Helen said in the linked article she knew she was asked to go back in the house to be the pantomime villain. She isn't talking about an abstract - she is talking about a job of work.

Given that she accepted the job on that premise - she admits she was given a job to do and did it - it is really unfathomable that the job of work they showed her doing was the one they had employed her to do?

So you think the BB warm up guy was inciting the crowd to make threatening gestures?

She mentions her past but doesn't use it as an excuse for current behavior unlike others.

This is the first time in 16 years, I've heard of this. Are we to assume that hundreds of BB fans, enter into a conspiracy of silence every week about something like this? Surely it would be all over BB forums and real newspapers too?

As with all 'Jobs' there are those that are good at it at those that are not, Helen in my opinion is not a 'good' 'pantomime villain' , she lost the 'script' a few times and started to 'ad lib', that was her downfall.

Interesting read and confirmed my suspicions that BB went out of their way to save Brian and Nikki from themselves and maintain their false status, this explains why that disgrace Emma Willis went OTT with the love for both to try and fool the public and hide their bad behaviour.

The sad thing is there are so many of the public thag buy into their acts, what does that say about those people?

You do realise Helen is a real person don't you, and not a fictional character? That's the issue I'm talking about, people threatening her with physical harm, sending her death threats and daily abuse. Opps... gotta go...

Interesting read and I would love to hear Harry's take on the fire drill.

Come on people, Nikki obviously has a nasty streak--remember her lie to Jack.

Everyone has a nasty streak and some more than others. I get annoyed with those that paint Nikki as perfect or childish. She is an adult with a nasty streak and it seemed like she wanted to make Helen look worse so that she would look better. Helen can be bad on her own and it didn't help having Nikki and Brian setting her up since she will shoot herself in the foot without help. Nikki whispering nasty stuff about Jade and Harry. Brian stirring shit up to play hero or victim.

Brian came out looking smarter but nastier. Nikki came out looking good to some but I found her to be nasty. I thought Helen would be nasty but despite some horrible comments I went from disliking her to liking her (and this article just reaffirms my like of her)

This is exactly what that terrible presenter Emma Willis tried to cover up with her unprofessional interview on Friday night.

I call BS. For a production company working for a public broadcaster to even contemplate it would be niave bordering on suicidal.

If the warm up man did that he should be sacked. I did notice Emma rush her up to the interview space very quickly.

But did she realise the extent to which she was being set up as the hate figure? I think that's the issue here. Did she know she would have to face a ridiculous manufactured procession of would-be heroes fanfared in to bring down the wicked bully? Was she aware of Brian's odd obsession to turn the whole house against her without reason? Was she aware the crowd would be whipped up by the BB warm-up guy to a frenzy of murderous hate and slashed throat gestures?

I don't know I wasn't there.
Over the years the crowd has gotten nastier. Even chant now during the interview.
So nothing would surprise me.

She was probably doing it with the warm up guy, she showed her lack of class on Fri so it wouldn't surprise me.

If she didn't want any attention brought to it she should have stopped at 'she's not the only one' rather than to go on and make a list.
Can you not see what she did there?

Really? Next you'll be telling me that there's no such place as Weatherfield.

The problem is that Helen - and to a greater or lesser extent all the HM's and legends in particular - are real people playing a part. There is nothing to differentiate where the construct ends and the real them begins and the confusion is actively encouraged - not least by the person taking the paycheque and continuing to perpetuate that particular part of their character.

Big Brother has always operated on thumbnail sketches of a housemate and kept them in their character section. Most people are way more complex than BB would have us believe - but that doesn't get people coming out to bat for them or, more importantly, voting.

People do get caught up in their favourite shows, and they do get too invested in their favourites (I remain thankful that my adolescence played out before Social Media. As should David Cassidy). I don't do the Twitter thing, but I assume that there are mechanisms in place to ignore and report anything that crosses a line?

Good article.

She said she could use it as an excuse but is not using it as an excuse. Therefore it is not an excuse. Most of us have had bad stuff happen in life at some point. Just listing out the bad stuff is not the same as using it as an excuse. Nikki used her past as an excuse.

I don't think Helen mentioning her past is her being subtle or in your face about it really being an excuse. She is using it as an example of what she COULD use but isn't since she plainly owns her behavior and is NOT writing it off as due to her past.

I don't think anything will change your mind or open your mind. I don't think Helen is an angel or a devil but human who owns her bad traits unlike others.

Yes, it's called putting things into perspective and a context.

.... and yet there are still threads about her, and people still contribute to them. One of the most talked about housemates for the last two years.

I think it's really odd (if not delusional) that she sees herself as a panto villian.

Panto villians by their nature are people we love to hate but essentially funny and entertaining and we understand that we're watching an OTT character doing a job and don't take that 'hate' beyond the 'performance'. That's never been Helen Woods.

She's disliked because of the person she's shown herself to be - begrudging, judgemental, spiteful, petty, happy only when she's putting someone down. I'm not condoning the more favourable treatment the awful Brian and gruesome Nikki were given but it's a completely separate issue and has no bearing on the way she's perceived. That is solely down to Helen Woods.

Helen is the only ex-housemate who entered that house who I thought came out of it a bit better than when they were in it before.
Granted, it was from a lower base starting point, but there you go.

She knew she was going in with Brian and Nikki so she would have a good idea of the character slot open to her.

I've said before that ex-HM's really should think twice about going back into the house. They were cast for a particular season with a particular set of HM's. Take them out of 'their' house and they are like fish out of water. The turnaround for Nadia in UBB should be a lesson for them all. If they were prepared to let her fall off her pedestal then they wouldn't think twice about doing the same for anyone.

I agree.

Getting a little personal there.

She owns some of her traits but does not take responsibility for most.
She lies and has no understanding of the definition of the word 'honest', she is completely clueless.
As I said before she listed off some of her past troubles to bring attention to them.

You conveniently ignored my last comment on my first post.

But hey ho!