tellyjelly

Big Brother: Musical differences

Nothing like a group task to bring a group together - or not.

Giving them all an instrument to learn was a good move from BB.  It was guaranteed to lead to some friction over who plays what, but in the end they all did play together.  I'm not really sure what tune they were all playing, a few different ones perhaps, but at least they did it and seemed to enjoy it as well.

Great to see the theramin making a comeback - last time I saw one of those on TV it was Bill Bailey making the widdly-widdly electronic sounds.  Mikey's sarcasm and humour over getting to play that instrument was wonderful and I can only imagine what he would have come up with if he'd been stuck with the triangle.

I thought Mario spent the first part of the show telling people how he was standing back - unless it was a food or health and safety issue.  So why did he make such a big deal (and fool of himself) with his pointless argument with Darnell - over a safe, healthy and non-food related task.  Super! 

Well done to Mohamed of course - for being straight with Rex and seeing straight through Alex.

Tellyjelly could probably hear the cacophony carried on the mistral

Big Brother: Would you join his fan club?

And so it begins...at last both Sylvia and Dennis are sharing their concern about being lumped in with Alex - now they need to keep their distance and maybe even send Alex to Coventry - although I think Rebecca would have something to say about having Alex as a new neighbour.

So Mario and Lisa have a fan club...well, Mario does, or so it felt when he was talking about it.  Lisa has perfected the impassive look and I am beginning to see why.  Mario is rapidly going to lose friends and irritate people if he continues to play the big 'I am' and the John and Yoko style bed-ins, where the pair appear to sit waiting for their subjects to visit them, are very strange indeed.

Jennifer's emotional journey towards Dale met with more than a few speed bumps, as she grappled with Alex's contention that there was a conspiracy (when the only one appears to be hers), which made mistrust of everyone Jennifer's mindset for the day.  Dale really didn't know how to deal with it and Sylvia's matchmaking was so unsubtle and poorly timed that just added to Jennifer's misery.  All was sort of well in the end, with Dale and Jennifer doing what all aspiring BB couples do - waiting until everybody else is in bed to get down to 'real' talking - but after the day they had had, they both looked simply shattered.  They should have just curled up together and gone to sleep.

Tellyjelly is off meeting a muse

Big Brother: One down....

So it is bye to Steph - a pity because she was just moving on from her post-nupiual state and by moving on, I mean moving on to Rex of course - didn't see that coming, but once it was there it was so obvious and then it was gone.

BB continued with the psycho-experimentation.  This time it was placebo alcohol.  By my reckoning the BB Moonshine they bought, 1 part alcopop - 6 parts water, must have had a miniscule alcohol content - yet it was enough to lead to bad dancing without music, extreme bathing and a right non-lovers strop for Steph and Rex - oh and Alex being relatively pleasant and funny in the diary room - powerful stuff!

Tellyjelly is heading south

Big Brother: Shocking

Shock tactics - no, not the way in which BB did the Milgram-style task with the housemates, but the further use of the ‘let me give you a hug to make you feel better’ tactic that Alex is continuing to use with some housemates, whilst jumping down the throat of others at any opportunity.  The others aren’t always helping though and Rex ‘borrowing’ her lighter right in front of her, after she had already made it very clear he couldn’t use it earlier, was either provocation, stupidity or ignorance – any of which were not good moves from him.

 

I don’t want to dwell on Alex, but it really is difficult not to.  Her consistently hypocritical approaches and maternity ward-sized chip on her shoulder are stunning to watch.  I would love to have a transcript of some of the altercations, just to be able to annotate them to show just how she behaves towards others in exactly the way she criticises them for – usually before they do anything.  Case in point – she accused Rex of acting like her father, before he said anything about her being like the ‘mother’ – then she laid into him for using the mother comment with her – how dare he!  Oh – I’d love to give Alex the transcript by the way, but I don’t think I’ll ever be ready!

 

And finally…what is going on between Dale and Jennifer?  The housemates appear to be leaving them alone together at any opportunity…or are Dale and Jennifer engineering that?

 

Tellyjelly is en vacance

Big Brother: Paranoia and Confusion

A bit of a ‘so what?’ episode tonight – like the ones you get in soaps where the storylines don’t really progress very much, but enough to make you wonder what will happen next.  We were introduced to a couple of new characters though, in the shapes of paranoid Dennis and identity crisis Jennifer (is she a cheeky girl or a weepy mum?).

Poor Dennis though – when faced with a task-winners’ picnic, he was so sure it was a further task he appeared to convince Rachel not to eat it, because it would mean less food for everybody else.  We never did really see how much they ate and BB only told us that it was OK to eat, not them.

 

As for the last moments with Kat in the diary room, the danger with her quirkiness is that if she does it too much it will become irritating and her character may crumble like the proverbial.  Her final call to BB for cookies was definitely taking the other proverbial and funny for about a second – pity it lasted about 6!

 

At least all the ‘new’ characters took some of the limelight away from Alexandra the Grate who still managed to upset a fair few housemates (who seem to be getting their own back by pinching her cigarettes).  Scariest moment had to be when she insisted on hugging Jennifer in a show of ‘us against the world’ unity.  It felt like Norman Bates making the motel guest feel comfortable, before going off to sharpen the knife ready for the shower scene.

 

Tellyjelly has checked out for now

Big Brother: Car Crash Telly

Watching last night's Big Brother was like watching a re-run of Emmerdale from earlier in the night. Andy Sugden's role was adopted by Alex as she turned herself into the mouth for domestic violence and everyone else either sat back or had a doomed attempt at defending herself. And it was herself - not him and her -  as none of the men took a stand.

The producers should be congratulating themselves for setting up some more lambs for slaughter and it looks likely there were will be at least a week of bullying before she gets voted out. This will then ensure more votes when it comes to phone in time. The only good side to this is the chance to witness yob paranoia in action if you are lucky enough to have not seen it before. You looking at me? - I'd rather not.

Big Brother Wedding

The wedding day finally arrived - after two days of waiting - and my honeymoon with Luke was almost called off when he dared to refer to Mario as 'smarmy'. I like to think this was Luke performing a double bluff, but it is probably further evidence that they are all already forgetting about the cameras. The only positive outcome for the failed task has to be that we now have the chance to evict Steph. The tricoteuses are at the ready, so get that finger busy on the redial button.

Big Brother Big Gobs

For goodness sake BB give Alex something for her throat problem!  Preferably something big enough to fill her mouth and stop us hearing her increasingly irritating voice.  Most irritating moment?  In the garden, after a rant about Mikey like he wasn’t there (and it’s him that is blind), Alex pauses long enough for Mikey to start talking and gives him a matter of seconds before she starts talking over him.  Then she does that thing that manipulative people try to do, where they shuffle around what somebody says to make it fit the hole they are trying to dig for them and hope people listen to their version (usually because it is louder) – not what was actually said.  Hopefully the others will have spotted that and most importantly Alex’s lack of respect for Mikey, who said not a word while she was speaking initially.

The moral dilemma is interesting and fascinating to see played out on the faces of the housemates.  Should Mikey’s disability excuse him from being treated like any other housemate who put the pants on.  The answer is, of course, no – but I have a sneaking suspicion that if it had been Dale who put the pants on he wouldn’t have received quite the tirade Mikey did – I wonder why?

Mikey’s biggest mistake wasn’t actually putting the pants on – it was not apologising afterwards.  Yes, it is not a ‘nice’ thing to do, but I am sure that if he had apologised, then there would have been a grudging acceptance of the alcohol fuelled stag-night humour and his apology, from ‘up one moment-down the next’ Sylvia.

Talking of whom, curious that Sylvia chose to use one of the most striking scenes from Blood Diamond as her example of the brutality in Sierra Leone.  The short sleeve-long sleeve anecdote made me wonder whether she saw that while there, heard about it, read it or watched it in the film.  She didn’t make that clear and in referencing it she will have gained some sympathy points.  Again a moral dilemma, as I hope she did have some real experience of it to be able to qualify the genuine sympathy – but really I hope she had no experience of it at all, which would mean she was using the suffering of others to gain increased security within the house through garnering sympathy – not nice.  Bring back the psychologist’s show – I need to know whether Sylvia has a problem or if it is me suffering from BB induced paranoia.  

Tellyjelly is nearly away