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12 Rats : Who Will Bite First ?

It is now Wednesday evening, and the rats are quite well settled in their relatively small cage. Over the last few days the housemates have come to build up their individual daily routines. The housemates certainly will be feeling less ‘lost and insecure’ than they did during their first weekend. However the Pedalo task will probably have messed up some of the housemates sleeping patterns. The disturbance of a person’s regular daily sleep/wake patterns is a dominant factor in the general daily mood of each housemate. Naturally there will be some variability in how each housemate will cope with their new lifestyle, some of them will certainly be coping better than others.

The question is who will snap first ? As the days slip by in the BB house, as the pressure and tension gradually is increased by the show’s producers (via all sorts of manipulative ways), one of the housemates is going to flip out. An ‘evil look’, a sharp word perhaps, it is just a matter of time before someone starts shouting and raving. The stress of the Big Brother experience is undeniable, sometimes it’ll come out in the form of tears, but more often it’ll be seen in an angry form.

The arguments are inevitable. Stick 12 strangers in a small space, and they WILL sure as hell start to bite after a while. The tension in the house will increase for a number of reasons…

-As the game progresses, the most basic tension will relentlessly increase- the hope of winning the game. Housemates will start to sense victory with each passing day, they will start to feel the desire for victory – or maybe even a slight fear in some of the shy ones.

-Failing Group Tasks : Any failure of a task is going to annoy some of the housemates. A reduction in the food budget, fewer essentials and less luxuries will certainly drive some housemates into a bitter mood. The people responsible for failing the group task will in particular face possible negative treatment.

-Evictions : With each eviction in the house, the remaining housemates will start to get ever more worried that ‘their time is up’. Paranoia of who is voting for who may also lead to increased tension between the housemates.

The Battle lines are drawn

Today’s failure of the Pedalo task is a great opportunity for the group dynamic to become more focused, to become more clearly defined. Internal Splits should soon start to become quite observable between various housemates by the end of this second weekend. Once the first eviction has taken place the housemates should truly begin to feel the harshness of this game show. Even the calm and nice housemates like Nush and Steph are going to realise that they must start to ‘play the game’ if they are to win.

With each passing day it should become much easier to define the precise relationships between housemates. I have always considered a minimum period of 7-9 days necessary until us viewers notice the broad relationship dynamics between the housemates. By Day 17-21 it should become crystal clear as to what is going on in the BB house.

Players and Actors

I have been reading on the DS:BB forum about whether forum members perceive the housemates as ‘players’ or ‘actors’. First, lets be clear on the definitions…

-A player : A Housemate taking a tactical attitude to the game, whilst being themselves.
-An Actor : A Housemate not being themselves, essentially faking it, taking on a false role to win approval from others.

Although it might sound a crude way to categorise housemates, I still believe it is quite a useful initial 2 category system to use, here’s my take on the housemates so far….

The Actors…

Ψ Tania : she is the leading actress in the house. It has becoming quite clear that she is desperate for fame. The ‘Tanianator’ will stop at nothing to get what she wants. For her, there are no limits as to what she will do to get noticed, to get the attention that she craves. Along the way, if this means she has to slaughter a few fellow contestants, she certainly will.

From the background information that is already starting to arrive on miss T., - the attempts to win an MTv competition, TV work, and her alleged relationship with 90’s singer Peter Andre… missy T. appears to be on a renewed crusade to get into the showbiz circuit. With her good looks, Tania certainly has a good chance of being selected by the media as the one to win BB4.

There is the ‘Suns’ 50k – which miss T. may or may not be aware of. Would miss T. do anything sexual to garner favour with the mass press ?

Current status of miss T’s campaign – now that today’s task has failed, she will probably nominate Cameron next week. She has already voted for Jon, clearly she wants anyone ‘intellectual’ out of the house, since she clearly is outgunned in terms of general intellectual ability.

Ψ Scott : Scott must be really annoyed at being nominated right at the start of this series. He has so far played the game pretty well. Scott blended away into the background of the house within moments of his appearance into the BB house. His strategy was one of utter stealth –the ‘don’t get noticed and you’ll be okay’ policy. Annoyingly for him, Nush took an instant dislike to Scott, and put him forward to the public vote.

If Scott does survive Friday, he could well remain right until the dying moments of the show.

Ψ Ray : The ‘slick man’, he has been playing the role of ‘mans man’ recently. He has taken the role of leading male in the group, and has certainly come to spend time with his female targets of Anouska and Tania.

Current status of Ray’s campaign : All things considered, Ray is doing just great so far. He has no real enemies in the house, and has the potential to win over Anouska or more likely Miss Tania. It would seem extremely unlikely for Ray to be up for eviction for at least the next 2 rounds. Ray’s place in the house looks very secure.

Like Tania, Ray has a problem with the ‘smart people’, he’ll probably be gunning next for Cameron and Nush I believe.

The Players

Ψ Cameron : The ‘Appleman’ is taking things very smoothly. So far he has sunk into the background almost as much as Scott. No one has really had the chance to really find out who this guy really is. Cam’ remains the mystery guy. I have noted however, how he dismisses people at times. He gives them a bemused look, and folds his arms in disdain at what was said at times.
Strategically speaking, Cam’ is doing reasonably okay, yet I bet he picks up 2 votes next week.

Ψ Gos : So far he has done magnificently in his standing in the house. I am unsure as to how smart Gos is, how much of Big Brother has he watched ?

There is no way this guy will be up for nomination either next week, or in my view… until week 5. Gos, as the house chef, and ‘middle of the road’ guy retains a very strong position in the house. However, if he is put up to the public vote, then he’d be sadly highly likely to get the boot.

Ψ Anouska : She is surely the devilish lady player of the house. Anouska however can only be herself, she is not the type to lie, to hurt others intentionally, she is very much 100% genuine.

Current Status : Anouska is as we know up for the boot. Assuming she does manage to stay in, it will interesting as to how she will try to resettle into the group.

I would perceive that if Anouska does survive this Friday, she will be put up for eviction AGAIN next week. This would of course be a devastating thing for her, and would really send her over the edge into paranoia, wondering just who in the house is against her.

Ψ Nush – Isn’t she so lovely ! Has she really just left a commune, or is that just a lousy rumour from the gutter press ? She does seem the fluffy and spiritual person, - the type of person I adore. She may not see the

Ψ Jon – he is smart and is very much being himself. Sadly, that initial quietness got him 4 votes last Friday, and great British public has a pretty damn inferiority complex about smart people – don’t they !

Status – likely to be booted. However, if he survives, he would be likely to escape nominations next week, since many housemates have seem to come around to liking him.

Ψ Federico: The poor guy is clearly a bit devastated by failing the group task. He seems well liked in the group right now, but doubtless some of the housemates will be resenting his incompetence.

Status : Likely to remain in the house, but surely going to get evicted by week 4.

Undetermined

Ψ Steph : I can’t quite see through this woman – however old she might actually be.

Ψ Justine: She always seems to carry a moody look on her face. She doesn’t look happy, does she ? What is up with her ?
She is becoming a Cameron in terms of being an easy nomination. So, I suspect she won’t last that much longer. She’ll be booted out first chance the public get.

Ψ Sissy – Her voice annoys the hell out of me. I suppose at least her words are understandable, but she is just too whiney for me. Her tearful nature will mean she gets a lot of support from the female side of the house. Sissy will be around until week 4, but then will be out.

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Looking ahead

The coming Friday eviction will be an intense moment for the house, and especially for all four of those up for eviction. I am hoping the ‘invisible’ Scott gets booted, but frankly I can’t see this happening, since the media haven’t even noticed he is in the house ! So Scott will stay, as will Federico and Anouska. Sadly, the most intelligent housemate we’ve seen in the four big brother series – Jon, will get the boot. No more Tolkien, no more Star Wars, no more Science… Gos will miss Jon most of all.

In this situation, I do hope I am wrong.

Next week’s nominations… Anouska (if she’s still around of course), Cameron, and maybe Justine. As for next weeks group developments, I predict that we’ll see our first house argument Tuesday night – involving Tania in some capacity. Hopefully, the housemates will have some kind of annoying task by Tuesday, and this will send one of them over the edge into a right strop.

Enjoy the show.