From an interview with Davina McCall in today's Sunday Telegraph magazine (14/702) page 19.

'Even she [Davina] confesses to being 'quite soppy' about her [Jade].
"What the press don't look at when they are being Anti-Jade" she says with a trembling hand held over her heart, "is where she has come from and what has made her like that, and why she may not have gone to school for as long as she could have done. It is because she was looking after her mum who has lost the use of her arm. You know, Jade has had a really tough life, but nobody wants to look at that. She needs love. She craves the smallest bit of attention and if she gets it, she turns back into a little girl".

She also mentions Alex, saying that she isn't suprised that Alex got constipated as she wouldn't be able to go to the loo in front of camera, either!

Interesting to har Davina's thoughts on housemates that are still in the house, methinks. Thoughs?

emzi

The press may not look at that Emzi but some of us here do and realise why she is the way she is

The press never are interested in the background of a story are they? If they presented all the facts in this case for instance it would be much less sensational, and next to sex, sensationalism sells papers!
I quite agree with Davina, from what I have seen/heard Jade hasn't had the best start in life and unlike the other housemates seems to recognise that she needs to change, grow and improve. I only have C4 and this forum to go by but it seems to me that whenever the housemates are discussing things that Jade has no knowlege of, she really takes an interest in the conversation and asks pertinent questions to try to get a better understanding of the topics.
Jade is not a saint (are any of us?) and has behaved badly at times but to my mind she is trying to improve. Lets give the girl at least half a chance hey?

Caz

Were Jade to kill someone outside a kebab (her fave food apparently) shop, I’m sure it’d be the fault of her upbringing.

Let’s congratulate people who’ve had a tough upbringing and have bettered themselves rather than apologise for the ones who’re content to wallow in the filth and bad habits of their childhood.

At what age exactly can an individual expect to take charge of their life and stop relying on their past to excuse their foul behaviour and bankrupt personailty? 25, 35......never?

Davina is either naîve or toeing the C4 back-pedalling party line....or both.

I think taking charge of your life is an on-going process, usually starting around the age of 20 with the realisation that you don't want to live like this for ever and carrying on throughout life. I am now in my 40s and hope to continue learning and growing for the rest of my life.
I still have some problems, some of which are the result of my upbringing, and I am still working on them. I congratulate you for having acheived perfection already.

Caz

Jade has'nt KILLED anyone though has she ....
Nope ..but she has done a charity jump for breast cancer ...has got herself a decent job ....Is trying to better herself and is the only housemate to admit she NEEDS to change ....bad argument really was'nt it ..

Thanks - How did you know?

Jade hasn't had it that hard,it's a myth.
Her dinner was on the table and she had her own bedroom,her mums a bit thick but she seems to love her and certainly didn't beat her up.
Jade is a bit of a loon but quite normal really.

I did notice that there has been nothing in the tabloids about the charity jump Jade did. That wouldn't sell papers would it?

lu

Well it's a difficult one really. You cant help but feel sorry for the girl (well I can't) she indeed had a very rough start in life... it does explain some of her behaviour, and I do feel that her behaviour is more excusable than if she came from a v. good background...

On the other hand... not everyone coming from a deprived background has to follow their parents foot step... or what would the world come up to... I myself came from a broken familly, my dad was illiterate, my mum brought 3 kids up on her own in a council flat as my dad decided to ignore us... my mum only cut her finger at work though, not the whole hand working in a disgusting factory... and she was a decent human being... all three of us went to uni and tried to better ourselves (one advantage in france is that the governement paid for it all)... I would like to think that Jade could have got the support she needed from someone... but that may not be the case... it's a tricky one, but I do remember when I was a teenage girl, blaming my dad for my low self esteem, my eating disorders and being a little cow (in the way that jade behaved I used to bitch a lot... and put people down....) and he came back to me saying you can only blame me for so long for all these things... become your own person... which were v. wise words for him...

so there... doesnt answer any question... I basically agree with both sides...

Mireille

No - Using an extreme point to illustrate the eagerness with which some people apologise away every single nasty deed she’s guilty of.

Wonder if her glorified receptionist job will still be there when she comes out?

She tells the other HMs what she thinks they want to hear. She’s been confronted over her bitching and is being marginalised within the house so she bangs on about changing and going to Uni. It’s a survival mechanism nothing more. Only in the last 24 hours she’s lied about her relationship with Adele in order to distance herself from her former partner in crime.

Had to laugh when her and Kate were talking about what they wanted to do in life and apparently Jade has set her sights on the lofty ambition of running a sunbed shop!!

Oh, and one bungee jump doth not a saint make.

]Originally posted by Straker [/i]

[b]Were Jade to kill someone outside a kebab (her fave food apparently) shop, I’m sure it’d be the fault of her upbringing.

Erm...slating another contestant on a game show and murder are a little different.

Let’s congratulate people who’ve had a tough upbringing and have bettered themselves rather than apologise for the ones who’re content to wallow in the filth and bad habits of their childhood.

Lets congratulate people who are willing to learn from their mistake and apologise. Let's also congratulate people to carve out good jobs for themselves and not syphon off the state or turn to drugs as a result of their appalling upbringing. She has never wallowed. She has stated that she loves her mum, regardless of what it has done to her, on several occasions.

Davina is either naîve or toeing the C4 back-pedalling party line....or both.

She's too smart for that. She may also have some emotional insight as she also had a parent walk out on her when she was a toddler.

top marks, man! Of course we are ALL a product of nurture, but at some point you CAN stop excusing your entire life on your upbringing, and take some personal responsibility for your actions.

I've indicated my belief somewhere else on this forum that Jade is more sinned against than sinning.

Davina is right to point out that Jade deserves a break.

Yes, she was nasty to Sophie and can be an absolute pain. But, think about her position in the house. She is isolated socially, financially and intellectually from all of the other housemates. She finds herself at the bottom of every heap. Sophie became for Jade the only hope she had of getting her status off the bottom of every sphere of recognition in the house. It's not an excuse, but it is an explanation. I genuinely think that she has come to recognise that for herself too.

Shamefully, other of the housemates (most obviously Adele and PJ) identified this weakness/neediness in Jade and took advantage of her need to be someone.

Jade hasnt killed anyone fgs. She bitched about people, something most people do.
Straker, why do you find it so hard to give Jade some leeway?. If Sophie can recognise what happend in the house with Adele and Jade and forgive Jade, then surely we can.
Do you WANT Jade to be a better person?, dont you think the BB experience has taught her something. Dont you think the last few days she has tried to be 'good', or is everything she does an ulterior motive, to be mocked and critisised?.

I sometimes think the public/media witchunt on Jade tells us more about ourselves than it does about Jade.

you could say that bb, as well as being about how we judge the contestants, is about how we are judged ourselves as a people.

The apology bandwagon rolls on......

No, I’ve seen nothing from her that warrants any slack from me.

In my (and many others) opinion she’s irredeemable. Too stupid to change, too ignorant to comprehend the extent of her social crimes, too unwilling to acknowledge just how deeply objectionable she’s been. Were we discussing a 12 year old I’d say there’s every chance she could grow and change but for a 21 year old adult she is without a doubt the most immature, spiteful, mean-spirited and spiritually & morally ugly person it’s been my mis-pleasure to see on television.

Then again, I’m sure she’s lovely in real life.

you could say that bb, as well as being about how we judge the contestants, is about how we are judged ourselves as a people.

Profound. Or you could say that nasty scumbags will be judged as nasty scumbags and treated accordingly.

Straker is the only one talking sense here. I'm sick of these lilly-livered idiots who are taken in by and promote the 'poor background' theory, for gods sake wake up all of you!

why does everything has to be black or white... As I said b4, I dont excuse all her actions I do think she is responsible and that at 21 she should have taken her own life into her hands etc... but you cant either deny that she had a bad start... her past allows us to understand... not excuse...

Mireille

People keep saying that Jades background cannot excuse her behaviour.

But apart from her childish treatment of Sophie, .....she hasn't actually really done that much wrong.

She's acted two-faced like most of them, and maybe more than others. But to even mention her background as either no excuse or as an excuse is irrelevant.

Both arguements are ridiculous, and are over-dramatizing Jades behaviour. In the scale of thing, Jades behaviour is nothing to what I've seen from people in real life.

Twice I've seen the entire group treat her badly.
When Jade and Adele had the big bust-up, EVERBODY bar Alex thought it was entertaining. Like it was entertaining for them to see her strip when totally pissed.
Hardly anyone in there gives a damn about Jade. How does their behaviour make them any better?

I'm sure I've seen a warm side to Jade. When Tim received the phone call yesterday, I'm sure that Jades tears in THAT instance were very real, she genuinely looked happy for him.

But in the position she's in, she's entitled to try and survive if she can, nobody cares about her, so why should she try to appease them.

They've all tried the two-faced thing, and it seems that they're all diverting their own guilt on to Jade. An easy target.

She's just an emotional rollercoster, not evil.

I think Davina should be an impartial voice though.

Oh bleeding hearts.

The comment about murder is entirely pertinent to this discussion: indeed a bad family background is often brought up in court as an "excuse" for someone having been a murderer, paedophile, burgular (patent pending).

99% of the time it is total b*ll*x.

Rather than give JaDe the £70K just because she had a (cough) hard time of it ... could C4 not trawl the streets and doss houses and recruit some of the people that have had REALLY hard times and are MUCH more deserving. Why not?
Just give them the £70 and be done with it.

The school Jade went to is a pretty damned good one: she had plenty of food on the table and, as noted, a caring mum.



As to Davina: shame on her.
Some people need to appear impartial: Digital Spy reporters note ;o)

When the show started I was not too keen on Jade but this was mainly because she was very loud and wehn she spoke quickly I could not understand her. I still can't.

I then recalled that before she entered the house Davina said that she was very nervous. Perhaps this explains her noisee.

I want kate or Alex to win but I would be more than happy for Jade to come third ( She will not though ) She is far from perfect but i am not qualified to throw stones.

She does not deserve a bad time when she comes out.

mad paro cat, straker...a real pair of caring individuals! yes the lame excuse of poor background does get trotted out in court as a part of the defence but positive role models and good attachments are vital to the development of any individual. yes you can have all the money in the world but without these things you have more chance of becoming dysfunctional. The truth is none of us no Jade wel enough to make any assumptions, positive or negative but the 'lilly livered'. comment is just bloody ignorance.

I'm not exactly sure what you meant by your reply to my last post.

You've quoted a line from it and taken it out of context.

I maybe wasn't as clear as I could have been.

The basic jist of the post, was that what Jade has done is nothing of great significance.

Therefore the arguements about her background, i.e; "It is a reason for her behaviour", " AND the opposite "It is no excuse for her behaviour". Are BOTH irrelevant and overdramatize her behaviour.

So when you said "bleeding hearts", it sounds like you thought I was taking a side.

I'm not being pro-Jade in my post. I'm not that keen on her, although I've seen a good side to her as well.

I was agreeing with you on both points, sorry

I forgot that on this forum the assumption is always of a deep, hostile and ulterior motive.

Should have maid it planer

Alac

No problem.

I sometimes think that I get misunderstood when I type messages, so I sometimes wonder if I'm clear enough.

lol, so it was me who misunderstood YOUR post.