Originally Posted by quasimoron:
“Watched it this morning and Hazel was shocked at some of the editing she said. A good looking model is put in Bb to be a hate figure for women. The minute even minuscule flirting takes place, the hate starts. What does that say about us women eh, its pathetic. But beautiful sexy women have no margin of error, have they. They are all watching like hawks for a slip up. Not all women of course, some of us have some cop-on.
Hazel was getting dislike threads from week 1, when she was sharing her clothes with the other girls. There was no reason for it but there it was. Several threads were started about her looks, why was that. None of the other girls got those threads even the unfortunate looking ones.
Daley or not, some other reason would have been found to slate and attack her. She would have to be a plaster saint to survive BB unscathed or stay in bed like Sam.”
Excellent post Quasi!
Agree, but don’t think the hatred is restricted to other women. There are plenty of misogynistic men out there who react very negatively to any overt display of sexuality from a woman and that was all too apparent in the case of Hazel.
From the time she showed even the mildest interest in Daley, Hazel got what I’d call the Mel BB1 edit. In Narinda’s book Melanie talked of how the edit made it look like she gave men massages all the time. She was castigated for being flirty (she was only mildly so) and IIRC was the first ever housemate to receive boos on eviction. At the wrap party one of the producers apparently told her “When Nick went we needed another fall guy”.
I think that illustrates the producers’ POV, ie. that a sexually confident, attractive, flirtatious female is someone who can readily be turned into a hate figure. I think they applied this formula to Hazel, since there was a time where we didn’t see her do much else but flirt with Daley. That and almost that alone came to define her.
I agree about attractive young women having little margin for error. With Hazel what I saw early on wasn’t so much that people were reacting negatively to minor incidents, but that they were
overreacting negatively to them. The sort of thing that would pass without much comment in another housemate was being latched onto and magnified out of proportion, thus providing a much needed rationale for disliking her. Minor wrongs were made into major wrongs etc.
It was as if many people were just looking for a more suitably palatable rationalisation for which to dislike her, rather than having to look inside themselves for the real reason as to why they felt such an underlying dislike/resentment towards her. This led to them seizing upon what they could IMO and overreacting accordingly.
Quote:
“I hate to say this but Irish girls get it worse than ones from the Uk.
I have to say hazel was too honest on the show. If I was getting constantly stung on a higher setting Gina bargained her dinner for. I would have fainted mid afternoon and spent the rest in crying jags sitting on the floor of the loo curled in sad ball.. I would have milked it and made Gina and Bb look like Stalin. Offcom would be inundated with complaints.
The same with the snake week, crying on the hour, every hour, Bb would stop targeting me pretty soon. No edit would have me dry eyed. You play them at their own game.
Being so stoic was to Hazels detriment Imo. She was too straight in what was a manipulative game show. BB were disgraceful in their treatment from having that silly bint crying on BBOTS to giving Gina a jealous bully power over the one she hated. What task was Gin not in charge of or what task did not allow her to target people.
Only the twins spoke up against it and backed Hazel which is why I don't mind them. The rest feared Gina too much and the power Bb had given her.
BB use you up and hang you out to dry but they would not do it to me. If Gina called me skank ec on Tv, she would need new hair extensions on that ratty head. I would tear out the old ones. That was when she finally removed my boot from her backside.
I noticed the female presenters on Morning Am, were pretty annoyed over it all and I don't blame them.”
Good points well made.
BB treated her appallingly. First with the edit, then with the interview with Daley's "girlfriend", then with the snake task (with which they allowed the public to inflict some vengeance on her) and then by giving Gina the power to carry on her vendetta, such as they did with the Queen Bee task.
BB were lucky she was such a strong, resilient woman, not given to self-pity. If it had been say someone like Charlie on the receiving end of what Hazel had to put up with, they would have had a lot more tears and a possible psychological meltdown on their hands. That would most probably have led to a considerable backlash and much more damage to the show’s reputation. Tbh, something the show and its ever so cynical producers would have very much deserved.
I agree with everything you say. 
