From Media Guardian:

Viewers and media commentators have waited with baited breath for three years for the first British Big Brother housemates to have sex - and when it finally happened last night, few bothered to watch.
Much has been made of the apparent prudishness of UK Big Brother contestants - housemates taking part in the show in several other countries have had sex before now - but it now appears that it is the British viewing public that could be demure.

Last night's edition of Teen Big Brother featured brief clips of contestants Tommy Wright and Jade Dyer having sex under a duvet in the communal bedroom, while the other housemates were asleep around them.

Teen Big Brother was watched by 1.9 million viewers and attracted an 11% audience share between 10pm and 11.05pm, according to unofficial overnights.

This was the smallest audience for Teen Big Brother, 900,000 below Tuesday's figure and also well down on Monday night, when 2.5 million viewers tuned in.

Moreover, a 1.9 million audience will be one of the lowest ever for any Big Brother series or spin-off since the show launched on Channel 4 three years ago.

A Channel 4 spokeswoman said the broadcaster was happy with the show's ratings.

"We are very pleased with the way Teen Big Brother is performing, and as it was expected last night it was up against particularly tough competition - football and a movie," she added.

Channel 4 has been criticised for cynically exploiting the teenager's fragile emotions to boost ratings. Both girls and boys were forced to share one room and the next day the show's producers gave the girl the morning after pill. It was designed to be broadcast in January as part of the 4Learning schools strand, but Channel 4 bosses recently decided it would do well in a prime time slot.

A spokesman for Endemol said what is being shown this week bears no relation to what will go out to schools.

"It has been substantially re-edited for prime time television.
Last edited by steveyboybmth : 16-10-2003 at 13:28

Quick - get this down quickly. Endemol admit to editing in favour for a particular audience!!!

Actually this was a good article - thanks steveuk.

Personally I would of been happier without the sex happening. BB, imo, does not need sex to make it watchable - as the viewing figures suggest, it actually has the effect of reducing viewing figures.

Kind of like the Helen and Paul thing really, I'm glad they waited until the show ended.

A bit of a Romance and cheeky flirting is fun to watch...

Watching people having sex is a whole other area, where I would rather not go

If they would at least show everything , but two ppl under a duvet is sooo lame.

I did wonder if the sex scenes might dip the ratings. I know Cam wasn't a popular winner on this board but whether people agree he was a deserving winner or not the fact is that the general public wanted a moralistic christian to win bb4.

Is that a fact? Really?

How extraordinary that you so tenuously manage to link two disparate topics together - that desperate to put in a good word for the Sham?

There are presumably a number of variable factors why Cameron was Endemol's token winner - chiefly the audience's stupidity.

Cameron Stout is the best advert for atheism I've ever seen.

Especially now since he swears and drinks - I wonder what else! Did we see any facet of the real Cameron?

What I like about this bunch of people is that they speak first and think later ... totally opposite to the BB4 contestants and I think that is why I am probably more able to forgive the tantrums, all the un-PC stuff and even the sex.

Oooo! I'm gonna have to agree with matt.b Hope no one reads this thread!

The English are a joke when it comes to sex! - Pop over to Europe like I do and you will see an openess that is SO REFRESHING! (No! That doesn't mean that it's sex, sex, sex shoved in your face over there, they just don't have the VERY BIG cork stuck up their **** that we English do! - but then you have to get out of the problem (Country) to be able to see the problem!)

And! Do these ratings take into account that a hell of a lot of people already saw the sex scene the night before on E4 ! - Digital may not be the majority, but there is still a hell of a lot of us who saw it on E4 the night before the C4 ratings!!!

And how do they rate these things? - No one phoned me up to ask me what I watched and when!!!


EDIT- I just read this back and I got to thinking this-

QUESTION- Is it a case that people who are not moving with the times (IE going digital) are more likey to be stuck in there ways and so the average non-digital person is likely to be stuck in their way as regards sex on TV?

YES! That IS a generalisation and does NOT apply to everyone, but I think it's an interesting point!

It would therefore be far more interesting to get a Rating based entirely on digital viewers and compare the two! (Have to adjust it to a percentage of total viewers in both cases)

getting back to topic.

I am not surprised, I know The Sun were waiting for it, but I have never really read, much public demand for it, I do genuinelly feel that the Brits like a good old fashioned, slow burning romance not a quick "hows ya father!" fumble.

It was embarrasing to watch for me! didn't know where to look, anyone waiting for it must be pretty sad, IMO. get a porno if ya must!

Why is it bad to be private about sex though?

its a personal thing you share, I don't want all and sundry watching me! about 200,000 watch the E4 show, and it was down by nearly a million on Tuesday's episode. Its clear, the British Public don't want to watch Sex!

I know, I know, I lied. Well we're all fascinating and we're all boring, but we just have to get over it.

The reason Cameron won was probably because people who care, and know, want to halt the slide - and I'm an atheist.

Teen BB is not educational, except that it screams exploitation, and is a warning to all those who should heed it but can't perceive it. This group of housemates is obviously soaked in television "reality".

The reason so many of the people who watched BB4 found it boring was because they were incapable of perceiving, let alone following the sub-plots, which had such strong messages about real life.

The people in TBB don't deserve to be so publicly destroyed. They are just too young to know what they are doing, but the people who put them there aren't. Make them watch "The Hoobs".

Well , yes..it is a fact . Cam won ! !!!You can't have it both ways. You say he didn't deserve to win for.... blah , blah , blah ...reasons ...he pulled the wool over peoples eyes ..blah blah blah...and then you cite all the things he did do which showed him in a bad light whilst still claiming that he had assumed a sweetness and light persona to con us all . He went into that house and on occassion expressed opinions which were unpopular, non pc and offensive and you don't like him for that. I actually respected him (I'm not agreeing with him)for being himself and standing by his beliefs. It would have been far easier for him to lie . Noone in their right mind goes onto a show like BB and thinks' I'll assume the persona of a straightlaced near teetotal bible bashing virgin and that'll go down a bundle with your average bb viewer ! ' Noone would have predicted that a show like BB would have been won by someone like Cam a year ago.

Personally I don't think that so many millions of people are collectively stupid. Maybe the public just wanted to believe that there's some decent people left in the world. Cam had his faults like all the rest of them but he had his good points too.

Do you have anything better to contribute otherwise than stating the obvious?

And since you evidently endorse Cameron's behaviour by supporting him, it sheds light on your intelligence and morals in a big way.

And the fact that you post about Cameron in a thread that has nothing to do with him sheds more light again on your sycophantic agenda.


Such as?

Did the naive idiots out there want to believe there's some decent people left? People who bitch about others incessantly, made unpleasant threats on a consistent, almost habitual basis and then look down their noses at others for behvaiour that they don't like??

You can cite diversity as a reason for supporting Cameron but really you don't have a leg to stand on.

nothing bad about privacy , but if two people choose to do it on national telly show me everything .

Funnily enough if you see it often enough it becomes so boring , that I rather molest my gf , then watch duvet action.

That said their fighting in there is first class. That was already 5 BB4 worth of fighting, bitching etc.

No offense but in the days of the internet, seeing some people shagging is hardly a major disaster.

Well sadly the GBP wanted Cameron to win as well - that don't mean that I did !

The sad sad sad English attitude is leaving the English behind in many many ways (not just sex) - That is way we are the laughing stock of Europe and the only answers seems to be "We are English and turn our pastey little white bums towards everything, whilst still being stuck in the dark ages thinking we lead in the world and still have an Empire!"

It's that way of thinking that is holding us back! We will never advance and will fall even further behind the rest of the world.

As for sex being a personal thing - YES! it is! if you want it to be, but then you or I are not going on TV and freely chosing to have sex!

So- is it a bad thing to be private about sex - NO! - But when people want to talk about it, they find it very hard as it's such a taboo! Europian Teenagers do not have half the problems English Teenagers do about talking openly and freely about sex and it's this taboo thing that is causing it!

Have you thought that this whole thing wouldn't be such a big thing if we were not so sexualy repressed?

Ooooooo! Sex on English TV !!!! - Yes! it is a big thing! - But it shouldn't be.

But! Shock horror! - Teenagers DO HAVE SEX!

I don't know for a fact, but it didn't seem to me that either of them were virgins!
So! if they are too young to know what they are doing, should they be having sex?
They (the two involved) seem to have laughed it off - it is only the Stiff upper lip Brittish Empire brigade that seem to be over-using word like "Exploitation" !

That is in fact my whole point !
Take out the silly still upper lip English Empire Taboo and sex just goes back to being a private but openly talked about thing!

It is this band of die hards that think opening up something means that it will be shoved in your fact all the time - it won't!

As you say, you can get sex from everywhere now - Satelite TV, the internet etc and instead of getting and epidemic of sex monsters, all you get is bordom and a feeling that you want to connect with someone on a higher more personal level (So get sex out into the open and it gets rid off the hang ups about it - that leaves you to concentrate on the more meaningful things!)

But as you say - If were are going to have sex on TV, let's have sex on TV and not fubbling under the duvet!

Ooh, I love a good fubble under a duvet, me....now you're talking!

Well, you are the one who is always saying that tickle is the real winner so I thought that fact hadn't penetrated.


You know nothing about my background, morals or anything else for that matter. I am just words on a page to you. You cannot make some quantum leap from what I have said re Cam to impute anything about my intelligence or morals. I stipulated quite specifically that I did not agree with everything Cam said. In fact I hold quite opposing views in some instances. It was the fact that he held true to his beliefs although they were unpopular not the fact that I agreed with what he thinks that impressed me.


I don't think you have taken on board the point I was trying to make in my original post. I came into this thread to make the point that since BB4 was won by Cam, who was perceived to be moral and religious one could draw conclusions about what the public want to watch ie they might be more moralistic than the tabloid press would have us believe. The public would rather watch romance than sex.That was merely the point I was trying to make. You are the one who came on here and challenged my right to post ...or did you not expect me to respond.


Does someone really have to be a naive idiot to beleive there are decent people in the world ? Well....I'm not so cynical as you.

Fact 1. Cam may have bitched...but he did notbitch incessantly

Fact 2.. Cam did not threaten anyone. His remarks were not made with malicious intent.

Fact 3. He did not look down his nose at the others .

But Halleluyah ! I do agree with you on one thing . This has gone off topic so I'm not going to argue the toss with you any more !

Just on this board? I've yet to see any forum where Cameron was applauded for winning by a substantial number of members (I don't include little fan forums in that).

Maybe the public did want a moralistic christian to win BB4 - too bad they got Cameron instead.

Fact 2.. Cam did not threaten anyone. His remarks were not made with malicious intent.

Wrong, he did and they were.

OFF TOPIC


On the contrary, I'm well aware of Endemol's cheap manipulations and risible put-up job as far as BB4 is concerned.


Based on the type of person you choose to support, I think I can speculate.


Taking the thrust of your argument to its logical conclusion, I suppose you'd have to admire a white racist for making non-PC remarks about black or Asian people for "holding true to their beliefs". Perhaps a member of the National Front could go into the BB house and you'd have to support him/her because their commitment to their values even though they're unpopular must be impressive surely? This is highly suspect reasoning on your part.



So people might indeed prefer to watch romance rather than sex. What exactly does that specifically have to do with Cameron Stout? As I've already pointed out, any excuse eh?



Except that Cameron isn't decent - and a lot of very stupid and naive people fell for his clean-living Christian act.


Splitting hairs, aren't you? Those all night bitching sessions Cameron instigated and maintained along with the equally disgusting Steph must be a figment of your imagination then.


Yes he did. He made thoroughly unpleasant remarks about wanting to "punch (Jon's) lights out" and "suffocating" Nush. Only he didn't say it to their faces, so he's gutless as well as spiteful.


Yes he did. He disliked the others' drinking and complained about it at length in the diary room ("It's not big and it's not clever".) He bitched about Tania and Lisa, and "snitched" on Jon (weaselly **** - Cameron *not* Jon) for "trying to influence nominations" when he only wanted to talk about the tasks.

Anything else you must have intentionally blocked out in your determined efforts to prop up the Sham???

So they wouldnt show PJ and Jade from BB3 doing nothing more than fumbling under the covers in great detail and they would show two teenies getting it on in alomost graphic detail(well not quite)?, those two teens are going to be taunted about that for years, and the sad thing is there is no Sun 50 grand offer for them at all!.

Well why will they be taunted? Coz Britain is so stuck up ! Sex is normal. Excessive drinking ain't

It's doubtful that Channel 4 expected ratings for a 5 day series of Big Brother to be anywhere near the main series. 1.9 million is pretty respectable for 10-11:10 pm I would have thought.

And I think the housemates in this will look back on the show positively. On pure entertainment level they deserve to. Celebrity Big Brother 2 was a similar length to this one, and that was as dull as ditchwater.