Big Brother - the first reality show. Ground breaking stuff - even the academics/sociologists tuned in.

I can only remember 'Nasty Nick' Bateman - who were the other characters?

How has the show changed over the years - have the house mates got more cynical, has the production company got more exploitative/cynical? Or was it always this crap?

The last one I watched had Bryan and Kate Lawler in it.

So whilst I gave it some viewing time once, now I don't.

Have I changed, or has 'It'

I'd quite like to see a repeat of the first one though. Just out of interest :D

I can only remember a few: Darren, Sada, Craig the Carpenter, and Mel the sexy one.

And yes, it has changed. It's now a freak and chav show. Even the so-called intelligent one - Derek - is a freak. Possibly the freakiest of the bunch, actually.



I just remembered another: Caroline. Like Billy Idol in drag.

http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/B/bb1/housemates_bb1_index.html


A little reminder ;)

Thanks, Lickable. Google reveals:

Mugshots of the BB 1 housemates (http://bigbrother.digitalspy.co.uk/bb1/contestants/)

Digital Spy BB1 archives (http://bigbrother.digitalspy.co.uk/bb1/)

ooh the nasty Nick episode that was watchable Big Brother....

Can you remember where you were when you heard Nick was going to be removed from the house?

I can remember my colleague running into the office because the girl at the sandwich shop said she'd heard a rumour he'd been found out about owning a pencil and paper. We all logged onto the channel 4 site but it had crashed due to the number of other saddo's trying to find out the latest.

Big Brother has changed out of all recognition since the first one, which was, at least partly, a genuine social experiment to see how people would react to being cooped up together 24 hours a day, with cameras on them all the time.

I remember being interested to watch it from this psychological point of view. I thought it would be fascinating viewing for psychologists and members of the public alike. And it could be useful to help teach social skills, demonstrate social interaction in a 'real-life' situation with 'real-life' people, as opposed to with actors. Ha, ha! But everything was so much more innocent back then.....

'Nasty' Nick genuinely seemed to think he was taking part in a game-show... oh the naivety! And I don't know how far the contestants were truly aware that the cameras were on them ALL THE TIME. The Big Brother rules were being made as the show progressed, so everything that happened was a genuine surprise, eg the contestants didn't know the range of sanctions BB could apply, etc, so they didn't know how far they could push. Nasty Nick et al had no idea how they were coming over to the public, whether the press were interested in them at all, whether they had any hope of fame or a media career afterwards, etc.

Made it all that bit more real, I think, although 'real' is obviously a relative term.

Now the show's just become a joke - a freak-show, a selection of chavs competing to see how big an idiot they can make of themselves. It's like watching a car-crash. Everything is done for the cameras, to gain the public vote. Any dignity or self-respect seems to get left at the door. Everything's for sale. Do any of these people receive therapy afterwards?

Quite what Derek (apparently a well-respected political speech-writer presumably with friends in high places) is doing in there is beyond me. Although I heard some mention of a book he's writing....

ok, rant over.... for now :(

StarSparkle