A little bit of Big Brother

Since being trapped at Sparkling's house and forced to watch Big Brother or BB to those in the know, I have gone from hater to complete addict.  Each evening I watch catch-up and see the episode from the day before.  Although this year's BB has been slated as one of the most bitchy, i have found it one of the most entertaining. There are two distinct groups, the larger in-group and a somewhat smaller out-group. Contestants slate each other off to their respective group or to BB in the diary room.  The dynamics between these are real life and a wonderful demonstration of what people are like.  There are also a few household contestants who are not completely in the in-group, they play on the edges of the in-group but don't fully commit to it.  The good guys are the out-group, they are good because their self assurance and identity comes from inside of them.  They support and have in depth discussions with each other.  While the out-group baddies just enjoy bickering and shallowness, they also dabble in bullying at times.  From a psychological viewpoint it is possible to see entire personality and group theories in play in this single show.  Which ordinarily would not get sanctioned were it put up as a piece of psychological research.  I could see an ethics committee blast it out of the water and sink it to the bottom of the ocean, even before the last word was read on the proposal.  Maybe this is why it is so good.  It's not sound research in any way, it is sound entertainment value, but in another sense it is also real life actual interpersonal dynamics and has a degree of validity.

There is the obligatory gay man who in this case is intelligent, sarcastic but true to himself (Scott) he has a reasonable chance of winning the whole thin by default rather than on full wonderful personality.  The super-bitch is a 19 year old girl who has come from a well-to-do background and is the most immature 19 year old I have ever seen.  Fortunately she (Caroline) is at last one of the contestants up for eviction this week.  At which I would not be surprised if she suffers from a mental break down when she gets evicted, plain an simple nobody in the country likes her.  Mind she is great entertainment when made to do nasty tasks which frighten her and make her scream.  You just can not help but laugh.  I gagged when she forced herself to eat a large fish eye, raw.  She hated every minute of it, but because she is such a despised individual it was karma coming back to bite her, if not keeping it's beady eye on her,  Should I say in her.  At one point she did have a moment of self insight and broke down in tears while in the diary room.  However, the self knowledge didn't change her.  Perhaps learning something revealing about yourself and changing how you act takes time and effort.  It will be a disaster when she is booed out of the house, mark my words, watch this space, I'll bet you a pint on it.  The last remaining black person is a man called Adam.  He is American, overweight and has a mellow bordering on deep voice.  He shows respect to others and thinks what he wants to think, he also doesn't like to hurt other people in his actions or words, he's considerate in this way.  If he doesn't get put up for eviction and lasts the show he could be a likely winner.  The pretend Alpha male of the out-group is a man called Conor.  But he just doesn't have it to be a real Alpha male.  He had a fellow male house mate and together they terrorised the house in various degrees fortunately his mate got kicked out.  Luke A, used to be a woman and decided he should be a man and had the full operation.  His story of how he managed this personal change hangs around his neck like an Olympic medal.  He's nice enough but to tell the truth a little boring.  There are other contestants in the house but I'll finish with Deana, a composed Indian girl who is independent minded although at times slightly edgy.  She's in the out-group and has suffered various degrees of bullying and racism, she has come through repeated nominations for eviction because the public keep saving her.  Otherwise she too would be boring to watch.  I've ran out of steam so will not bother with the rest.

Blimey, see how much I know. I wrote that paragraph with one breath.  The thing I can't help wondering as I'm sure most of the viewers as well wonder.  Is how well they would do were they put in such a house.  All the good and the bad of a person can come out.  The situation may be artificial and allegations of acting may crop up now and again, but no single person can maintain a perfect persona for 24 hours a day.  The mask always slips, even if it's just to have a good fart, which is a lot better than a good bitching session.  Memo to self, keep an eye on mixing starches and proteins, belly doesn't like them.