Well, I knew it was coming, but watching this now is completely different to watching it as a young adolescent. The turkey slap. It's a pretty serious topic so I will keep it simple and not go into too much detail as these types of conversations aren't always the best to have on the internet. I've spent many years thinking it was this incident that allowed Camilla to last the distance of the show, I've changed my mind on that but I will admit after watching the day 71 daily show I could not help but feel a huge amount of sympathy for her. Whilst she does describe the incident as playful with no malice intended it is made clear there was a level of discomfort felt and a line had been crossed. My heart breaks for her as I watched her express how guilty she felt. It is a really uncomfortable episode to watch, I didn't find much joy in watching her so upset.
This episode is probably one of the most important as it really reminded me that these people are human and they're feeling emotions at such an amplified level it is impossible to understand or even fathom how they all felt during this, especially Camilla. Hearing them discuss their worries for the boys facing the outside world made me think more about how this is an edited show, people nominate each other but they all still resect one another and feel a bond that takes years to form. It is really unfortunate Camilla had to innocently be put in the middle of this, at 30:19 you can see immediately when Big Brother mentioned the word "incident" she immediately knew what it was referring to. It's heartbreaking to watch someone feel guilty for being honest about a situation due to not wanting to get her friends in more trouble. If it is the case that she gained sympathy from this then I will say this, she rightfully did. Not because she was involved but because of what I learnt of her as a person from it. She showed a real human side to her, a person who thinks of others and sort out to ensure the two boys were not painted in a bad light. I respect her a lot for this and for someone so young she handed herself so well.
I think Big Brother made the right decision in evicting John and Ashley. Regardless how Camilla, the two boys, fans or anyone else views the situation they still broke a cardinal rule of the Big Brother house and he had to act accordingly. For the sake of the show, it would have looked horrible for them to keep them in the house. From a moral, ethical and procedural point of view there was no other option. I understand completely these two boys meant no harm and I feel bad that they had to get themselves into something so serious also so young. Ashley especially, being so young and quiet, I can't imagine the embarrassment he would have felt. It is a really yucky situation that just halts the entire season. The situation is ugly all round and I feel sorry for everyone that was involved. It sucks for Camilla that this is what she is remembered for. It sucks that it messed around with several housemate's final placements and it sucks that it assisted in the death of Big Brother's reputation in Australia.
Being older now I see the severity of the situation more than I did when I was a kid. I remember watching the footage with my mum and not understanding why she was shocked watching it. It does look bad on camera and being in the same age bracket as the three of them it brings a pit to my stomach to think about the consequences they each had to endure after the incident.
My next point may be controversial but in a real sense, like Gretel says about Uncut, the show does to a degree replicate what people are like in real life. People in their twenties tend to joke around when it comes to sexual conversions and actions. Sometimes it's tame and other times lines are crossed. When you cast a series of young horny people and tease the theme of sex stuff like this is probably well likely to occur. Does it make it okay? Absolutely not. But Big Brother is a real-life simulator and these events will occur if you provide the necessary equipment. I always used to say this event was not the show's fault, I used to say production is not in control of what these housemates do. Regardless of that, they still set out a specific cast that was likely to misbehave. It is just a really ugly incident that should never have happened but did, where two young boys made a very stupid decision.
