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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Big Brother 2006

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20:00 / 23.05.06

After an excuse for taking the food that was... well, what was he trying to say?

I think it was a way of dropping another drama-bomb concealed as 'atonement' for something nobody would've cared about particularly if he hadn't brought it up. I think the whole conflict/apology/forgiveness cycle kinda washes over Shahbaz: he must be pretty used to it by now, and I don't think it means very much to him, other than a regular drip-drip-drip of attention. Like the classic troll, he doesn't draw a distinction between positive and negative attention; to him, it's all good, or at least better than not being centre-stage.

Regrettable Juvenilia

20:15 / 23.05.06

Watching his "I've made a terrible mistake!" speech - sorry, PEFORMANCE - I did feel a bit like the Martian Manhunter in that bit of Morrison's JLA where he makes his brain the same shape as the Joker's - a terrifying insight into a world that makes no sense. No sense at all.

20:21 / 23.05.06

I kind of wonder if C4 decided that ultimately Shahbaz was ruining their BB. A quick look at digital spy and many of the main stories are about him. It's hard to get any of their other stories to develop.

Besides, he did seem to be perhaps just a bit more unhinged than they had bargained for.

20:23 / 23.05.06

The Martian Manhunter brane-twisting analogy works. It fitted with similar earlier dynamics wherein he used hyperbolically self-punitive apology as a way of generating sympathetic attention ("no, no, I don't deserve to eat, take that plate of food away and leave me to my disgrace, I deserve it, etc.") That's only a hop and step away from melodramatic self-harm/suicide attempts where other people are charged with protecting one from physically punishing oneself.

It's interesting to note that the other Housemate who springs to mind as having a brief but dramatic impact before forcible removal is Kitten - who, I believe, also had a disordered personality along Cluster B lines.

20:32 / 23.05.06

I too was thinking of Kitten. Though I'm pretty sure she made it through the first week, didn't she?

Amazingly Kitten looks positively calm and grounded compared to Shahbazz. But then, they all look better with editing.

20:32 / 23.05.06

Remind me, did Ahmed at any stage wonder into the realms of the unwell? Shahbaz often put me in mind of him, but I can't place exactly why.

20:37 / 23.05.06

I remember Ahmed sitting in the garden going, "AhMED. AhMED. AHmed Ahmed AHmed.." but I think he was just bored.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

20:41 / 23.05.06

God, people sitting around presumably talking about the guy who's just left but who aren't allowed to have any of their utterances on the subject of the guy who's just left made public makes for really bollocks telly, doesn't it?

20:42 / 23.05.06

Shahbaz reminded me of Ahmed in the sense of having an established originally-from-outwith-the-UK identity - but Ahmed was interested in discussions on asylum-seeking, etc. rather than simply using his background as another denigrating-myself-before-you-do-it means of confrontation ("Paki poof"). Ahmed had his shrieky tantrums, certainly, but they were few and far-between compared to Shahbaz's relentless limelight addiction. Ahmed was also able to integrate sufficiently to stay long enough for us to get some sense of why he might be having shrieky tantrums - whereas Shahbaz's personality was such that we can only really speculate.

So... although I think there might be some superficial similarities in terms of behaviour, I don't think Ahmed was nearly as personality-disordered as Shahbaz, and the underlying dynamics were probably quite different. With Shahbaz, I'd imagine there are conflicts related to his cultural background (openly gay Muslims being as rare as Shane McGowan's teeth) but not the same issues as were relevant to Ahmed's.

20:43 / 23.05.06

Psychophysiology is the study of the physiological bases of psychology - how neurons work, how chemicals affect the brain, and how physiological changes in general are involved in behaviour, perception, etc. So I would guess the chap on the show specialises in that.

Interesting to note, though, that he decided not to stick to his psychological bailiwick in discussion with The Dermot, opting instead for generalisations about characters based on fairly basic body language stuff ('look how Shabazz holds onto everyone!) and that forming-norming-storming-performing bollocks which is such a played-out generalisation that even the bloke where I work who reads self-help books all the time probably finds himself thinking it needs deeper analysis. Possibly not the best guy to have on BB until such time as they wire the contestants up with electrodes.

Interesting to see discussion on BBBM tonight where participants strongly hinted that the BB 'psychological tests' are shit. Paul Morley: 'He's insane, but obviously we can't go there...' Russell: 'We can't go there, Paul, because they control the pursestrings!' A troll, a gay father figure, concern over sexual boundaries and disquiet over the psychological testing? Clearly, this is the year BB goes Barbelith...

21:38 / 23.05.06

Heh. Right enough, Shahbaz is somewhat Syphaesque with his Pleeease Delete Me Let Me Go japery, and the tendency to disregard/disappoint those who initially offer constructive advice...

21:42 / 23.05.06

How I wish they'd give Nikki her own spin-off show, or at the very least ask her to come to the diary room for lengthy discussions every day.

So, is she really feeling emotionally attached to Pete, or is this still about the suitcase? It's nice to she that she has suddenly become self-aware in the Big Brother house.

21:45 / 23.05.06

I'm beginning to think Nikki really is a fairytale princess: I suspect she'd immediately detect a pea through forty mattresses. Or at least detect a trace of pee.

23:06 / 23.05.06

Thinking of introducing Xoc at parties as my "top spec bitch"...

23:08 / 23.05.06

Just watching the live feed - Sezer, leave that poor girl alone. After the kiss that he got from hours of badgering on this evening's highlights, he just went for another one, this time fully conscious on the bench outside next to the tree-man. Denied! He's now spent a few minutes moaning "You just blew me out, on live TV, in front of three million people." Yes, you smug little cunt, she did! ha!

23:10 / 23.05.06

I felt that during the "top spec bitch" conversation Mikey was fully waware that he was on TV and, for a few seconds at leat, Georgie completely forgot. Ooopsy. I wonder what his mum would say about that kind of language?

23:15 / 23.05.06

Nikki is the worst human being ever and, frankly, if you can't see that we'll not get on.

23:21 / 23.05.06

But that's what makes her so much fun to watch.

23:31 / 23.05.06

I suspect there have been, are and will be worse human beings than Nikki. As measured using the Universal Human Qualitometer.

23:59 / 23.05.06

No, no, she's worse than Hitler or any of those fellas.

00:01 / 24.05.06

Perhaps you'd like to tell us whyyy?

00:23 / 24.05.06

I'm not wholly serious, of course, but it's 1) the coquettish pleasure she derives from talking about Dawn's b.o. (which I'm unprovably sure is not actually that bad) to everyone when the woman had the patience to listen to that dreadful, dreadful furore over faaarking bottled water, of all bloody things. She's frequently smirking around to everyone about it, and it's a shitty, snidey way to treat someone who was good enough to listen to 2) that howling, spoilt brat outburst aforementioned without punching her.

Also, tonight's 3) discussing Pete in the diary room took the 'mascot' thing to new lows, as if the boy were Forrest Gump or something, and also making her *amazing* empathy kind of revolve around her own special self, leading to the waterworks. Also, the parting shot, which clarified that - of course - special as he is, she'd never have anything to do with him sexually.

4) I also really dislike her face, and general head area for reasons discussed earlier. I particularly disliked her expression on entering the house. (This one doesn't really count, I suppose.)

I'm sure more will be added to the crimefile.

01:03 / 24.05.06

I'm probably alone here, but I thought her diary-room gush over Pete was rather sweet. I think it did show genuine sympathy, and although she struggled to distinguish that from pity, those can be pretty hard to distinguish. And I don't think it did 'revolve around her own special self' beyond the fact that it made her rethink her own struggles and the way she has judged people. She appears familiar with at least some of the landmarks of Selfawaria.

09:01 / 24.05.06

I tend to watch BB with my cynicism filters switched to maximum so I was a little dubious of the sincerity of Nicki's diary room chatter regarding Pete. I would like to think that it was genuine though.

The sensitive fairy-princess thing is something that annoys me when I see it. So that's probably prejudicing me too.

It'll be interesting to see the lines start to be drawn between groups now the unifying force of Shahbaz is gone.

Why do I have a feeling BB's lying and it'll be the Brotherhood who're going up for eviction?

09:44 / 24.05.06

Sorry if it's been mentioned before but what's the message that appears just before the show starts? Anyone have a screencap of it?

10:33 / 24.05.06

Fairly amusing descriptions of the contestants in the Guardian.

11:50 / 24.05.06

Sorry if it's been mentioned before but what's the message that appears just before the show starts? Anyone have a screencap of it?

It's 'NRA 4EVA', one of hundreds of right-wing messages Endemol slip into every show!

15:28 / 24.05.06

Regarding Nikki, she might recognise some of the landmarks of Selfawaria, but she sure as shit doesn't recognise all of them. The BO and bottled water episodes were evidence enough of that. And let's face it, we haven't even seen her muster up crocodile tears during one of her teary fits so I think we need to use the word "genuine" with caution.

Oh, and on the Grace thing. I'm wondering if there's anything in the fact that post the bottled water incident Nikki decided to turn on Grace, basically slagging her off to anyone who would listen.
Did Grace's supportive presence anger Nikki in some way?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

15:42 / 24.05.06

Bloody hell, at this rate there'll be tweety-birds for the whole summer.

Back to Nikki- I can't decide whether I want her to stay because of her diary room monologues, which are comedy gold, or be the victim of a previously unheard-of alliance between honey badgers and angry bees because she's so deeply unpleasant.

15:45 / 24.05.06

Regarding Nikki, she might recognise some of the landmarks of Selfawaria, but she sure as shit doesn't recognise all of them.

No, sure. But these are Big Brother contestants to whom, traditionally, Selfawaria is a brand of industrial hand cleaner. She has at least recognised some degree of failure/weakness/prejudice.

The BO and bottled water episodes were evidence enough of that.

Agreed. She’s a bit of a princess, and wont to throw tantrums when she doesn’t get what she wants. She also seems to be extremely sensitive to dirt/contamination, possibly in an unfortunate combination with the nose of a blood hound. But I suppose it’s hard to gauge exactly how much of a problem Dawn’s BO is, watching at home.

And let's face it, we haven't even seen her muster up crocodile tears during one of her teary fits so I think we need to use the word "genuine" with caution.

Not sure quite what you mean. Why don’t you think her tears have been genuine?

15:51 / 24.05.06

I've just had a thought - if Shahbaz as gone, doesn't that mean they'll be putting in someone new (as well as the golden ticket winner)? Cool.

16:12 / 24.05.06

Not sure quite what you mean. Why don’t you think her tears have been genuine?

Well, when she threw the wobbly about the bottled water there *weren't* actually any tears, were there? Acting the part, but utterly incapable of turning the waterworks on at will. Like an infant.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

16:18 / 24.05.06

Has Dawn actually left then?

16:22 / 24.05.06

Well, when she threw the wobbly about the bottled water there *weren't* actually any tears, were there?

Wasn't her headache and the whole bottled water fiasco due to dehydration? Oh I don't really know or care but it seems entirely possible that she actually was just really upset.

16:31 / 24.05.06

I have yet to see one actual tear issue from Nikki's sad sad eyes.

And I have been looking. Hard.

I'm actually interested in my own scepticism about the genuineness of Nikki's tears as I'm inclined to take most BB emoting at something approaching face-value. I suppose it's not that I don't think she's distressed, it's that I think she's distressed in ways which are more complicated and possibly more profound than her fake tears, shouting, foot stamping, and silly explanations account for.

I honestly don't see that her Pete rant establishes her as any more self-aware than the average BB contestant, especially since her utterly absurd outbursts have been so distinctly lacking in any kind of personal reflection.

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