboy hat - he wore the outfit for
four days. BB eventually got the hat back then offered him the chance
to buy one - but replaced it with a ridiculously large hat - followed
by a tiny hat. Tonight, BB isn't happy - so burns Stuarts beloved hat.

Michelle, Shell, Dan, Nadia and Stu then take the diary room camera
hostage and try to burn it - earning Michelle her "first and final"
warning. They remained silent for most of the day - but it was very
entertaining

New housemates never win - always get evicted by the public at the
first opportunity - and usually get nominated at the first hurdle. In
Becki's case - all of this was true.



WEEK 7: Big Brother Boot Camp
The housemates are sitting on the sofa when a soldier abseils into
the garden - leaving a message before making a quick exit. Michelle
gets the message and is instructed to eat it before going to the
diary room. In the diary room she is told she is now a sergeant - and
must choose one other sergeant to join her. The other housemates will
be privates. She chooses ex-Navy member Jason.

Michelle and Jason are then told a secret message the privates must
not find out. If the privates fail this weeks task, the two sergeants
will automatically be up for eviction. If the privates pass the task -
they will be up for eviction. The sergeants are not permitted to
help in the tasks, but are responsible for ensuring the tasks are
completed. In this time a secret Officer's Mess is made for the
sergeants, and after Michelle uses her powers to get Stu and Victor
to strip, then kisses Stu, BB reminds her it is not approprite for
a "sergeant to kiss her privates".

Painting coal, all night sentry duty, cleaning boots and peeling
potatoes prooved to much for Ahmed - who claiming he had a cold
refused to help. Michelle had a slanging match with him, asking why
he was in the house, with Ahmed attempting to stage a military coup
and take Michelle's position.

However, despite Ahmed, the privates passed the task and were then
shown a clip of Michelle and Jason learning of the twist. Therefore
the six privates are up for eviction - and Ahmed isn't happy
about "selfish" Michelle - who flips out and throws a flip-flop at
him. However, the public take Michelles side and vote out Ahmed.


Final part follows:

 

[Brekkie]

Part 3 of 3:

WEEK 8: Fish Guts and Wedding Vows
The prize challenge sees housemates lose £15,000 by incorrectly
answering questions which then lands them in a pool of fishguts.
Michelle gets the chance to reclaim it by drinking a fish milkshake -
but being a strict Veggie refuses.

The weekly task is a wedding. Housemates must choose a bride, groom,
bridesmaid, best man, Father of the bride, clergyman and chorister.
Michelle wants to marry Stu - but to her annoyance he turns her down.
Therefore, it's Victor and Shell walking up the ailse, with Michelle
relegated to Chorister.

However, the wedding doesn't go as planned. Victor indicates he wants
to talk to Shell about being her being a member of "the get-a-long
gang", and Shell reacts furiously at his moody behaviour towards her -
calling him a "****ing ****" - to which he takes great offence.
Hence, as the bride and groom didn't make it to their first dance,
the task is failed. However, the marriage is consumated under the
wedding table by Michelle and Stuart.

And as for Michelles singing - BB mocks her the next day when she
breaks into song by accompanying her with howling dogs.

And as for the happy couple, married until eviction did them part.
Well, eviction parted them on Friday with a shock result seeing
Victor voted out over hot favourite Jason.

WEEK 9: Chained
The housemates are chained in pairs for three days - heavyweights Dan
and Nadia, middleweights Michelle and Jason and featherweights Shell
and Stuart. They can only detach themselves for visits to the diary
room or toilet, and must do things for each other such as brush each
others teeth.

The chaining of the housemates really brings out Michelles jealousy.
She'd already been labelled a bunny boiler - but now she got worse,
and hence when the public got the chance to vote out a housemate of
their choice, Jason survived once again and Michelle got the boot.

WEEK 10: The Final Countdown: Public vote for winner"
An evil challenge combining all others to determine the final
jackpot - fish guts, manure, stinging nettles and a roundabout were
all involved, but after the housemates completed it successfully, BB
told them the challenge would now begin. 10 shots of salt-water, fish
guts and cod-liver oil were lined up for the housemates to drink.
They had to drink them all in 30minutes to add £10,000 to the prize
fund. Stu was the hero - drinking 3 of the 6 fish guts - and the
final prize fund was determined - £63,500.

This year Big Brother has played with the housemates. They hid a
newspaper behind a mirror in view of the HMs saying "BB Mole tops
Poll", creating conspiracy theories in the house.

Big Brother also asked one housemate to go to the diary room. Nadia
volunteered.
BB: "How are you today Nadia"
N: Fine thanks.
BB: "Thankyou Nadia. You are not allowed to discuss this conversation
with your fellow housemates. Breaking this rule will be taken
extremely seriously. You may now leave the diary room"

Also, on Wednesday night BB speaks again
BB: "This is Big Brother - can one housemate come to the diary room"
Jason heads off for the door
BB: "This is Big Brother - not you Jason"
The other HMs then run to the door
BB: "This is Big Brother - not you Stuart"
Shell and Nadia then head for the door
BB: "This is Big Brother - Big Brother would rather not speak to
Shell today"
Then they finally let Nadia in.

FINAL FIVE: From silence to tears
On Wednesday night - two days before the final, the housemates won a
party by completing a time capsule. However, the music of the party
was only a front to disguise the noise of the crowd outside - a
surprise eviction of the housemate in last place (viewers have been
voting for the winner) would take place.

"This is Big Brother - would Stuart come to the diary room". He
thinks they want a chat - we know different and Stuart is evicted via
the diary room, unknown to the housemates. He gets a fantastic
response from the crowd with cheers and chants of Stuart - and as the
other housemates twig he's gone, they wonder if he's won it - as that
is a "winners reception", and they all thought he was the favourite.

However, he hasn't - and on Friday night the final four leave.

Shell is the first to be evicted, followed by Dan, leaving Jason and
Nadia - key members of the Jungle Cats and Marco's Harem - to go Head
to Head.

Nadia started the series as 50/1 to win, while Jason has made a huge
comeback as he was favourite to be evicted two weeks earlier.

The winner is revealed - it's Nadia. Jason is then kicked out and get
the first boos of the night, but the warm reception for a tearful
Nadia is only drowned out by the numerous fireworks. A shaking Nadia
then heads upto the outdoor stage to be interviewed with Davina and
spots her tearful Lip Gloss Bitches - the rest of Marco's Harem - and
then another surprises gets the tears going again - her mum. She
hasn't seen her in a year - and last time she was her mums eldest son.

A worthy winner - not in it for fame or money - but just to be
accepted by a group of strangers as a woman. She's also been accepted
by the British public - and changes many attitudes towards
transexuals.

A few highlights from the series and it's goodbye from host Davina -
who by the end of the show is also in tears.


THE END

A review of EVIL Celebrity Big Brother is posted here: http://forum.behindbigbrother.com/showthread.php?t=46

 

[Brekkie]

Was trying to find the relevant thread but this is the closest I could find - it's ten years this week (well, last Wednesday actually - but I forgot), since the twist that was probably the turning moment for BBUK - the Big Brother Bedsit. As summed up above it began with a fake double eviction, with two HMs then sent to watch the HMs 24/7 in secret for 5 days. They then returned and we got Fight Night as all hell broke loose in the house - something which if happened today would probably have led to half the house being kicked out. At the time though Emma was pretty much made the scapegoat and the only one to get ejected - though there easily could have been 4 more ejections, including eventual winner Nadia.

Here it is for you to watch again - it's still quite a tough watch all these years on and if your experience of BB has never gone beyond BB Australia you probably shouldn't watch it. Indeed it highlights how things have changed since BBUK went to C5 too - though this footage does seem to be a combination of action from the live feeds (which eventually were blocked) and the highlights the following day.

(They work in the UK - hope they do elsewhere).