As always Alex, succinct and to the point. Have to agree with you.

Nice to see the John discussions are starting. We don’t really need a structure for this do we as anything goes? I know this is an appreciation thread and it has rules but there are quite a few things that John did in the house that I don’t particularly like though obviously I think his good points outweigh his bad points by quite a way. John had arguments and incidents with quite a few of the other housemates and I guess we will talk about them quite a bit as well. Though they may very well be lurkers reading this and we don’t want anyone getting sent on a holiday!

John’s popularity within the house: I thought John was a popular housemate until about week 5 and then things changed, he went through a paranoid phase, he was constantly bickering with Ben, he had the fight with Corin when he and Nathan were packing their cases as they faced eviction, him and Josie had the crabeyes fight, then the Caoimhe / Josie thing happened and he was caught in the middle of that. He had rows with Iffy and Keeley to boot all through the parrot task. Then his massive spat with Sam Pepper. When I think of that fight and the ‘You can use all the other people but you won't use me’ Quote I kind of think that was his mind set and the anger towards Sam was the same level as the anger towards Josie over that e-mail she sent him asking his to tell his fans to leave her alone, and retweet the vote for Josie in the plus size model thing when she had been slating him in the magazines for weeks. I can see him ranting to his mates the exact same quote. When I think of all the arguments he was involved in during his time in the BB house I was quite surprised that he only picked up 16 nominations throughout the whole series. He did 10 weeks the same as Dave give or take the four extra days Dave did for surviving the four way eviction and making the final. John picked up his first nomination from Corin in week 3. In week 4 he faced the public vote he received 4 nominations, one from Corin, one form Nathan, one from Steve and one from Ben. I think by then he other housemates kind of had enough of the side of him that could explode at anytime and at anything.

Steve nominated John the most, four times but then changed his vote in the face to face nominations. Was he scared of a John outburst at him? Or as Steve was the last to vote he went with Mario and JJ to make sure they were both up which if he had voted for John and Josie like he had done over the past few weeks it would have meant Steve himself would have been up. Corin and Ben both nominated him three times, again Corin didn’t throw that bucket of gunk over his head, though to be fair to her she hadn’t nominated him for the previous three weeks.

Not sure if the housemates where scared to face an eviction with John? Agree that they would have known how popular he was with the public especially after Andrew Stone and other outsiders let it be known he had quite a big fan base.

I guess if there was no save and replace the smart move from the other housemates once they knew that John and Josie were so popular would have been to have put John up for eviction against Josie. Now that would have been interesting.

I think BB can play a huge part in how the nominations go. In BB12 I think they were going to give Jay and Anton immunity when they put them both in the crypt. Let them watch the house and then replace themselves with a housemate each. Problem with that was that the fans cottoned on pretty quickly, the forums, twitter, the spin off show was bombarded by Aaron fans and Aaron fans would have gone mad if Aaron had faced eviction probably with Harry. Aaron clearly had the biggest fan base, his fans spent huge amounts of money on saving him and Aaron had a week off for a change there was no way channel 5 could have allowed Anton or Jay to pick Aaron which is why I think they allowed them to choose two others to face the vote with them rather than instead of them. Thinking back now there was a week in BB11 when Caoimhe, Keeley, Corin and Rachel were up for eviction. Caoimhe walked and was due to be replaced by the next housemate that had received the most amount of nominations abit like when Jemma walked and Harry was put up in her place in BB12. The housemate that would have taken Caoimhe’s place would have been John but BB decided to take Keeley’s nominations away from her due to her talking about nominations. [Another rule they apply when it suits them] And not replace Caoimhe with any other housemate. During that task Keeley broke her ankle, she had to leave the house, instead of just letting Corin and Rachel face the public vote they abandoned the eviction completely. Always thought that was a strange decision.

@Annie. No need to look at clips unless of course you want to look! I watched John audition tape about 10 days ago and thought he was so different on that to how I remembered him in the house just thought it would be a good place to start. Do you have a link to the clips? James’ Dailymotion account is still open. Vimeo have quite a few clips as well though they are mostly John and Josie.

@Muggins. Thought and hoped that you would join in.

@Lena. Any warmer today? I don’t know why but I always seem to find new houses tend to be warmer than older ones? We are moving in the summer and have been looking at property too but as they are so pricey down south compared to Leicester we may have to make do with a flat or a really small new build that is miles away from anywhere and has a train track yards away.

@Lindy and Gorgy. Wait till next week when the Seagulls arrive in town. Craig Mackail - Smith will show Andy Carroll how to score goals!

Khyra

I wasn't clear enough when I said feared him, typed it in a rush. I meant as time went on I think some avoided angering him, they knew how he could just go and go and I do think there were situations where they just did things to avoide a John rant.

The bathroom convos. Well everybody talks behind peoples' backs, it's human nature. In a way we are doing it now and it's done every day all over these forums. Was it malicious, no I don't think so, in that - as Jonathan has said - he usually confronted the person afterwards. I often thought it was a way to clarify his thoughts, a discussion before the main event, to get feedback and perhaps see if what he was thinking about a situation was wrong. As we all do.


BIB - I think that's so true yes.


I agree that there were a lot of comparisons between John and Aaron - I thought so almost from the first day, and with how BB 'treated' them for want of a better word.

I do think Josie became BB's favourite and I do think Josie was the natural choice for the winner really - like it or not she was involved in much of what happened in the House, the big storyline; and if you had to choose between the two parties in the big storyline, the obvious choice would be Josie I would think. I don't think the reasons we like John are reasons that would have made him a BB winner.


Re. BIB my recollection is that John really chased a friendship/relationship with her initially. Josie was/is a sociable creature, was able to get along with all the HMs, could float from group to group; John seemed to find it hard integrating, finding a group he belonged to - didn't seem to be too much of a joiner. I remember thinking he was a clinger-on in the Josie/Govan friendship ... or that's how it came across. He needed a group to join and they seemed the obvious one to join, the others were a group of girls (Shabby/Ife/Keeva) or Ben/Dave with Mario fawning over Ben, not a group I think he wanted to be part of. Govan and Josie were funny, nearer his age group and more like him than the others. I think he needed Govan/Josie more than they needed him, initially at least.

Agree with that. I think he liked the fact that with Govan and Josie he could be quite bitchy especially when talking about Rachael, they gave him somewhere to go to vent about her and although Govan and Josie both liked Rachael and disagreed with the way John spoke about her they didn’t dislike him for how he felt. Didn’t like Govan myself thought he was a bit of a sneak and in the two weeks he was there caused quite a few rows especially between Ben and Shabby. I think for Josie it was a blessing is disguise when Govan was evicted.

Thought John was OK in the Ben, Dave, Mario and Sunshine clique until he discovered that Ben had nominated Sunshine. He always said he liked loyal people. I think he lost all trust for Ben from that point onwards.

Also agree when you say John chased the friendship with Josie. Maybe that is why Iffy thought he fancied her? I was watching part of the crabeyes fight and there is a clip where Iffy is telling Corin that she thinks John fancy’s Josie. Steve is there as well and he thinks it is more of a brother / sister fight than a I fancy you fight.

BIB 1 - yes I do think it was one of the best thing to happen for her; had he stayed it would have been a bitch-fest from beginning to end, and would have done Josie no favours I think.

BIB 2 - yes true, I'd forgotten about Sunshine! I think Ben leaving was the best thing for Dave too, we wouldn't have had so many of those hysterical late nights between John and Dave if Ben had remained in the house.

Right, off to play cuddles with Laura, catch you tomorrow Enjoying the discussion

PS: Shem's posted a really good analysis of John's background next door

yes he could bitch, but I did like ther fact that he did usually try and resolve things with everyone to their face...



I agree that John definitely wouldnt play ball with BB,....it was so obvious towards the end....

and he was definitely good looking and articulate.....




John was at a massive disadvantage....he was australian in a british BB....and there were so many things he didnt understand....the slang...the references ...the tv shows and music spoken about....and even the structure and the way C4 ran the show....


Mario helped him a great deal, especially with understanding how the show worked.... there was a real brotherly friendship there sometimes.....but....I dont think John ever particularly liked Ben or understood why Mario felt the need to chase him so much....


I think he also saw Josie as a comfortable friend...someone who he could ally himself with....and also as Josie and Mario had met earlier in the selection process...Josie and Mario were fairly close friends....to start with....

When I first watched...Mario, Josie and John were fairly often together....


I thought John was actually more sociable than Josie at the beginning and better at floating around and talking to everyone....

And I also think John liked Josie fairly quickly....and saw in her some kind of kindred spirit......

I think in the first few weeks there was some kind of instant attraction.....between them both....


when was that skit Josie played about being pregnant...and picking one of the housemates as the father.....that was pretty early on...and she picked John out as the one to father her pretend baby.....



I agree about Govan..but he was pretty young and shown in an awful light by BB on the week he was evicted.......and also agreed with John about Racheal, she was giving HM like Ben and Dave, filthy looks ....



it is an interesting picture of John described.elsewhere...and in the main I would agree....he was a priviledged and lucky only child in many ways.... never having to worry about money or financial cares....

but ....He had had to cope with the death of his father....and and had to cope with the physical issues of having major problems with his knee....which meant he had to give up his childhood dreams of being a footballer... And his father was his football coach..which must have made it even harder

this must have hit him pretty hard..cos it meant he changed his name to achilles and seemed to have gone off the rails a bit....didnt he do something pretty stupid like crashing his car....

And I think his relationship with his father must have been difficult..... I have no idea if this is true or not....but his father sounded as if he was a dominant, driven and very determined man.... A real mans man.... who wasnt that impressed by his sons interest in clothes, fashion and grooming....!!!!

Ok so it does sound as if they were getting closer to each other just before he died..... but that could almost have been worse..



I didnt think we ever found out what John was like at school....or what his favourite subjects were ...apart from sport.....
but I always wondered if he was some kind of frustrated artist....or someone who had spent so much of their lives focussed on being a sportsman, that they didnt know what on earth to do when that path closed to them....

I thought myself...., He could have done with going to university or similar to grow up and mature a bit and work out who and what he wanted to do....

Khyra, I fear you may be right!

It should be a good match - looking forward to it

Lindy xx

Lovely post augusta, really caring about John

Wow....interesting posts to read,and i read them all,even though some of them were looooong


When i saw John's audition tape,i thought this was another wannabe,dull pretty boy!Shabbs was the only one i liked a bit lol

I thought him and Rachael were going to be another Chris&SofieBut to my surprise,he couldn't stand her,poor girl,i felt sorry for her,John was imo totally our of order,with the way he behaved towards her,and talked behind her back....especially to Gov&Jose!That situation got me interested in him tbh,i got his point,but didn't agree with the way he dealt with it.

That was John's Achilles heels throughout his time in the house,took him time to get his point across,without getting "angry",he had short fuse,but he could be so patient and calm at other times too....

I don't think housemates feared him,but knew he had a pretty good fanbase....

I liked his weird relationship with Sunshine!Also,enjoyed Doomy&GloomyAlso Dave,was the only one that could listen to his rantings,without trying to change the subject lol....He also gave him some good advice,loved their relation,especially when Ben got evicted.

John often said what most of them were thinking,but couldn't voice them,nominations,and house harmony might've been the reason

He could be brutally honest at times,and when you're in an environment like that,subtlety can come in handy.

He could've easily made it to the final,but he was too controversial,and was rebellious against BB.He was a great housemate,and i'm not being biased.

He rarely talked about his personal stuff,the only person that got him talking about it a bit,was Jose.

Another good analyse there,Augusta!

Am watching Dancing on Ice - lovely performance from Jorgie

Off to watch the Baftas now x

Do you think John will enjoy DOI?Wonder if he's good at skiing?But then he can't even swim......

Hi All

What do you make of this.

Paul Mineo @TheMinZz
Someone help me find @uk_JohnJames_oz full bb intro on YouTube..?

I'll say what a lazy bu....He can type John's name,and i'm sure the video will be there somewhere

Is he making him a video?Or wants to watch it for fun?

He could be applying himself.

Anyhow why should he look himself when there are a lot of John fans willing to oblige and send the infor on

Could be,but then he could ask John himself!

Agree,i would do the same if i was in his position,save me searching for it,and as there a re quite a few John videos on the net,he could be searching for a while!

Lol
a little fan vid
Maybes it's research for this thread

Who knows?

You think he wants to join our discussions about Johns time in the house?Happy days

The more the merrier!

Yeah, that would have to be really difficult

i remember having a convo with a british guy once and i mentioned something about putting things in a press (as in cupboard) and we were totally not getting each other, it took a few minutes for us to figure what the f*ck was happening in this convo, just a weird example of how things like that can kind of throw you or something.

Maybe he's lurking

hello

Agree....He had troubles understanding Rachel 2No wonder she get on his nerves, and she was loud


Oh,we should be careful what we say about John thenWould be good if one of his mates could join in,but then they might get unnecessary pm etc...

It's odd that in some ways he's very open, but then he's really private in other ways, which makes it even more odd that he did BB in the first place

He is odd!

He's a huge BB fan,so getting on the show would always been a dream for him,but more so after his Father passed away,think he was more eager to go on BB,even if it meant one miles away from his home.....think it was something he had to do....imo.