Firstly this isn't a hate thread but those complaining that Charlie should't have won and only did because she is British well I am sorry but the USA are just the same as us then, who knows of any British contestant to WIN any american reality show.

Take DWTS Katherine Jenkins and Mel B finished 2nd in their series, Kelly Osbourne finished 3rd, Heather MIlls was eliminated 5th, Jane Seymour was eliminated 7th. Thats 5 british celebrities competing without a winner.

If the USA can do it us then I am in agreement that an american should never and probably will never win a UK show.

We have the NHS, British Steel, British Gas etc. We are much more nationalised.

What I meant was we both vote for our own to win exactly the same as with the last BBAU Layla was a much better HM than Benjamin however as he was an Aussie Benjamin had to win as letting the brit win their series would have been a no-no!!!

Ahh. You meant XENOPHOBIC as opposed to Nationalised. Easy mistake to make.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Why can't we be the more sensible ones?

Also were those contests by far much better then their rivals?

I dont think they meant that actually. You can have a great sense of nationalism and be loyal to people from your own country without being xenophobic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia

Sums it up perfectly.

I think Jingoistic is perhaps a more apt term. We are generally accepting we just don't want a Johnny Foreigner to win our own reality shows.

Even though he admitted Charlie was like watching paint dry, hubby said he wanted her to win because she's British. I think he was just saying it to wind me up though!

If that's the case then should there be any American contestants on UK shows? If they don't have a fair shot at winning, then why waste their time?

Just because a Brit hasn't won an American show doesn't mean that an American shouldn't win a British show. Two wrongs do not make a right.

exactly. also, as an american myself, i will tell you americans genuinely are very fond of the english. america is traditionally a meting pot of cultures while, here, perhaps because you are an island race, you seem suspicious and resentful of 'outsiders'.

also, as the above poster says, maybe those british contestants lost because they weren't good enough. who says it has anything to do with americans not voting for them because they're british! that is nonsense!

Actually, Piers Morgan won the USA celebrity apprentice a few years back, so there's an exception right there.

Think they were going for 'nationalistic' tbh.

Was that voted for by the public though?

It still doesn't make it right if I were a contestant on British show and people voted for me just because I was British I would feel insulted over it I'd sooner lose than win on that bases

I'd be disappointed if there were no Americans in our reality shows. Most of the time they provide the best entertainment.

However - as with all the contestants (including the British ones who KNEW they stood no chance) the fee does the talking. The winning of a 'celebrity only' reality show isn't important at all. It isn't as if whoever wins SCD will give up their profession as an actor/sportsman/newsreader, etc is going to take up a new career as a dancer. Or similar ice-skating. Sure - winning IAC can give a minor boost to a 'fading' celebrity but if you're already very famous (as Charlie is in the UK) it isn't going to make a jot of difference. Ashley coming second has actually done her more good - as everyone is talking about her - and the perceived injustice of her not winning.

I doubt Ashley or all those other Americans who didn't win in previous years is all that bothered by not having a crown of banana leaves on her head!

Good point, no it wasn't.
Donald trump decides the winner.

In fact Americans are far more inclined to support a countryman,
"Support the stars and stripes"
"Stick with uncle sam"
"be good Americans"
we Brits are less patriotic or less inclined to vote purely based on Nationality.

However Charlie won because she got most votes - I think that some Americans in UK are likely to have thrown some votes Ash's way because they wanted to support their own.

People have lots of reasons why they vote for people, if they are funny or not (humour being subjective), if they are good looking, if they share a similar view or belief, if they are the enemy of somebody the vote dislikes and so on. If nationality or even region comes in to it, so what? Did Georgies vote for Joe McEldry? I know Essex loves Olly Murs.

Its a lot of fuss made by people who are miffed because a person they don't like beat someone they did like on a TV show.

The contestants however all seem quite happy with the outcome.


Its trivial, fancy using something as sinister as xenophobia to score points on a forum.

i have NEVER felt or even HEARD of any of the above emboldened comments.
stick with the stars and stripes? stick with uncle sam? be good americans? are you serious?
where do you get this stuff? just because i am american does not make me IN THE LEAST ever think or feel anything about 'uncle sam' or the 'stars and stripes'. i make my own decisions and couldn't care less about what flag i'm born under. rolling out some cliches (probably heard in the simpsons as ironic!) as though they are truth is no way to present an argument.

I do hate the phrase "Support Your Own" How the hell is someone my own just because they happen to have been born in the same part of the world as me

You have not been listening then.
I do not lie.
Are you saying that in general Americans are not extremely patriotic? Remembering of course that you should answer honestly and not just attempt some PC point scoring
What I say is both fair and true, if it bests your argument that's your problem.

So you keep saying James. Yet people do it all the time and it doesn't really cause a problem. Its not xenophobia or racism or anything sinister.
Its a way that people make a decision when its a close call... and bear in mind some people have vote on IAC based on a mans abs or a womans boobs.

I don't just mean in this show I mean in any way of life unless someone is very closely biologically related to me they are not one of my own (and even then only certain people) it's just a phrase I have always hated much like "Love it or leave it"

it's funny (and sad) when people proudly claim to know something about other cultures having never lived there. that mentality is so arrogant and ignorant it hurts me to read it.
generalising about americans is like me going on to a forum and saying 'english people are all dole scroungers who get pregnant in their teens and roam around council flats all day with their pitbulls waiting for the next binge drinking session.'
if you seriously think all americans are blindly patriotic you are wrong. the counter-culture started in the late 60's and most intelligent americans question authority rather than bow down to it. no one talks about 'uncle sam' etc. we JOKE about those types of people. watch 'family guy' and 'south park' and see what americans think of jingoistic patriotism!
the xenophobia here is really painful to read. i expected more intelligence. (apologies to the many nice and open-minded forumites however!)

How on earth did he win? He's an arrogant prat

If we don't let non Brits win then how come Gino De Campo won a few years ago?

No I think the OP meant to type 'Nationalist' as opposed to 'Nationalised'.