I know that short of you being a guest on there yourself there isn't anything I can say that will change your opinion - and I appreciate that. But the people who work on BBLB are their own little enclave. Most of them have worked there all the years I've been doing it. They are on the whole a really nice group of people with no axe to grind. They are as anorak-y as some of us and a few them really are some of us. BBLB is a show about Big Brother - it isn't Big Brother. I know you appreciate the difference and if for some reason it works to feel there is a conspiracy then there's nothing I can do to change that. Sometimes when I get confused/exasperated or whatever with some of the fixations here about BBLB then I remember how I am about Who Really Killed JFK?, Why Was Bobby Kennedy Really Killed? and What Really Happened With MLK? Nothing anyone will ever say will change my mind and I guess there are those who believe that BBLB is A Tool of The Man and so be it. Makes the debate more interesting I guess

It was something Science said to Roberto while they were both in the house.

(Quoted from this message in the Science Approciation thread.)

When it was shown in a clip on BBLB, the guest (probably Alex Zane?) either didn't get it or pretended he didn't and treated it as a random non sequitur.

I didn't remember that.
Sorry for those who hate sentimentality but I think what he said was really beautiful and not only encapsulates why I liked him but why I like this programme. Occasionally something is said that bites you in the arse and you realise that the human race isn't completely superficial and fey.

I don't think it's a conspiracy, far less that it's any particular one. Nor do I have any fixed opinion about the reason for the seeming "party line".

There are quite a few things that can produce affects as if opinion or actions were somehow being coordinated without any actual collaboration or collusion.

Or if they did interview prospective BBLB guests, that might lead to there being more agreement among them even if no one had intended that result.

I think it's interesting, though, that opinion was much more uniform on BBLB than on BBBM. The viewers (and a different set of guests) have a range of opinons that was not reflected in BBLB guests.

In a way it's probably like how the discussion on This Morning is different than the discussion on Richard&Judy or how This Week is different from Newsnight. BBLB is a teatime show with a lot of children watching it. It cannot be like BBBM and frankly it's not possible and it's not fair. Also BBBM is an audience show with an especially rowdy audience (which is encouraged) and you have to shout to get yourself heard over Russell and/or the audience. So yes everybody is talking about the same topic but Andrew Neill/Dianne Abbott/Michael Portillo approach it one way and Paxman another.

In this instance I happen to agree with you (I thought it was only me ) but that's just a woman-to-woman thing. The trouble is when you go on BBLB as a resident expert then your opinion is given more weight than the average punter and can sway opinion for or against a housemate.

But what if your opinion is wrong?

Well there are two points to that. At least from where I stand but I'm a bit odd. I wouldn't care what anyone says about a hm. If I didn't agree then I just wouldn't agree. I know it sounds weird seeing that in a way I am called an 'expert' but I don't look at it that way. To me my 'job' is to present a different way of looking at things. Possibly present a viewpoint you may not have previously considered. It is NOT to tell you that whatever you've thought is wrong and whatever I'm thinking is right

Also when you are dealing with human behaviour there is very rarely black and white. I can say why I think a certain hm is behaving a certain way. You can say just the opposite. The hm can come along and have a different view. And quite possible all three of us are right or all three of us are wrong.

If you ask many of the people here what they thought of Victor you will get a heck of a lot of rants and raves. I ran into him the other day he was respectful, polite, amusing. The first thing he did was ask about my son (who he met for 5 minutes however many years ago that was). He was self-deprecating and could not have been more charming. Does that mean our previous interpretation of his behaviour was wrong, maybe partially - but that's what it's all about. And that more than anything is what I have trouble understanding. People come up with a view on a hm's personality and they never, ever change it. Sometimes that makes sense but often it doesn't and if you change what you think then that means 'you were wrong all along'. No it doesn't. It means that you've noticed something else that you might not have noticed before. Personally I think that those who never ever change any of their opinions as the process goes along are possibly missing out on something......

I realise that. I'm just saying that as you are presented to us as an expert some will give your opinion more credence. Why else would they bother to have experts on if not to guide us?


I think we all saw on BB5 just how charming Victor can be. He had most of the other housemates fooled for weeks while the viewers were seeing a completely different side to him and wondering why his housemates hadn't twigged.

I agree with your final sentence. It's not unknown for me to start off liking someone then go off them later. It's never happened the other way round though.

Well in my interpretation of my role I don't think of myself as being there to 'guide' you at all. I just think of myself as being there to provide a viewpoint/opinion that might bring another slant to it. That's the beauty of BB, it's all opinion.

Funnily enough I'm probably more the reverse in that I frequently am not fond of someone then after watching them and sussing out possible explanations for why they do what they do then I start liking them.

Yes "normal" was the wrong adjective as I was quoting the previous post. "Ordinary" would be closer to what I meant. I don't want to watch ordinary people on BB, I want the auditions to pick out extraordinary housemates, or at least those who can do extraordinary things when circumstances arise.

I certainly don't want to sit around for 13 weeks watching "abnormal" housemates.

And I posted earlier in this thread (post #10) that the audition process over 6 seasons has been remarkably good at picking out memorable housemates.

As for the large swimming pool rumour and having some eye candy my initial comment (post #2) still stands:-

"Yes, bring it on!"

You might see you role that way but I'm sure that to a certain section of the viewers the word Expert will carry a lot of weight.

I find that, while knowledge of why a housemate behaves in a certain way can bring understanding of their motives, it doesn't tend to make me like them or said behaviour any better.

I can't imagine my opinion ever being swayed or even marginally nudged by the opinion of an expert during a light entertainment programme.
I think their expertise in this context is simply to cast an alternative often humerous sometimes provocative slant on a HM. Not with the intent of changing opinion but merely to entertain. This isn't newsnight review when all is said and done.

OK. How about if there was someone who was (and I am TOTALLY making this up) - incredibly aggressive and homophobic and you then found out that he had been sexually abused and beaten by his uncle when he was a child would you then not possibly regard the behaviour in a different light?

But is it not true that many/most paedophiles were themselves victims of child abuse?

I would still regard their behaviour in the same light, even though I could see a reason why they got trapped into that particular pattern of behaviour.

I would be sympathetic about what had happened in the past & would obviously be able to see where he was coming from but that's not the same as liking him or his behaviour.

That's part of the point I'm trying to make. I'm not saying that you would necessarily start liking someone you had previously disliked but, for me - and that's me the person not me the professional - there is a big difference between behaviour without a reason and behaviour with some background to it.

Well that word 'reason' for me is very important. And that's a lot of what I enjoy about watching BB, it's the 'trying to get to the bottom of the possible reasons behind some of their behaviour'.

How did we get from BB including some good looking hms to paedophilia ????????????

Absolutely! I'm always fascinated by why people act in a particular way or hold certain views.

Give it ten minutes, we'll be on Nazi Germany.

Via IKEA

Well I have been told some of Ikea's stuff is pretty sexy and it has been known to be used in BB so at least that's on topic

I can tell there is some very subtle sideswiping going on and I am trying to be such a good girl

It's that leccy - she keeps trying to get you to talk about subjects which aren't on topic - just as well i'm here to help you out , isn't it ?

P.S. Is it true they're trying to 'sex up' BBLB as well and the guests will be asked to appear in their choice of swimwear ?

lol....not guilty Jenni. You know you love IKEA