They've definitely done it the past couple of years.

I suspect the producers idea of 'upbeat' is far different from what the viewing public think!

Cant help but think these "themes" are just excuses for the producers to make the rules up as they go along

But as long as Helen wood is nowhere in sight then ill give it a go

The problem isn't arguments, love a good argument. Just needs to be more natural and stop getting involved all the time. It will happen naturally anyway due to the environment, why they get involved is beyond me.

The problem with the last series was Helen and the huge negative influence she had. It wasn't fun in the way past villains have been.

Plus the fact that they couldn't get rid of Helen. Housemates have to play a tactical game - they need to be opinionated enough to both be interesting and to be able to stand up for themselves and not be walked over, but know where to draw the line and avoid being evicted. If Helen had had to play that game the same as everyone else, she wouldn't have been so unbearable as we'd have seen her battling with herself.

Who knows, maybe if she hadn't received the pass, she'd have been a better Housemate. Being untouchable, she could basically do whatever she felt like with no consequences.

She would have been gone and not been in the final. All it did was give betters a big chance to win big due to the big odds on her to win.

I hope so. They need humour HMs. I mean BB6 was nasty but there were great humour moments and quotes. BB15 was too tough to watch, iy was a downer.

Rows are good but when they are all bitching and no comedy it's dull.

I agree that there shouldn't be any housemate ever receiving a free pass to the final. No matter what type of housemate it is - a perceived villain like Helen or a more comical, likeable housemate - it just takes away a huge factor that makes up the game. Big Brother is about survival and always has been. You have to survive against you fellow housemates, survive the nominations and public votes to earn the right to be in the final. No one deserves a free pass as it puts that person on a completely different level to everyone else, plus it isn't decided by us. "You Decide" was the original tag line to the show, and is the essential ingredient to making a satisfying reality tv experience. If Big Brother decides, then ultimately, what is the point? They may as well just change the genre from reality tv to scripted drama.

She would have gone early on but because of the pass it allowed her to build up big odds and on the night people betting and her "fanbase" decided to take advantage.

Same nearly happened with Hopkins but Price stopped that, thankfully.

Everyone should be on a level playing field in terms of not having any pass, it should be based on merit.

Has there ever been an upbeat BB on C5?

'Time bomb', great just what I need when I want to put my feet up on my sofa, after all that has and will be happening day to day - I just want BB to be a distraction, not part of the fray in the day.

If you mean in general, CBB certainly had their funnier moments, good moments from various years. But you are so right about Civilian BB. BB12 and BB14 were probably the closest to upbeat (even though they weren't). BB13 and BB15... lets not even go there, there was nothing upbeat about them!

Dexter series was more fun and not as horrible as last year.

Ironically, BB1 for me was the most interesting series, and the only thing that happened was the Nasty Nick drama.

How times change.

CBB8's probably the most 'upbeat' series ever. Just ridiculously sanitised and artificial in the process. Terrible series but they clearly made an effort to make it all about "wacky hijinks" from Jedward and Darren Lyons being silly, as opposed to any real interesting dynamics between the housemates.

Most of the "upbeat" series tend to be the weakest (BB2, BB4, CBB7) because there's no emotional stakes. Just nice but dull people sitting around.

How are they "upbeat" if they're just nice but dull people sitting around?

(And do you mean CBB7 there, or CBB8?)

Anyway, I didn't find CBB one with Jedward and the awful Darren Lyons upbeat. Far from it, especially with vote-to-save keeping Darren in. Jedward and Tara were the only upbeat parts of it, and it was weighed down too much by the others.

I did mean civilian BB, but I don't think the CBBs have been very upbeat either. Generally when people like a CBB, it seems to be because of one or two housemates, rather than because it was actually a good series in any other respect.