the show is in competition with the "new appetite" for tv... the likes of ex on the beach and love island...
as emma said, it is the 17th series, it has to evolve...
and as people love the stuff itv2 & mtv churn out, then bb had to add some of that to it's mix.
also... most of the people who have applied for bb since the early days have done so with the aim of it being part of a career on z list tv... and increasingly "acted up" to it... it shouldnt be a shock then by series 17 people go in with a "character" and act as much as they can "in character".... they have done for nearly 17 years... people who apply to be on BB have applied to be on other shows... they have done since day 1 - you just notice it more
for this years "theme" of couples with a history.... they seem to have raided the casts of pilot "towie clones" (and they have been a lot of them) which failed to get made into a tv series... that would explain how the producers would know of people's history & how the housemates could be cast without the couples knowing the other was hired (because the invite to try out for the show at auditions went via the agent who could get them both in without them knowing of the other also going)... how else could that have been done otherwise.
