There I must defer to you. I have only seen a couple of clips. But I can see that having a pass to the final puts her in a whole new league. It was bad enough Charley being saved by the fake eviction.

You're giving her an awful lot of credit. Wouldn't the housemates have bigger b*lls than to feel intimidated to the point of having to befriend her and walk on eggshells?

Surely it's more reasonable to think that they really did like her and got on fine.

Stockholm syndrome might be one answer. Another is that in schools girl gang members survive under the patronage of the leader. If they deviate from the leader's accepted rules / behaviour then they suffer the same fate as those 'on the outside' and that is worse than death. Observing the bullying, verbal abuse and scapegoating that has gone on weaker people will become bystanders and collude to save themselves.

Stockholm Syndrome? I've heard everything now.

Charley going back into the house and lying about all the cheers she had received.
Imagine if she had the pass I would have switched off.

Self preservation. Also the bully can be remarkably nice to it's followers.

Not at all. They themselves made the egg shell comments on leaving and yes in that situation attempting to get on with Helen, without actually liking her, seems a reasonable way of making the onsuing weeks more tolerable.

But it's clearly more difficult to watch her on TV than it is to actually live with her - see the changed opinions of Pav, Zoe and Bianca.

I know it's different to the pressurised environment of the BB house but I lived in numerous flatshares over the years, with dozens of different people. Some of them could be extremely volatile if you accidentally pressed the wrong buttons - but after the initial shock of their early explosions I always found them OK to live with, as you always knew where you stood with them and most of the time they were perfectly genial and good company.

I found the most challenging people to live with were the ones who quietly seethed and sulked about tiny little things, dragging out their misery for days/weeks on end, deliberately using their passive aggression and extreme mood swings to bring down the mood of everyone else around them. Usually you didn't even know what their problem was or why they were acting that way. Off the top of my head I'd use HMs such as Aaron, Jay and Marcus as examples of that. In direct contrast to Helen, I suspect that all of them were far easier to watch on TV than they were to live with. A loud angry argument is preferable to me as it's quickly over - prolonged periods of sulking and the silent treatment are way way worse. A heated slanging match with nasty language will always look bad on TV, whereas the impact of sulking will never come across to viewers as it does to those who are having to endure living with it... it's just not something that can be truly captured by brief HLs.

Wise words. Having lived with both kinds of people myself I will always choose a Helen type over someone who sulks and snips behind my back, giving the silent treatment. You are right about it coming across worse on tv though, and that is the whole problem with why people don't get why the housemates almost all like Helen.

I remember that party they had when Helen and a few others were stuck in the morgue and even Helen was genuinely struck by how much of a laugh they all appeared to be having.

She said something like 'they don't have fun like that when I'm there'.

That really hit it home to me how some of them must have felt incredibly stifled.

None who lasted nearly as long, which is why people have turned to Carole Vincent as the main example of a HM who may have given HMs a bigger challenge.

How'd you work that one out. They said the eggshells comment and similar thing's what does that tell you ?

And why is it more reasonable ? Call me old fashion but usually you don't feel like you've got to act that way , around people you like and get on with lol

I'd find it pretty easy to live with Helen, far harder to live with some of the others who have been in there.

If you're not in her inner circle, she must be an absolute nightmare to live with. Far worse than any other HM, past or present. No-one else has appeared to get such a kick from intimidating and verbally attacking others. The way she uses people's insecurities to hurt them is especially appalling. I'd find myself having to walk on eggshells around someone so volatile and argumentative, which is why I have a deep amount of sympathy for the HMs of this year who she did not consider friends.

What if she didn't like you? It's quite possible.

Those that can be civil and address things in a reasonable manner I've found to be nicest to be around. Finding ways to manage someone's aggressive personality is no way to live.

Exactly. This is why my award goes to the housemates of this series. Helen getting the golden ticket has made them the most pitied housemates ever IMO.

Me too.

I don't agree with you that they 'almost all' like her. A handful say they like her because she liked them.

I actually think it must have been worse than we've seen.