It's a difficult one because this was actually the oldest big brother they ever had.

They gave it a go 12 out of 16 were over 30 don't forget so they definitely tried to appeal to the BB traditionalists

It's not that many years since busey, Davidson , even Julian clary wasn't that long ago.

It just seems impossible for anyone like that to win now.

People say reality show people are the problem but towie people don't win.

Perhaps Geordie shore people should be rested but it's money in the till and its just not going to happen

I think it would be pretty difficult to change the celebrity format of the show but it's definitely possible for them to do something with the civilian BB. I almost started a thread last night asking whether it was perhaps time for the civilian BB to perhaps copy the American format to make it more interesting or to at least try something different to see if it would work.

With the celebrity version I do think it should be cut down to just one show a year but perhaps make it a little bit longer. It feels to me like no sooner does a BB start another one is coming around the corner and it doesn't give people time to miss it really, unlike I'm a Celeb. Other than that, I don't know what they could do to make it more interesting. It seems there are always going to be the TOWIE, Geordie Shore, Made in Chelsea types coming onto the show for years to come, not to mention former Strictly people. I've already made a bet that Ola Jordan will be doing the next one!

There wasn't really a problem with casting the older housemates.
It started off with a varied and interesting mix but the reality people dominated everything from the start.
You can't really blame the reality people because they're professional controversy makers, but the inevitable result is that people whose talent lies in a different arena struggle to compete in the drama stakes.
Plus obviously, reality people bring their own tribal fan base with them who are the very demographic who do the most voting.

Noone now watches CBB to see what people who have achieved something in the fields of say, music, drama. sport, comedy etc are like 'in real life', they just watch to see one reality 'star' behave more outrageously than another.

Shame because it's ruined the programme for anyone who appreciates character, co-operation and subtlety because now they make it for people who are already attuned to 24/7 conflict, hysterics and scripted 'reality'.
But they're the people who are prepared to make dozens of calls at 50p a throw so nothing's going to change.

You're right. The casting WAS diverse.

You had all in all, the oldest HMs ever. 2 soap stars, two from EE (older skewing), one from Hollyoaks (younger skewing). You had 2 singers, one someone known for being a love rat (older skewing) and one from the X Factor (show for younger audiences) 5 reality stars which included 2 Americans, 1 "politician", one dancer, etc

Nothing wrong with the cast, I do hope there is no Geordie people next time.

In a houseful of 16 people, the ones with the loudest voices will always get the highlights.
That's the bottom line.

Next time, if they continue along the 'reality' path, two things will happen.

The first is that they might not even bother to book entertainers and sports personalities because they don't bring enough outrage to the party
and/or
When people who have a skill or talent are approached, they'll know from the last few series that they won't be able to live through the 24/7 screaming match or they'll get a crap edit like John and Darren got this time, so they're far more likely to appear.

It's a downward spiral but very difficult to see how Endemol can resolve it, and to be fair, why should they when the reality people bring their huge, tribal fanbases with them?

The simple formula is,,,,,,,Look on twitter at GS and TOWIE stars, check how many followers they have, then fill in with a few has beens for the older viewer.

It's the young twitter followers that live on their mobiles that vote.
Only a small percentage of older viewers will pick up the phone, but are needed for viewing numbers.

Good posts Guiser.

I think the show is now very damaged. It's a vehicle for reality stars.

I suppose there may be one or two from outside that fold who will still risk it for the cash, but I think fewer and fewer, and it will become overtly what it actually is - part of the incestuous reality circuit proper.

I suspect a lot of older viewers no longer watch, and this trend will continue.

DITTO ALL

It had such promise with David Gest, Angie, Jonathan, Nancy, TIffany and even John and Darren , (at a push, Danniella too)

but it was the sc*mmy dregs in likes of Gemma Megan Jeremy (who?), and Scotty who brought the show below the sewers > and i can't blame the older HMs for walking having to live in that small House with their foul language, inability to hold a conversation above the level of a seven year old, and who are not Celebrities in the proper sense of the word.

Sadly the Megan's, Scotty's and Gemma's of sh*te reality tv shows are going to suffocate the show and i'd expect more of the same next year.

More viewers will be switching off because of the younger foul crude thick HM intake from reality tv shows that are based around s*x and promoting promiscuity appealing to a certain demographic .

But they aren't switching off though this series had decent viewing figures for c5

a FM put up the stats for BB and it was shockingly low to recent years

There has been lower than this one much lower.

The viewers increased for this one

Do think this was quite a watershed casting for the show.

If Tiffany had grabbed an unlikely win the show would have been flooded with us people as c5 would have believed that's what the viewers want.

However I do think they will cut this back with Americans and just go back to one as precious as there is not a demand for us housemates and the Gary busey win just looks like an unusual one off now

Had a search mission >


I think there may have been more viewers this year at the start, but dwindled due to the big names going the real Celebrities like David Gest

That may have been for particular, older housemates. But I'm not sure that this is sustainable considering the obvious and quite extreme manipulations this year.

It's becoming more and more disappointing for those that watch for older hm, and different interactions. And fewer older hm will bother and fewer will watch.

So this series will perhaps be the one that broke the camel's back, so to speak.

As I posted on another thread with Viacom owning C5 and MTV I fully expect the trend of the younger reality show cast members to increase such that it will soon be like Ex on the Beach without the sun or beach. Give it a few years and we will probably also have the HMs bused out to a nightclub in the evenings to invite random partners back for nookie a la Geordie Shore

don't give them any ideas

It's still not that long since the likes of Gary Busey won. Honestly, I feel this series did pretty well in terms of casting. I do feel Scotty was a predictable winner though.

The oldest oldies have been poor this year. Just how long did david gest stay in his private bedroom this year? Then he walked anyway. Angie bowie threatened to walk about 10 times before she actually did.

I think Guest only spent a couple of nights in a private room, which, if he really was sick would make absolute sense because bugs spread quickly in an enclosed space like the house.

Yes Angie threatened to walk, but so did Megan and Steph.
And Danniella and Gemma actually did on four occasions, but were persuaded to back in.

I've always been a BB fan, but not a fan of other more scripted reality shows, especially the ones concentrating on romances. Some of the most Interesting conflicts over the years on CBB have been between older HMs eg George Galloway doing a 180 on Michael Barrymore, Jackie Stallone V John McCririck, Tina Mallone V Coolio, Also, we want to see unexpected meltdowns such as Vanessa Feltz, Les Denis (who refuses to let them show clips of him) and Leo Sayer.

Watching silly girls like Megan having a tantrum is all right in civilian BB, but I expect more CHARACTER from the celebrity version. That's what's missing for me.