I've been having a browse at Twitter and am quite disturbed at the number of people who not only believe the Steven and Kimberley relationship to be real, but are hailing it as some kind of great romance. Some of the photoshopped pictures that I've seen featuring soppy quotes and pink hearts are both stomach churning and hilarious in equal measure, there are even tweeters who have changed their profile pictures to photos of Steve and Kimberley together.

Obviously it's not quite as disturbing as what happened during the John James and Josie days, but it's not far off. What the hell makes people become to heavily invested, obsessed even, in a relationship between two people they've never even met and are never likely to meet?

Are their lives so pathetically devoid of happiness and romance that they decide to Chanel their feelings into the love lives of others?

I don't get it?

Yep. The most likely explanation!

I don't understand it either, but these sort of people are the ones make the producers believe it is 'good tv' to waste precious tv minutes on a romance/showmance/fauxmance. Considering there is no live feed, and they have to edit 24 hrs footage into about 45 mins or so, why do we need to see Helen/Ash explaining their relationship over and over again? Or Steven asking Kimberley "You know I love you, don't you?" for the umpteenth time?

Sad isn't it and what makes it worse is it won't last 5 minutes...Kim will be on the first plane out once the interest in them has gone and mag deals dry up

Sad and very odd. The only BB romance I ever liked was Helen and Paul, and even then I wasn't overly obsessed with it, I just thought it was a quite nice and sweet. I didn't have the urge to go on the internet and make collages and YouTube videos about them (not that YouTube existed then anyway lol).

BIB: No, I don't think it's that at all and I think it might be a tad unfair to make such snap judgments.

Personally I feel you're looking at it from a very real perspective, ie, watching two real people having a real or in this case very obviously fake, relationship, butting their noses into it.

Whereas what others I would suspect, myself included, just enjoy a good romance story (which is ironic given my total commitment phobia), ie the kind we watch in movies or read in stories, or see on soaps, total fantasy but the kind we can get lost in. I know sometimes it can happen with me that I forget BB contains real people so I get lost in the romantic fantasy and root for a favourite couple to pull through despite the obstacles they face. Because this happens to me, I assume others may do the same, though I might be the odd one here

Either way, you seem to be looking at it almost in a "peeping tom" way, strangers involving themselves in two very real people's relationship when they have no business doing so.

I really hope that made some sort of sense. My writing brain seems to have deserted me today so I'm having a harder time putting what I'm thinking and meaning to say into words.

I don't really believe that FMs or other fans are invested in romances........I think BB hope that we do, that is why they are foisted on us at every opportunity......

Same here...because Helen and Paul were genuine and they stayed together for quite a few years

I try not to judge because they could be using it is a coping mechanism for something going on in their own lives. They surround themselves with the life of those who appear happier than them to give them hope they'll have that one day too. They're not harming anyone just being seriously naive and probably need a hug more than judgement.

They were together about six or seven years I think.

Well, talking as somebody who was a big JJJer at the time, for my sins , and heavily involved in the JJJAT at the time before I started to question things more and more (and gravitated toward the JJJ court thread instead lol) I will say that, for me and those I am still in contact with at that time, it was a combination of several things.

Hopeless romanticism was probably a big part of it, projecting this Mills & Boon image of romance onto them and seeing/hearing what we wanted to rather than what really was.

Then there's community - it brought a hell of a lot of people together, many of whom are still friends to this day and still meet up. I met my two best friends (and some great people) through the whole experience.

Of the people I know (and that's a small percentage of the JJJ following) many were ill, house-bound, at home for various reasons (I personally have a disabled child who was at home medicated a lot due to daily seizures) and had the time and energy which got channeled into this whole JJJ scenario and the social scene surrounding it. There was a sense of community and togetherness.

Of course, I am sure there are other factors involved depending upon each individual person, and each BB 'romance' is different too, so this is just my input from my own personal perspective

It's nice that you've met so many friends from it Muggins, and I know that you've seen the light a little bit now with regards to JJJ. I always thought that with Josie and John James there was some projection going on, don't take this the wrong way, but Josie was an ordinary girl, slightly chubby, not ugly but not stunning either and she managed to pull the house hunk. I

The problem I have with people becoming obsessed with the Steven and Kimberley relationship is that it was so unhealthy. He was controlling and had an unhealthy fixation with her ex boyfriends, which in the real world would be considered "red flag" that all is not well in the relationship. I find it disturbing that some people would become invested in a relationship like that.

No idea, maybe they are Mills and Boon types, oops, no, I meant playboy...

Oh I saw the light more than a little bit I would definitely agree with the projection, as I fully admit that I did that myself and discussed that a lot on the court thread.

I agree regarding the controlling aspect of 'Steverly', although I would say that she denies this and I am suspicious as to whether the editing was done to portray him in that way to some degree as we see so little of it. However, editing can't hide that he made every problem about him, editing can't hide what came out of his mouth.

I imagine there is some 50 Shades of Grey projection going on from some people! Anybody who liked that book would find a controlling man like Steven attractive I would say

I wonder how many BB viewers are single mums whose only romance was behind the bins at Tesco. So even a BB fauxmance seems romantic and dream like.

Romances in the house generally make me squirm with embarrassment, and if they could be banned I would ban them, but that's just me. I don't feel entitled to judge what's real and what isn't, with so little evidence.

Dogmatic certitude about other people's feelings, based on nothing more than cynicism, is somewhat overdone on these boards.

Zoe, is that you?