Only because last time I posted a self-regarding kind of thread (in 2010) Electra slapped me with a wet fish and someone else said I had turned into Julie Burchill. And I deserved both, as I do now. Be nice, and I promise I will go away and not repeat the offence.

BB is my show. I don't mean I own it, I mean it owns me. I have barely missed an episode from the beginning. Genuinely fiction blind, I don't watch films or plays or tv dramas or soaps; I rarely read a novel. Everything fictional feels stagey and artificial to me. Big Brother is my equivalent to a bookcase full of Penguin Modern Classics. And the forum is a huge part of that. Before I came here, I had 20,000 posts on the Ch 4 BB forum; that is a piece of arithmetic I am not going to look in the eye. I genuinely, passionately want to understand what happened when someone has behaved unexpectedly: what might I have missed, what did it show about the way their mind worked, the way peoples' minds work? There are forum members I have developed an immense respect for, for their intelligence, accuracy and sheer niceness.

After LITERALLY lying awake until 3AM (tragic, I know) I have decided that enough is enough. I have defended BB against any amount of derision; I think my friends see my passion for it as a slightly embarrassing disability. I don't mind the 'famous for being famous' phenomenon; before we had it, the glossy magazines only fawned over minor aristocrats and heiresses; at least BB housemates had to win some kind of affection from the public before they got their share. I don't mind at all the moments of stupidity or vulgarity or obnoxiousness; all human life has been there, and they are part of it.

I am out of here now because of - well, let's say because of Daley, because of Wolfy, because of Linda and because of Katie Hopkins.

Daley because I don't want to see a programme where the staff watch a man getting more and more drunk and aggressive, then lock him in a room with the woman he was threatening.

Wolfy because, contrary to her charmingly breezy and confident VT, she was nothing of the kind; she was very young for 21 years, not confident, socially awkward, out of her depth. So they set out to humiliate her as thoroughly as they possibly could, encouraging a public vote just so they could tell her people thought she was unattractive and dirty, giving her a special task involving talking her special brand of well-meaning nonsense so she could be ridiculed for it, barely concealing their glee when she believed herself to be popular - I suspect that Wolfy has not been cheered by a crowd all that often in her life - and they knew that she was not. They basically took an insecure 21 year and enjoyed storing up public contempt towards her.

Linda because - and I know people don't want to hear this, but I passionately believe it to be true - they took someone they knew to have a history of serious depression and deliberately, meticulously, thoroughly and consistently transformed her into a hate figure. Maybe she would never have been a great housemate: she wasn't witty or original, as far as we can tell. But the Linda described by those who lived with her - full of life, always up for a laugh, the house mother, a kind, warm person - was literally unrecognisable as the person only ever shown clashing with or moaning about Jim. Whether they threw her to the wolves because they thought it made for a good story, or whether they just wanted to give Jim a boost, we can never know. But it stayed in my mind a lot. By watching the show so faithfully, I was part of the apparatus, part of a cultural artifact that thought it was perfectly all right to take a rather beaten middle aged woman and make as many people as could be managed hate her.

And Katie Hopkins is not even a BB housemate - or not yet. She just stands for the new breed of rent-a-gob, who get the work not by being witty or amusing or likeable or original, but just by being willing to cross more boundaries than otherh people - to be more vicious and less inhibited about hurting those who have done nothing worse than appearing on a game show. We all know that Sallie Axl is pitching for BB work at the moment, and that it is the Katie Hopkins path that she is taking. "use me!" (Either on BOTS or to write a column, presumably); "I'll be nastier than anyone you can imagine if you use me!" So she has started trying to pick public fights in the hope that someone will 'spot' them and think she is 'controversial' and will make good tv.

I guess BB is, if anything, pleased if there is a certain exodus of addled old bats like me from the viewing. All we do is moan all over the internet every time BB sets up a bit of drama for a chosen housemate and look back like old soldiers to the days when you knew what was what. And I DID know what was what, pretty well. I'm holding on, at the moment, to BB9's zoo task: Rachel and Kat as an adorable two-headed llama, having to learn to sit down and stand up; Mo and Darnell glumly trying to munch through an entire wheelbarrow full of carrots while dressed as rabbits; Bex and Jennifer in seal suits having fishy water thrown over them, and not enjoying it a whole lot. That was the BB I liked, not Linda Nolan coming out of the house and realizing from one minute out just how far she had been demonized by the editors.

I will miss this though. There really is a limit to the number of times I enjoy logging onto general discussion and reading that Muslims are all twisted extremists who should not be in our country, and fat people should have their jaws wired shut, end of problem. This is my online home, far more than GD. But there we are. BB15 will be on, people will be witty, unreasonable, charming, annoying, loveable and awful, and I will never know. So... so long for now, and thanks for all the...well, just thanks for being the best online forum ever.

You will be missed

I have always respected your opinions if not not necessarily agreed with them

Nooo you cant go - we wont let you!!

Even if you choose not to watch BB anymore you can still post on here about the old ones - as some do!

Aww, thanks. But oh help. I promise I didn't post that to get comments about myself. It was meant to be a comment about the way I think BB has changed.

I promise I will still be around, especially between series when all kinds of topics are up for grabs. And while we are doing the vomit-making stuff, you are both fm's I like and respect a lot, in spite of Barracute's strange preference for people who won't drink tap water.

Thank you kindly

I agree that BB has gone downhill in recent years.

The show now is so different from the early days it might as well be a totally different programme

You're always welcome over in the BBUS subform. BB16 starts 25th June.

ah thats good, wouldnt be the same without you.

and i cant imagine who you are referring to in that final comment !

Don't stay away too long, WD

Not many veterans left in here now who are fans of the old ways where:

Arguments in the house happened naturally and were not forced by some stupid opinion poll or private conservations in the DR being played back

We could watch the not rights all day and make up our own minds about them instead of some misguided production opinion of what they want us to think

Opinions were noted and respected by the side show and not shot down and laughed at

Tasks were less childish and puerile

Housemates treated BB with respect, and the no contact with the outside world was observed to the letter up until series 10

The Diary Room was respected and was totally confidential


The list is endless

I agree with all of those plus

There were original tasks rather than constant recycling of tasks from previous years

Secret rooms every year because BB hope to repeat the events of Fight Night from BB5

This.

Like switching to electronic cigarettes? I probably won't though. Thanks anyway.

I do think they have lost more than they gained. Housemates have such a detailed day to day update as to who is popular and who isn't that they might almost just give them internet access and let them read about themselves.


Just massive diminishing returns. "I guess it must be face to face nominations this week. Or is it time for the friends and family nominations? I bet that's the fake eviction. I wonder what the secret room is like this year?"

Wonkey, that is so sad. as you know I always value your comments and find them fair and reasonable. maybe you will have a little peep now and then? I shall along with a lot of others miss you.

You have said at least that you'll be around in between series, which is good, as I think you make a lot of sense in your posts. I do think that this forum can be a very negative place sometimes, such as during the last celeb series with Jim Davidson and Linda Nolan. Linda couldn't even so much as sneeze in Jim's direction without being slated on here, even when it was clear that Jim had behaved badly. I did say a couple of months or so ago that I was thinking of not contributing to the discussions on here during BB15 and I think I may end up doing that. I do find it tempting to look to see what people think about what's been happening, as it's something I've done during BB for a while, but it just got too negative and too nasty for me earlier this year and it, as well as the negative editing of Linda that you have referred to, hampered my enjoyment of the series. I know it's not the case with everyone that posts on here, but it was just too much for me. I don't want that to have to see that again.


Totally agree with you.

Eeek, I am still here and not actually going away. I shouldn't have made it sound so much like a last farewell. It is only a matter of time before someone fishes out a bugle and plays the Last Post. But thank you so much for your lovely post anyway.

"It's Week 3 so it must be time for the electric shock suits"

I'll still be around as well to keep the old ways flag flying

Also there is WHATM to do and also this series the Little Brother thread as SBBA is no longer with us

Without the LF we have to rely on the the tweets and videos that BB deigns to show us

I am glad you will be doing it for him, Richie.

30 minutes after the two launch nights and also after evictions, that's all we're getting

Hear! Hear!

Take into account ad breaks and opening and closing credits it'll be nearer 20 minutes

Aw that's sad, you probably don't know me but I often saw your posts and they always seemed well thought out and reasonable, especially in comparison to the masses of completely irrational and ridiculous posts we get every year! I totally understand your decision to give up watching it though

All the best. Always a shame to see one of the more passionate posters go.

Not much we've agreed on recently or indeed here but you'll be missed as your contributions are always well written and engaging.

DS won't be the same without WD - please don't go. You are often the voice of reason even when we are on different sides!!

Wonkey, you're one of the posters whose posts I always read. Won't be the same place if you don't post so I hope something changes next week (the omens aren't good) to make you change your mind.