Good for you. There is an overriding general opinion that 'if you don't detest Bear then you are against us, and must be just like him and thick' on these boards at the moment. It's nice to see a different opinion.

Well Bear IS the trial in this CBB. He is the irritant, the main task, and whoever handles him well deserves plaudits. Rather than centre in on his bad behaviour, it is much more interesting to see how others react to him and what their survival technique is.

Exactly this. It is a gameshow, and Bear is part of the game as well as a contestant.

Also - just so we are clear - these people are not only paid very handsomely to participate in a gameshow (which they must also be very familiar with and well aware of the potential environment), but they are also free to leave at any time should they feel the experience is too much.

It's hardly Guantanamo Bay, is it?

I also don't see why anybody would like Bear, but I don't agree with your post above.

I've watched films and enjoyed films depicting extremely nasty, violent, troubled behaviour and even sympathised with characters one may find completely unsympathetic, yet that does not mean I condone the behaviour they are portraying nor that I identify with them in any way.

I think we live in a society these days that views most things through a screen - people film everything, even accidents that happen before their very eyes. They have become detached, almost uninvolved in what's going on around them because that screen makes it almost unreal.

So many people aren't participating in life any more, they are watching it happening to others and filming it, watching it through a lense. Film a man run over by a car first, think about calling 999 afterwards. **Stick it all on YouTube for the likes. I do think it erodes peoples' ability to empathise and care somewhat.

Now we have Bear doing what he's doing and others watching him as if he were a character in a TV show, not a housemate living with real people who are feeling quite upset and picked-on. There's little empathy for them as long as they receive the enjoyment they are feeling by him behaving that way, because it can't be real it's a TV show and no TV is real life, right? These people can't have real feelings because hey, they are on TV.

EDIT: **added

they are getting paid, and can walk out of the door, a lot of Bear's fans say things like "they haven't earned their fee" , there's no respect for housemates anymore

personally I quite admire radar dodgers, they are taking C5s money for doing as least as possible, brilliant in my view

personally I'd dock Bear's money for being too 'try hard' and not showing any of his true self

Agreed re the radar dodgers

Anyone who isn't getting something out of the show - be they viewer, contestant, production company or C5 - should really just walk away and find something else to do.

Wonder if it it would still be funny if their children were acting like that

He is totally diiferent in other show. Its all for airtime. We could go to his house and pour oil over his garden and throw food around

Don't get me wrong, there have been points where I have found Bear to be really funny. But there have been many points where I have not been comfortable with how far he has pushed things (and the way he has gone about it). It's interesting that both Saira and Chloe said he's a nice guy and a prankster, because I get no warm vibe from him at all. He is also very spiteful when things don't go his way - don't dish it out if you can't take it! Like I say, he has days when I think he has really hit the mark and other days when he is just horrendous. If he dialled it back a bit and took it on the chin I would have no qualms about him winning. As it stands, I don't want nasty behaviour to be rewarded.

BB was never as you remember it.
it was over 10 years ago that fight night happened.
where tasks were often 24 hour long "guard an egg" things where sleep deprivation was used to mentally destabalise the housemates and break cliques, cause arguments etc.

what has changed is the amount of the show broadcast... the lack of "dilution" that hours of "cameras on housemates not actually doing things that were being saved for the highlights, or saying things that could not be broadcast"
so the edit is both more concentrated on the "gritty" rather than "happy clappy silly sh1t"
and that means people (who are also slightly more aware of how tv SHOWS work now) have changed how they see the show from how they thought it was before.

but the show has been since year 1... a cast of people chosen for their unlikely ability to co-exist, chosen and given pre-planned tasks that they would not do well at, that would cause tension etc... it has always been that.

NO housemate should be 'the trial'

They should be a team working against BB

Bear scores a double whammy. Winds up the house and the forum. I don't like him or his antics but I found his behaviour with Chloe the most offensive. Chloe is a sad girl, begging for attention but getting it for the wrong reasons. Now she's gone, I'm not nearly as angry!
Most of the housemates are strong enough to cope with him short term, they have each other to help dilute the bear effect. Chloe had no one looking out for her and he used and abused her. She just didn't realise it.
He's running out of ways to annoy so his fans will get bored with him or more likely, he'll be removed for just pushing his luck too far.,

I'm with you OP, in that I too do NOT like seeing depressed, intimidated subdued people on my screen.

I don't think most people do.

I think like me, long-time BB viewers watch in the hope that 'good' will triumph over 'bad'.

By the end, that usually happens. Not always, but usually.

So, just so we're clear, the "good" guys are who?

I've never bought the whole "they get paid" argument. They don't get paid if they walk, right?

That means they will have put up and endured him for absolutely nothing. They should get paid for duration on a per-day basis. Not just some flat fee for the entire run.

Yes you are on the right lines. i think a lot of the rose tinted spectacled views come from when there used to be live feed. The highlights show always concentrated on conflict if at all possible.

That's how a lot of jobs work. If you don't complete the job, you don't get paid.

Others might have some money paid up front, and maybe that is the case for some of the celebs.

I guess i depends on the contract, but again - they don't have to take the job if they think the terms are unfair.

I wonder if they get a % if they are kicked out like Biggins?

BIB - and not just aimed at the housemates either, I have been called judgmental, liar, delusional, an alien and a Bear enabler so far today. Just another day on the DS forums... lol

Thankfully I am confident and I know that I am none of those things and I am able to hold my own but I would hate to see these armchair warriors do the same to someone less able to brush off the spiteful remarks.

Most jobs are paid per-hour.

A Bear enabler!

That sounds like an interesting job.

I can barely think of a series - celebrity or civilian - where a major irritant HM hasn't been included. Sometimes that HM has failed to deliver, but there is absolutely no doubt as to the reason for their inclusion.

Are they?

I don't know if that is true.

I'm sure it's not the only thing you don't know.

Sorry. That just seemed like a setup.

My point is that the money isn't an incentive anymore. If they walk now they've wasted their time and come out with nothing. So in a sense they are forced to stay there and just live with his behaviour. It also doesn't really matter what you say. You'll never convince me that his behaviour is acceptable.

Yes I've noticed this too. And in the absence of a 'Bear enabler' there are many posts along the lines of:

'Anyone who thinks Bear is funny / entertaining must be _____ (insert chosen insult)'

'I suppose any minute, a Bear apologist is going to come along and say xyz ....'

And because there are so few Bear fans, anyone who is not a total detractor is taking the flack.

Ironically, some Bear detractors do not seem to realise the baiting nature of some of their posts.

Ok.

I'm not actually talking about any housemate in particular - you assuming that I was in someway defending "him" may well be an instance of you projecting?

Also, they are simply not forced to do anything. Maybe they are coerced, but not forced.

Also, I don't understand where in the rules it says you must be pleasant to your housemates, or - it being a gameshow and all - where it states that you must not try and influence your rivals into walking out. Maybe it does?

Finally, I don't know what they get or don't get if they walk - do you?

PS - are most jobs paid by the hour? I'm interested to know the breakdown.