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Return of the Tickle
Jon arrives to save the
sinking ship HMS-BB4
Later that night our
suspicions were fully justified. In a last ditch effort to improve the
entertainment value of BB4, the producers decided to call upon an
ex-contestant whom they had fought so hard to have evicted from the House.
It was perhaps the most ironic thing I have ever seen on television.
Emergency Boardroom Decisions For a moment, just imagine the scene at one of the strategic planning meetings that the BB production team probably have each and every day. Since week one the voting totals have been around 35-40% lower than for BB3. Viewing numbers are broadly the same as last year, yet as Ann Robinson would say '... its votes that count'. The production team have seen their chosen winner Cameron survive until the final night, yet they are certainly well aware that BB4 is also known as the Big Bore. So with such poor voting totals and the media claiming the show was turning into a truly boring experience, the C4 team felt they had no option but to take one further extreme measure. Remember that these were the very same people that decided to twist and edit the nightly highlights against Jon in such an outrageously unfair manner, and who were now discussing how to give the show a desperately needed 'kick' in the final 2 weeks. They probably realised that the only measure they had left was to get the 'Tickle' back into the house. The C4 team would have been well aware of how many Tickle fans had deserted the show at Day 29, and would have hoped that if Jon returned, so would his legion of supporters. Even though Jon would not be allowed to win, the hope would have been that the Tickle legion would get voting again. I can only assume -and project, that perhaps C4/Endemol will receive another 1.25-1.75 million extra votes now that the tickle legion are once more watching the show. As I have argued before,
C4/Endemol had agreed from the start that Cameron was their 'chosen one'.
As Jon survived eviction after eviction, C4 decided that a double eviction
at week 4 would ensure Jon got booted. With Jon/Fed fans in a split vote,
Cameron would survive. In the event, the result was probably a bit too
close for C4 - the chosen one was only 52,000 votes behind Jon. Anyway, C4
got what they wanted on Day 29, although they clearly had to take
unprecedented action to ensure that Jon was evicted. Lets be clear about one thing, there was little (if any) doubt that Jon Tickle would be voted back into the house. What was truly amazing though was Jon decided to rejoin the house. Knowing Jon, I doubt he has been paid anything - aside from a notional amount, in his return to the BB house. Jon seems the type who relishes the challenge of being the only housemate to EVER have re-entered the house. * I shall be doing a summary article on C4/Endemol once the show ends. The Strategic planning team have made some truly crazy decisions this series and it merits some discussion.
Nominations - Final round '8 As expected Cameron nominated Nush and Ray again. Cameron certainly would not associate with people like Ray outside the house. As for Cameron's attitude to Nush, it is somewhat surprising, although it should be noted that the house is divided into two sub-groups. House cliques : Cameron and Steph vs Nush, Ray, and Scott. Remember the '3 amigos' clique of Federico, Ray and Scott, even after 8 weeks Ray and Scott remain close buddies. Neither Ray nor Scott have ever nominated each other. Cameron and Steph also failed to nominated each other during any of the 7 opportunities they had to nominate each other. * For future BB contestants, building a tight clique of 3-4 housemates will prove to be highly effective in ensuring survival until the late stages of the game. Just look at how Ray and Scott have survived until the final night of BB. As a final point of note, had Federico survived week 4, the '3 Amigos' clique may have survived fully intact until the final night - which would have made for some fascinating viewing. Cameron will survive his second eviction this penultimate Friday, there is no doubt of the result in my view... Nush might as well start packing now.
Week 8 in the house With Jon back in the house, Friday evening was indeed very interesting, and like many other fans I stayed up until the early hours of Saturday morning. It was truly a wondrous sight to see how the housemates reacted to Jon's unexpected arrival. Initial reactions to Jon... Over the next 2-4 hours it was becoming clear who was happy and who was not. Scott generally looked ever more miserable as the night progressed. Ray eventually mentioned how it'd be unfair if Jon could re-enter the house and still win. The housemates took no more than a few hours to start becoming paranoid that their nemesis had returned to seize their prize away from them. However we should not be
surprised about any negative/paranoid reactions in regards to Jon. Let us
not forget that Cameron, Nush, Ray, Scott, and Steph all nominated Jon in
previous nomination rounds. During Jon's first 4 weeks, the remaining
housemates voted for Jon as follows.
Notes : * indicates a vote for Jon Tickle -questioning Scott and Steph,
proposing to them that Cameron is not what he appears to be. The Nush-Scott non-romance Big Brother was desperate to get Scott and Nush in bed together, it took two attempts for the desired scenario to occur. Scott won the Bingo game on Sunday night, and quickly chose a seemingly reticent Nush. Nothing of any consequence occurred that night of course. Nush, like so many of the housemates seems quite a un-sexual being. As they went to bed, it looked like a scene from an episode of 'Terry and June'. Both of them were wrapped up, and got under the covers as quietly as they could. Most laughable of all, was the barrier of cushions between them. It was quite embarrassing to watch these two grown adults in bed together, trying to be as far apart as they could. Scott has clearly fancied Nush lately, and although Nush might have felt some degree of attraction for Scott, she was certainly not going to get involved with him whilst in the house. So that was the high point of
BB romance this year. Scott and Nush in bed together...fully clothed, and
separated with cushions. As I've said before, could the production team
have selected a more un-sexual group of housemates this year? The Final Night
Ψ Cameron : He will attract the 30+ age group more than anyone else. The very nature of Cameron though will limit his votes to primarily people above 30 years of age. He can not rely upon the 'teenie' text voters for victory. Cameron has only been up for the public vote twice out of 8 possible opportunities. However when it came down to it, Cam' triumphed over both Federico AND Jon - which is truly an important factor to consider. The question remains, will the 'motherly' vote be enough for him to win? Ψ Ray: He will certainly be attracting large chunks of the teen vote, and certainly in terms of the 'attractive male' vote. He also will get some support from the 'Irish community'. Ray will do pretty well, but not well enough. Ψ Scott : Like Ray, Scott will attract a great majority of the teenie vote. However, Scott has received very little public interest until just recently via his lusting for Nush. Overall, Scott has remained almost invisible to the general public- many of whom will not really know anything about him. In balance, Scott will do okay on the final night, but his lack of effort in portraying his character to the public will surely be his downfall. Ψ Steph : Being the only woman left, she has the benefit of gaining the male vote. Steph has been noted to attract 'some' viewers, but she arguably lacks the elegance of all her previous female housemates (bar Justine). Steph has played the game well. She has seen her two of her nominated housemates get booted (Sissy, Fed), yet she does not stand a hope in hell of winning. Steph lacks any widespread 'sex appeal'. Just contrast Steph to BB3 winner Kate Lawler, Steph just comes across as too motherly - something that will not appeal to the voting public on final night.
So with Steph evicted, we'll have just Cameron, Ray, and Scott. As many others have noted, there will be a big split vote between Ray and Scott. I suspect the teenie text voters will be split quite evenly between Ray 'rude boy' Shah and Scott 'dynamic as wallpaper' Turner. It is therefore difficult to predict which of Ray or Scott will come second or third. I suspect Scott will just be ahead of Ray due to his recent issues with Nush. So I predict Ray in third place. Leaving us with just Cameron and Scott. I assume there will not be much more than 30 minutes between the third and second place evictions. Although this will be enough time for maybe a million more votes. So with Cameron and Scott in a face-off, who will win ? After all that has happened in the show, I feel that Cameron will win. Cameron has been infinitely more in the public eye that Scott. When it comes down to public voting, what counts are housemates that are 'noticeable' to the public. Scott escaped eviction in the first week due to the fact that he was barely noticed as even existing in the house. Cameron has been second only to Jon in terms of a public following. With the twisted editing we have seen since week one, C4/Endemol will see their 'chosen one' be victorious. Yes indeed, Cameron Stout - the Islander from Orkney will win BB4. I had been predicting Scott to win in my previous article- but that was assuming the housemates would do the decent thing and put Ray up for the public vote. Since Ray is staying for the final week, his continued presence will now cause a split teenie vote with Scott, which means Cameron is on a free ride to victory. There is almost no doubt in my mind that 'appleman' will win.
-- This Friday (Day 57) Nush will be evicted from the Big Brother house. She will probably get around 62-69% of the vote, which I'm sure will surprise a fair few people, especially since it will again emphasise the gender imbalance that has been a feature of the house for much of the 64 days. Cameron's place in the house is most certainly secure, his legion of 'mothers' will protect him and surely give Nush the boot. With just 9 days left, like
many other BB fans I will be glad to see the back of this series. If Big
Brother can be said to have achieved anything this year, it has been in
terms of demonstrating how not to orchestrate a reality TV show. What was
touted by C4/Endemol as Big Brother getting 'back to basics' has been -
ironically, the most gimmick filled TV show viewers have ever seen. Calrissian : The End is in
sight..... thank god. Return to
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In my most recent
article I probably sounded more negative about the show than I have at any
time in the last 10 weeks. It was looking as though the last two weeks of
BB4 would be utterly dire. Since Fed and Jon were booted from the house,
the following 3 weeks were arguably dull and made for some truly
dreadful viewing. However things were to take a most unexpected turn. Last
Friday evening (Day 50) the rumours were getting to the point where we
knew something significant was going to happen. With an extended eviction
interview show, it seemed likely that C4/Endemol would pull yet another
gimmick out of their 'back to basics' hat. But what would the latest
'twist' be ? Would it be an Australian BB housemate, a celebrity guest
housemate, or perhaps even an ex-UK:BB housemate would be returning for a
few days? 
