Out of nessecity more than anything else, and quite a few of those also had to tolerate some pretty abusive behaviour inside the house and out. Definitely a challenging time for a lot of them wouldn't you say.

You appear to have forgotten Matthew, Danielle and Christopher? Where do they fit into your equation?

I am still trying to think of a series where the housemates have had to tolerate a bigger challenge then living with Helen for the entire series. I think she has made it a very unplesant experience for all, even the ones on your first list.

No maybe not. Imagine the stress stuck in there for 9 weeks and you can't get away. Remember most of those people evicted also said you have to walk around on eggshells with Helen around. And things similar to that. Even some of her "mates" said the same.

I was just going to post those two. I think they are comparable to Helen, maybe not quite so bad in that you could just ignore Carole if you chose to. However Charley and Helen are on a par to me.

Do you really think the majority have all got on 'very well' with Helen. Toya in her last few weeks, Danielle, Matthew, Christopher, Chris, Ashleigh, Marlon in his last week, Jale in her first few weeks, Pav ever.

Accepting you have to live with someone and trying to make the best of a difficult situation is not the same as getting on really well with someone.

Charley did get booted out mid way which was a massive relief.

I think I need to go lie down, I've just had a vision of Helen, Toya and Pauline remaining in the house throughout the series and now in the final... it would be just those three in there this week though, everyone else would have escaped Leo Sayer like (possibly helped by BB)

I remember when carol went for a nap,they were all staving and decided to put the chicken in the over without her permission Bad Bad Move,she came out of the bedroom looking like annie wilkes on acid lol...

Good point. Walking on egg shells around a volatile person to keep them calm is extremely sressful even when you can get away for short periods of time.
It's one of the reasons I pity them all so much.

Helen's influence brings out the worst in people's characters rather than the best and her prescence in that house has been a stifling and oppressive one for most of the series even Ash her monotone sidekick whose spent most of his time guffawing at the misfortune of others comes accross as a nicer person when he's not around her

This thread isn't about Ashleigh. Please keep on topic.

Yes I do. Tamara, Steven, Kim, Mark, Ash, Zoe, Bianca, Jale, Pauline, Winston. Already that's 10 out of a possible 18 - so a majority.

Pav, Zoe and Bianca shared your view of Helen when, like you, they were just viewers. They've since lived with her and changed their mind, seemingly not finding her 'a challenge to live with' at all. Maybe you'd have a similar turnaround in opinion if you had the opportunity to live with her 24/7 rather than just watch 45/60 mins selected footage each day. Who knows - maybe you'd end up being bezzies with her.

Thank you, a good reply. Yes I agree the pass made it a lot worse as many have agreed she wouldn't have lasted long without it.
I think tolerating someone, like Pauline, for a short time would have been easier than having no control whatsoever and being at the mercy of how Helen was feeling and behaving each day.
Unpredictable behaviour is also stressful as even when Helen is being calm and fairly nice
I don't think you could ever fully relax with her around.

Helen is liked in the house by the clear majority of housemates. That can't even be disputed, don't know why anyone is trying. They STILL support her even after being evicted and watching everything back. She's obviously not that difficult to live with for most people.

I disagree with the level of friendship you believe these ex housemates had/have with Helen.
I still see most of them having had a challenging relationship with her even when they weren't on the receiving end of her nastiness and they still had to witness this which must have been unpleasant.

Zoe, Bianca and Tamara were in the house for only a short period of time, so we don't know how long this would have lasted.
Pav appears to be having the same challenges of having to tip toe around and ignore rude and insulting behaviour as the others.

Or scared?

It certainly can be disputed.
Many have admited living with Helen was like walking on eggshells, which means it was difficult and they had to tread carefully to keep her sweet.

No not difficult at all if you agreed and on her side of an argument just like the thickest housemates in the house that tip toed around her

Liked or defered to either for an easy life or because as in Mark's words she had his back from day one and in the BB house survival depends on alliances made


She's not difficult to live with providing you accept Helen is always in the right, always in the right, always in the right if you don't she makes a point of making your life as difficult as she can whenever she can not only by the things she says and does herself but by ensuring her gang are on board too

It can definitely be disputed as i've already said. Many evicted housemates stated "Its like walking around on eggshells with Helen around" and words similar to that too. And some of those were her "mates"

How do you explain most of the evictees still praising her then ? Usually evictees quickly start to backtrack when they realise their personal opinions of other HMs clash with public perception - it's always a very easy way for an evicted HM to regain some popularity, slag off the 'hate figure'. Yet the only HMs who have been extremely negative about Helen since leaving are the ones that didn't get on with her in the house either. Tamara, Kim, Steven, Pauline, Jale, Winston, Mark, Zoe, Bianca - all evicted, all seem to still like her, not one of them has ever come close to giving any kind of inkling that living with Helen was the biggest challenge any set of HMs had ever had.

In contrast I think all the HMs from BB7 would cite Shahbaz as a massive challenge to live with. Probably all from BB9 with Alexandra, the same with BB5 HMs re Kitten. I'd also guess the majority re Sree and maybe Angel in BB10 and also probably the majority of BB2 with Penny.

I don't think you could ignore Carole if you valued your life. The task where most of them accidentally used her nutloaf as stuffing for the chicken - you could see them in real fear of what she would do. And Jonty was a vegetarian as well, but they knew that he wouldn't mind, as he didn't. And I can remember how hateful she was when Gerry did no more than open the fridge and some poorly stacked food fell out, shouting at him to clean up immediately in a really obnoxious way. And the way she used to weep like a waterspout if anyone challenged her. Lordy lord.

And Charley is the one housemate I think I might actually have climbed over the wall to get away from. That pig-ignorant, endless, deadly monotonous ranting and shouting all the time; and the way she lied about Lesley - Lesley! The cleanest and most prim and proper housemate in the world! - weeing in the shower, out of sheer spite and mischief was truly vile.

BIB - very well put

Just because you like certain aspects of a person it doesn't mean that you can't also find them difficult or exhausting to live with. Some of those same housemates you mention also looked uncomfortable at times or even walked away when Helen was holding court or verbally attacking someone that she'd taken a dislike to.


Agree with most of those , the difference is they never had a free ride to the final making them exempt from eviction which changed the whole show from 'You decide' to 'You decide' about everyone except Helen until final week.

To me Shabaz comes the closest to Helen, but then he, like the others, left.

I don't think I've heard any of the ex housemates praising Helen at all??? The comments have been more along the lines of 'if she likes you you'll be okay, but if she doesn't your life will be a misery. ' Hardly praise, except maybe Bianca....but then she's not really a proper housemate.
Jale hasn't sung her praises at all, she has only said she tries to see the best in Helen as she was like that once herself.
Even Ash commented that he didn't think Jale would be looking forward to seeing them when they came out. Hardly signs of a great friend ship is it.
Tamara sung Pauline's praises at first but hasn't said anything much about Helen.
A dwindling majority when you look at the facts.

How do you think Charley and Carole compare to Helen in this respect?