It's as simple as that really isn't it?

It was the same last year when they just kept the camera pointed at Jordan sitting on a rock smoking fags all day.

It doesn't matter what you do. If you are being hilarious, they can just cut the sound, then you are boring to the viewers.

Or you can touch a tree, and present that as a "highlight".

Yes, I suppose you could argue that Natalie has been more entertaining than some of the others. But I believe that entertainment value can only be quantified due to comparisons with edits of the others that the show decides to present to you.

If they focused on Huggy picking his nose a lot, or Sheila eating rice in a "funny way" or something, they can make that into an interesting personality quirk, with Ant and Dec pissing themselves at irrelevance such as that......and that "presentation" communicates effectively to the viewer.

Think about it.

If someone could see the future, and told you that you could look forward to one of the main highlights of the show being somebody touching a tree...what would you honestly think?
Truthfully?

The people in the camp on previous shows maintained that the people they found hugely entertaining were Chris Bisson and Mike Read...the people who the viewers perceived as the most boring.

It's not just the editing either,..it's how the presentation of the edits come across that affects perception.

So all it takes is for the camera to simply be on a contestant.
Then if that contestant isn't actually that entertaining at all,..then no worries......the actual presentation of the edits of that person are what make something entertaining out of absolutely nothing at all.

All you have to do is seek attention,..then if the show wants to give you that attention then you can be made into something more interesting than what you actually are.

It's hard to tell on this occasion if certain people have been deliberately edited out to favour somebody else. Or if the show is simply hyping Natalie up a lot because everyone else is simply genuinely dull.
But what i do know, is that there has been much, much more drops in sound this year, and more visual cut aways from the camp.
And BOTH of Natalie's sisters have been doing the rounds promoting Natalie on various TV shows.
BOTH sisters.
This could only have taken a bit of arm twisting and a preplanned intention for a campaign.
Sounds to me like a concerted publicity campaign with some determined PR behind it.

Natalie's lesser known sister; "Lee" actually came out with the cliched reality TV lines "With Nat,..what you see is what you get"...and that other old chestnut "Nat wears her heart on her sleeve"
I'm not lying...Lee actually came out with those exact lines. They are predictable lines that always get blurted out when canvassing for support for the most desperate of reality show contestants,...but they are effective because people accept them at face value and believed them without question in the past, whover they were used to help support.

Comments I expect to hear doing the rounds in a few days time.

"She irritated me in the first couple of days,....but credit to her for sticking it out"

"She was the one who was really up against it, but has started to show much strength and confidence in recent days"

"She's been so brave"

"It is quite an acheivement for Natalie to be the last female left in there considering what she was like at the start"

"She's been sooo entertaining"

"She's been wonderful.....a true diva/drama queen"

"Her journey has probably been the toughest out of all of them, considering the fears she had to conquer"

But my favourite will be this one;
"What an amazing transformation. If you think back to the first few days, nobody would have expected her to come on leaps and bounds like this"

I can promise you that you will not hear any of those uttered from me.

It is interesting that qualities that are valuable in a group situation are exactly those which will come across as boring on a TV show such as this. For example the ability to be conciliatory, and defuse arguments ... to be calm and laid back in the face of adversity ... the best human qualities, and the worst for a bit of cheap TV show drama.

So the most important people to the group will be largely ignored in the TV coverage. In this kind of show it's the weak, the melodramatic, the needy, and the psycologically damaged all the way.

I agree Nicho.

I'd also add to what you say, by saying that some contestants make the catastrophic mistake by thinking that if they are seen to be the leader of the group,..or the "alpha-male"...that particular role will be an advantage for them


Some of them think it's a great idea to be the group leader and it's automatically assumed that it will help them win.

Yeah, right, sure it will.

Mind you I think contestants are generally getting a bit wiser to this error nowadays, so often opt for the "peacekeeper" role more often now instead.
But like you say...that's now boring...so a new angle to gain an advantage is needed nowadays.

Making out that you're being bullied, and blatantly pointing that out is a popular trend nowadays.

Brilliant post.

Like you Mirage, I won't dare utter those words. First, because I can't stand the sight of her. And second, Alrightmate will track us down, present the evidence and show us up for the hypocrites that we are.

So I'm cutting and pasting this thread as a reminder of the things to remember not to say this coming week.

But is it okay to say - she's remarkably cured?

Natalie's the one I've found most entertaining, and I'll say so no matter who "predicts" it.

However, I don't think it will turn out the way Alrightmate predicts. Unlike with Nadia (can't stand her) or Kerry or even Jade, opinions will not switch around for Natalie.

In another thread I said that I think it will go one of two ways with Natalie.
If she is adopting the role of "Poor little me",..I said that she will 1) either switch to the hero overcoming all the odds at some point,...or 2) will simply be too stupid to realise that's how you approach this sort of thing to win, and may think that she just has to play the sympathy card from the beginning right through until the end.

But whatever she does,....I do think that the "I'm a Celeb" producers will still try their best to present the tried and tested angle to create their "journey" story.
That would be completely independant of what Natalie does.
If they can see a way of selling that story, they will try to do so whatever Natalie does.
Skilful editing can facilitate that, as long as Natalie isn't so pathetic it's impossible to do the "journey of self-discovery" angle,...and ends up walking or something.

Because it's also possible that Natalie may well have decided to overact all this weakness, and pathetic underdog stuff, genuinely thinking that she will suddenly pick up at some point and look strong....but......
......she actually might have bitten off more than she could chew and genuinely find out it's not easy for her to do this, and as the days go on, this weak pathetic nonsense becomes less of an act and becomes more real.

I suppose someone would answer this post by saying "Natalie can't win either way then can she?"
And I'd say...."No"

Because even if she finds out that she can't suddenly rise like a Phoenix from the ashes because the experience wears her down for real...how she has behaved up until this point of time right now counts for a lot. Because many of us have already seen the false overacting already, no matter what she does from now on.
So no,...it's too late now, I suppose she can't win either way now. She's cried wolf too often. Her first week is enough to condemn her.

But as I say, even if Natalie stops playing the "Woe is me" crap, as long as there's nothing else that interesting going on, the show itself will still perpetuate easily digestible, formulaic stories if they can. They will probably continue with the Natalie and her conquering her fears story if they want to, and find that they are able to, whatever Natalie does.

All of this is moot now, if she's really left.

I'll stop watching if she's gone as well.

And as it turns out it really did get a bit too much for her,...and as it turns ou the show would find it very difficult to do the Natalie's journey story now.

She's gone.

Thank f**k for that.

Now what?

It looks like they'll have to suddenly make someone else more entertaining than what they are. And create entertainment from where there was none before.

Maybe it's suddenly going to be Sophie's story.

Err no...this thread wasn't about Natalie ,..she was just an example.

Yes, a Natalie story is redundant for them now,...but my very first post of this thread is relevant to anyone.

The faces change, but the techniques don't.

Don't worry Veri, as I said in the very first post,...they will MAKE somebody entertaining for you.

What would happen if all the contestants decided amongst themselves to remain completely silent, and just quietly and calmly go about their business ... with the absolute minimum of interaction. Unlikely, I know, but if they did it would be very interesting to see the contortions the producers go through to create stories out of it.

But would you see it? Most of us would simply switch off to something more entertaining. Out of all the series they have had, these celebs are my least favourites for entertainment.

It wouldn't be too different from what's happening now really.

Every night, Ant and Dec present the show, making out it's alll been ups and downs, trials and tribulations etc.....every single night.
And every single night they show a clip of Natalie and Sophie arguing,....as thought that one sole clip demonstrates that it's been an action packed week.

So they are sort of making "entertainment" out of nothing right now anyway.

Instead of using Natalie;s whining as a bit of a time filler, they will just focus on something else as an alternative, and then stress a lot of importance on that instead.

Natalie leaving, in itself will be used to fill a bit of time in VT clips for a few days at least.
Natalie leaving will be classified as "entertainment" in it's own right.

[quote=Alrightmate]It wouldn't be too different from what's happening now really.

Every night, Ant and Dec present the show, making out it's alll been ups and downs, trials and tribulations etc.....every single night.
And every single night they show a clip of Natalie and Sophie arguing,....as thought that one sole clip demonstrates that it's been an action packed week.

So they are sort of making "entertainment" out of nothing right now anyway.


Yes I agree, but I still think it would be really interesting if the contestants colluded in order to make this as difficult as possible ... by not speaking, not interacting etc. Not playing the game, so to speak. Of course it won't happen because they are being paid a lot of money, and want all the publicity, that comes out of playing the game.

An accurate description of Natalie.


It's the highlight of the series for me so far.

Emma