I was undecided about the Aaron/ Joel incident until I saw Joel in the diary room

He's 19

He said ... "I didn't know what to do"

At 19 I wouldn't have known what to do either. He was in the BB house ( not at home with his mates ) and the whole thing was being goaded on ... he was simply too young to know how to deal with it

Too young to deal with the nasty stuff BB gleefully provoke until it all goes that bit too far

I really feel there should be an age limit now that BB has lowered the bar to this level

It's not just about age, though. It's life experience. Some people twice his age may well have reacted the same, if they have never been in that sort of situation before or met people who act like Aaron did i.e. running around naked in a room full of people.

You're right of course ... but people who might reasonably be expected to have some life experience to call on when faced with a scarey/ confusing situation ( given their age ) is quite different to putting youngsters just out of school in there

Let's not put sexually harassing jerks in the house!
Joel and Nick are much more interesting imo than cry baby drama queen.
Aaron was the one rightfully kicked out of the house so keep sexual harassers out of the house. Joel handled it better than a lot of people (he didn't hit him which many people would have done). Joel didn't get all melodramatic and basically deescalated the situation as best he could without alienating the entire house and viewers imo.

oh I agree Vicky but that's not going to happen, is it ?

Aaron was 'delivering' exactly what he knew BB had put him in the house for ... in all it's over-the-top sordidness

That's what BB has become

That's why the 'Spin the bottle' game is regularly supplied along with the wine

I'm just saying that if that is where this show wants to go then they should exclude teenagers from applying

The fact is, 18 is considered to be an adult in this country, whether one likes it or not. Applications are not open to anyone younger than that, the minimum age is 18, just as it is for almost every other game show (Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? allowed 16-year-olds, I can't think of any other game show that wasn't 18 and up other than things that were actually aimed at children).

The show is supposed to have a mix of people, and a mix of confident and not-quite-so-confident people. I was 18 when I auditioned, and I tried to come across as very self-assured to the producers. To be honest, I think that's why I got so far. If I'd been ten years older and spoken to the producers the way I did, I doubt they would have been interested in me. What got their attention was that I was an informed, intelligent, opinionated 18-year-old.

What an interesting post

May I ask George, if your application had been successful, which BB would you have appeared in ?

I would have appeared in BB13, the 2012 series won by Luke A. They didn't tell me how far I got with auditions, but they were paying my travel expenses, asking me for details of my friends so they could interview them on BOTS, and in my later auditions I met both Scott and Deana, so I reckon I must have got quite a long way.

I would have really liked to take part, but I don't intend to go for it again, because I'm serious about being an actor. I know there's a belief that people use it to get their name out there, but in reality it doesn't work like that. Casting directors will look down on you as a fame-hungry wannabe if you've done something like that, which wasn't why I was trying to get on it at all. I just wanted the experience.

That's really interesting, George. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing your experience George ... I often wondered why housemates 'recognised' each other ( the audition 'rounds' you describe explains it )

That would have been a good BB to have appeared in ... I'm sorry you didn't make it and hope your career is everything you wish it to be

I think a lot of people, regardless of age, would have felt uncomfortable if that happened to them. I think Joel is pretty mature and switched on for a 19 year old.

Thank you! Very kind of you... yeah, it was gutting not to make it, but it was really exciting to make it so far. I agree, it would have been a good series to do, it was a very bitchy House but there also seemed to be some genuine friendships made. I would definitely have been one of Deana's soldiers!

Yes, I think it would be difficult to ensure that none of them had met before, because so much of the audition process is about how you relate to other people, so the auditions have to involve meeting other potential Housemates. They do their best to minimise the amount of contact though. They move you all on to different things so you never spend too much time with any one person, and it was made very clear that we weren't allowed to contact each other outside the audition process until it was all over, under threat of removing our applications.

If someone twice his age couldn't understand that Aaron was just having a bit of harmless fun, then there would be something seriously wrong with them psychologically.

I agree, Joel is too immature to be in the house, even though I suspect he is extremely devious. His performance in the diary room was worthy of an Oscar.

I have a nineteen and 22 year old and neither one would know how to cope with Aaron's behaviour as they live in a rural area and they have not had association with anyone forcing themselves on them from the same sex, I think they would have acted like joel and that is commendable, trying to put it across that he wasnt happy without turning around and then being accused of being homophobic and being sent out of the house. A difficult situation and Iam sure that Aaron has had to deal with things in his own life and did I hear right. he has slept with over 200 men ?

So I agree its not necessarily age but life experience !

Would you seriously be perfectly happy for someone to do what Aaron did to Joel, to you?

Joel's immature, yet Aaron isn't?!

I can't help but feel that if there were a couple of older (or more mature) men in there this would not have escalated to the point where Aaron pushed things so far. No one stood up and told him to quit harassing Joel. I bet Mario from BB9 would have been the man to sort that out.

I'm not sure about Mario. I think that Benedict from BB13 would have handled it quite well.

He'd probably have got his bits out too and humiliated Aaron into submission like Crocodile Dundee when a mugger pulled a knife on him. "That ain't a knob. That's a knob!"

It's not a matter of age...it's a matter of life experience which generally increases with age.

But it's also a matter of personality and confidence and we do not all have the same type of the former or the same amount of the latter.

But it can also be a matter of the context of the situation you are in at the time....would you expect to have to respond to someone you've got to know/generally like and may be living with for several weeks in the same way as you would with a random stranger.

We've seen an awful lot of Aaron's goading/flirting with Joel in the last couple of weeks...and we've also seen before what he gets like when he's had a skin full...something he seemed unable to resist doing at every opportunity.

I disagree, I think Benedict knew where to draw the line. I think he'd have stood up for Deana and the others against the insiders had he stayed longer.

Yeah Benedict was a decent chap and a good housemate I thought. I was sorry he was evicted so early.

No matter the age, I doubt many people would have experience of something like that. As I like to think most people know where boundaries are and would not get naked and rub themselves on someone else who had said no :S

When I was younger and at school there was a boy who used to pretend to fancy me grab me and hump me. It was a huge joke as i was the only girl at the time in my group who didnt have a boyfriend. He was in my group of friends and he found it funny and my friends found it funny. I was 16 at the time and used to literally dread seeing him even though he was my mate because I hated it so much. Everyone used to say I was a prude and he was having a laugh. When I watched that incident it reminded me of it. Those who were goading him on really didn't see a problem with it and Joel felt he had to laugh along because everyone else was. I think that Aaron really didn't think he was in the wrong and I think that maybe it is partly Joel's age. I also think Joel maybe sexually confused which also does not really help. I think the age is a massive factor though and Aaron is much older.

totally agree with everything